Federal Court Rejects Legal Challenge to Spectrum Move
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A U.S. appeals court last week rejected a petition from two trade associations that challenged a 2020 Federal Communications Commission decision to reallocate a major portion of the 5.9 GHz spectrum block that was set aside for automotive safety decades ago.
Last year, Washington, D.C.-based Intelligent Transportation Society of America and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials legally challenged the FCC’s move to shift 30 megahertz of spectrum, out of 75 megahertz reserved for Dedicated Short-Range Communications, to Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything. In addition, the other 45 megahertz was allocated for Wi-Fi use.
In 1999, the FCC set aside the 75 megahertz of spectrum in the 5.9 gigahertz band for DRSC that was meant to improve road safety through connected technologies. However, Judge Justin Walker, in his opinion last week, said that by 2020, were “no commercially-marketed vehicles” use the 5.9 gigahertz band to provide safety features.
“Several groups that want to retain their old use of the reallocated spectrum argue that the FCC’s reallocation was arbitrary and capricious. It was not,” Walker said in his opinion.
While a number of automakers and their suppliers have decided to support Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything initiatives, DRSC hardliners are continuing to champion the technology.
“[I]t is time for the DSRC crowd to dismount from the barricades and accept reality and, really, fundamentally, stop standing in the path of progress,” said Roger Lanctot, an auto industry analyst, in a recent LinkedIn column.
Despite the ruling, ITS America said it would continue efforts to ensure the remaining 30 megahertz of spectrum is free from interference and advances transportation safety. “Today’s court decision rejecting ITS America and AASHTO’s appeal to the [FCC] decision reallocating a majority of the 5.9 GHz spectrum is a blow to transportation safety for all Americans. At a time when roadway deaths are at an all-time high, our efforts to preserve the entire 75 MHz spectrum for connected vehicle safety solutions demonstrate the industry’s commitment to saving lives,” ITS America said in a statement.
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Hoopo Raises $10 Million in Series A Funding
Israel-based Hoopo last week announced that it has raised $10 million in Series A funding. The round, led by ZIM ZIM 0.00%↑ and theDOCK, brings the total funding raised to $17 million.
For its part, ZIM, a global shipping container company, invested a total of $5.5 million. Other investors include TAU Ventures, HICO, Chartered Group, GiTV and private entities.
Hoopo was founded in 2017 by RF communication and geolocation specialists, offers a solution that enables real-time location intelligence to include both tracking and status monitoring for unpowered assets, the company said. Hoopo, which works with transportation, aviation, waste management and maritime logistics companies, says its suite of technologies enables asset positioning with low power.
The new investment round’s proceeds will go into research and development for maritime solutions, specifically dry containers, including the use of solar energy to power the tracking devices, the company said.
Contact: Tal Leemor, Hoopo Systems (424) 214-1561, tal@hoopo.tech, www.hoopo.tech.
Airquay and Quuppa To Offer Location Solutions in Korean Markets
AirQuay and Finland-based Quuppa recently partnered to offer location-based solutions in manufacturing, warehousing, healthcare and sports facilities in the Republic of Korea. AirQuay, a real-time location systems company based in Korea, offers the SmartSpace platform that tracks assets and people.
The companies plan to integrate Quuppa’s Positioning Engine into the SmartSpace platform to expand AirQuay’s market share, the company said. This integration allows AirQuay’s customers to receive tracking capability for such applications as proprietary tags and other Bluetooth-enabled devices.
“[With this agreement], we expect to expand our target markets to manufacturing, safety, retail, and sports in the Korean market. We will be able to provide our customers with more flexible RTLS platforms,” said Tae-Young Cho, AirQuay president and CEO, in a statement.
While AirQuay and Quuppa hope to secure a wide market share for their product offerings in Korea, the companies also say they want to increase education and awareness about RTLS in the region.
Contact: Sari Arjamo-Tuominen, Quuppa, 358 40 728 5575, sari.arjamo-tuominen@quuppa.com, www.quuppa.com
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Other Location News:
News tip? Send them to kdennehy@driverlessreport.com. Go to www.locationbusinessnews.com for more news and an archive of stories.
Top Stories:
Transportation Software Company Inrix, Which Is Profitable and Nearly Went Public, Raises $10M. “Inrix has raised $122 million from private investors since it spun out of Microsoft MSFT 0.00%↑ nearly two decades ago. It last raised outside capital in 2014.”
