Google, Apple Launch Initiative To Thwart Unwanted Location Tracking
Bluetooth trackers help find keys, luggage and other items, but they also have been used to track people who don’t want to be tracked…
Industry rivals Google GOOG 0.00%↑ and Apple AAPL 0.00%↑ announced this week that they are working together to battle unwanted location tracking. The plan is to thwart illegal activity on such devices as the Apple AirTag, a coin-sized device that allows users to track others in real-time on an iPhone app.
The companies submitted a draft industry specification to the Internet Engineering Task Force, a standards development organization. The overall goal “will allow Bluetooth location-tracking devices to be compatible with unauthorized tracking detection and alerts across iOS and Android platforms,” the companies said in a joint press release.
“Bluetooth trackers have created tremendous user benefits, but they also bring the potential of unwanted tracking, which requires industrywide action to solve,” said Dave Burke, Google’s vice president of Engineering for Android, in a statement.
Such companies as Samsung, Tile, Chipolo, eufy Security and Pebblebee said they support the draft specification that will offer examples and instructions for manufacturers.
“This new industry specification builds upon the AirTag protections, and through collaboration with Google results in a critical step forward to help combat unwanted tracking across iOS and Android,” said Ron Huang, Apple’s vice president of Sensing and Connectivity, in a statement.
Interested parties, including safety and advocacy groups, are invited and encouraged to review and comment over the next three months, the companies say. The companies will then partner to address the feedback and release a production implementation of the specification for unwanted tracking alerts by the end of the year.
Optimize your Sales Strategy with Apollo
Search, engage and convert over 250 million contacts at over 60 million companies with Apollo’s sales intelligence and engagement platform.
Drone Delivery Market Expands as Zipline Gets $330 Million Investment
Location technology will continue to be a centerpiece of burgeoning drone delivery markets. Signaling increased investor interest in the market, San Francisco-based Zipline recently received $330 million in a new funding round—to bring its value to nearly $4.2 billion, according to Forbes.
Zipline, which uses drones it calls Zips, has been delivering medical supplies in Africa for years. The company has used Hexagon NovAtel’s dual-frequency RTK system, OEM719.
While Zipline has parachuted its packages to a target customer, it now is introducing a small duffle bag-sized droid that tethers its payload to a location. The droid, which is on the company’s P2 Zip drone, has an integrated sensor suite that includes visual sensors and GPS.
The company, in addition to DroneUp and Flytrex, has also been delivering products at two Walmart WMT 0.00%↑ locations in Utah. Overall, Walmart has UAV deliveries at 36 stores in the United States.
[Sponsored]
Digital Matter Introduces Longest Life Battery-Powered IoT Asset Tracker
Digital Matter has announced that the next-generation Remora3 battery-powered GPS and Bluetooth Gateway is now available with global Cellular LTE-M (Cat-M1) and NB-IoT connectivity.
The Remora3 features ‘Deploy Once’ battery life and new ‘Second-by-Second’ tracking performance to support aggressive and/or extended reporting requirements, including highly accurate speeding, run hour, odometer monitoring on mobile assets such as rental equipment, trailers, vehicles and more.
“Substantial design and technology improvements on the Remora3 enable critical new use cases for our partners who require real-time tracking performance without the hassle of physically wiring in a device,” says Ken Everret, Digital Matter CEO and founder.
With a flexible and open payload format, extensive documentation, and regional technical support, the Remora3 can be integrated into any end-platform. Third-party Bluetooth sensors and tags are also supported.
Other Remora3 features include:
GPS location
Trip history
Asset recovery
Movement detection