☹ Google Fined $40M+ for Misleading Location-tracking Settings on Android. “Google GOOG 0.00%↑ has been sanctioned around $40 million in Australia over Android settings it had applied, dating back around five years, which were found — in a 2021 court ruling — to have mislead consumers about its location data collection.”
Analysis:
🤨 What Has Broadcom Become? “Broadcom AVGO 0.00%↑ was once a leading semiconductor company, and then it started buying enterprise software companies. The finance people recognize Broadcom for it is, and while the technology people recognize it as well, they just do not want to accept it.”
Financials:
✔ Sierra Wireless Reports Second Quarter 2022 Results.
✔ Otonomo Reports Second Quarter 2022 Financial Results.
✔ Phunware Reports Record 2Q Revenue.
✔ CEVA Announces Second Quarter 2022 Financial Results.
✔ KORE Reports Record Second Quarter 2022 Results.
✔ Innoviz Technologies Reports Second Quarter 2022 Financial Results.
Maps:
🙂 Tsunami Warning: Indoor Maps. “For indoor maps we’re maybe just beyond the era of the brick phone and about to enter the world of the first flip phone.”
💰 Report: Apple explored ads in Apple Maps as it weighs broader ads push. “[Apple AAPL 0.00%↑ may be] expanding its advertising business beyond the App Store. This plan could see Apple introducing ads into other pre-installed, first-party apps like Apple Maps, where ads have already been explored internally.”
Telematics:
😒 GM Vowed To Make Money Out of Connected Services and It Now Forces OnStar on Its Customers. “Many GM GM 0.00%↑ vehicles now come standard with OnStar and Connected Services Premium Plan worth $1,500 that should’ve been optional.”
Autonomous Vehicles:
😦 GM Cruise Self-Driving Vehicles Have Been Involved in Nine Hit-and-Runs This Year. “This is ostensibly because the drivers in the other vehicles don’t know how to stop and share information with the other driver when there is no other driver, or they see the car is driverless, and figure they can just probably get away with it because what is the robot going to do.”
👍 Tata Elxsi Brings New Age Solutions for Driverless Cars, Connected Vehicles. “AWS AMZN 0.00%↑ has enabled Tata Elxsi to bring all the computer intensive development and R&D projects to a cloud infrastructure.”
Indoor Tracking:
☹ RTLS systems vulnerable to MiTM attacks, location manipulation. “Security researchers have uncovered multiple vulnerabilities impacting ultra-wideband RTLS, enabling threat actors to conduct man-in-the-middle attacks and manipulate tag geo-location data.”
Location Industry Briefs
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Orcoda and Teletrac Navman Partner
Orcoda Limited [ODA] has announced that it has entered into a Teaming Agreement with Teletrac Navman Group to integrate and cross-sell products to their respective customers. The integration of Orcoda’s solution via API to the Teletrac Navman platform allows clients enhanced vehicle and workforce use, administrative efficiencies, improved economics, risk reduction and better customer service, the company said. Teletrac, owned by Vontier VNT 0.00%↑, currently tracks more than 500,000 vehicles on six continents.
Contact: Geoff Jamieson, Orcoda, 614-17778 862 gjamieson@orcoda.com, www.orcoda.com.
Trimble Introduces RTX Integrity for PPP Service
Trimble TRMB 0.00%↑ has introduced data integrity monitoring for its precise point positioning (PPP) correction service, CenterPoint RTX Fast. The Trimble RTX Integrity monitoring system continuously validates the reliability of correction data, the company said. This positioning information is broadcast to users in the agriculture, geospatial, construction and automotive industries.
The Trimble RTX Integrity system, comprised of monitoring stations in the United States, Canada and Europe, verifies the integrity of GNSS data received from satellites, the company said.
In other company news P42 is collaborating with Trimble to offer automated eCognition software object-based image analysis and change detection solution. Econgnition’s object-based image analysis technology enhances the accuracy and quality of information extracted from geospatial data, the company said.
Contact: Trimble, www.autonomy.trimble.com.
Quectel Launches Smart LTE Cat 4 Modules
Quectel Wireless Solutions has launched its new generation of multi-mode Smart LTE Cat 4 modules, the SC200E series. The SC200E series supports such industrial and consumer applications as smart POS, payment terminals, industrial handheld devices, automotive electronics and more.
Based upon the Qualcomm QCOM 0.00%↑ QCM2290 platform, SC200E supports multimode LTE cellular networks and short-range wireless communication technologies such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, the company said. In addition, the SC200E supports multi-constellation GNSS receivers.
Contact: Ashley Liu, Quectel, media@quectel.com, www.quectel.com.
ESS Partners With VOXX Automotive
Emergency Safety Solutions has partnered with VOXX Automotive VOXX 0.00%↑ to broaden the availability of the Hazard Enhanced Location Protocol for automakers, Tier 1 suppliers, aftermarket, trucking, and powersports markets. Under the agreement, VOXX Automotive will design and manufacture OEM accessory and aftermarket kits for sale across all the companies’ sales channels.
That signal is detected by emergency information systems and retail navigation applications, alerting all other drivers who are running a navigation application that there is a hazard ahead.
H.E.L.P., a safety communication solution, sends notifications to oncoming drivers through in-vehicle displays and GPS navigation apps to provide advance warning as they are approaching a disabled vehicle, the company said. "The interfacing of enhanced factory hazard lights and GPS-based digital alert technology is cutting edge,” said Pat Lavelle, VOXX International president and CEO, in a statement.
Contact: Jonathan Frank, VOXX Automotive, jfrank@voxxintl.com, www.voxxautomotive.com.
Geograma Selects Otonomo to Help Advance Road Safety in Spain
Otonomo Technologies OTMO 0.00%↑ has announced that Geograma, a geographic information systems (GIS) and location intelligence service provider, has awarded it a multi-year contract to provide connected vehicle data in Spain. Geograma is integrating the connected vehicle data, through the Otonomo Smart Mobility Data Platform, into its traffic solution. The Smart Mobility Data Platform features an unprecedented view of traffic behaviors globally to improve real-time traffic flows with an accurate picture of what’s happening across road systems, the company said.
Contact: Juliet McGinnis, Otonomo, press@otonomo.io, www.otonomo.io.
Digi-Key Offers u-blox’s XPLR-IoT Explorer Kit
Digi-Key Electronics has become a global distributor of the XPLR-IoT-1 explorer kit from u-blox. The kit includes GNSS, cellular, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth technology, along with cloud communications services, the company said.
The kit features a rechargeable battery and sensors for temperature, humidity, pressure, ambient light and other services. A low-power GNSS receiver provides positioning, the company said.
Contact: Megan Derkey, for Digi-Key, (612) 255-1115, digikey@bellmontpartners.com.
Garmin Launches Dash Cam Navigators
Garmin International GRMN 0.00%↑ has announced the Garmin DriveCam 76 and RVcam 795 all-in-one navigators with a built-in, high-definition dash cam. Both models feature a sharp 7-inch display, 1080p HD video recording and wide 140-degree field of view to capture a broad picture of the road ahead.
Garmin also announced the new RV 795 GPS navigator, providing campers navigation benefits as the RVcam 795, but removes the built-in dash camera and camera-related features, the company said. Garmin also recently introduced the dēzlCam OTR710 trucking navigator with built-in dash cam.
Contact: Mike Cummings, Garmin, (913) 397-8200, media.relations@garmin.com, www.garmin.com/automotive.
Wellnuts Opens Warsaw Office
IoT software company Wellnuts, based in Los Angeles, has opened a new office in Warsaw, Poland. Wellnuts will expand its work capacity, mainly in telematics and GPS tracking, and provide optimized services and custom solutions for data-driven IoT platforms, the company said. Wellnuts specializes in fleet tracking, insurance, EV charging and smart homes markets.
Contact: Palina Leibinskaya, 7143912375, 342325@email4pr.com, info@wellnutscopr.com.
Kepler Aerospace Introduces GNSS Receivers
Kepler Aerospace has announced the first production batch of its space-grade GNSS solution. These will be flying with Indian Technology Congress’ (ITCA) 75-satellite constellation.
The company worked with ZED - Zero Energy Development for the space constellation integration, the company said.
Contact: Kepler Aerospace, www.kepleraero.com.
People
JAVAD GNSS has named Jesse Huff as Vice President-Sales and Marketing. Huff was the company’s Head of Sales and Marketing and was a Senior Account Executive at Advanced Navigation.
GeoComm has named Jeff Liebl President and Chief Operating Officer. Liebl joins John Bryant, GeoComm CEO in leading the company.
Qualcomm QCOM 0.00%↑ has named Soshun Arai as Director, Product Management for Automotive. Arai held executive positions at TIER IV and Arm.
Jobs
Product Manager II. HERE Technologies.
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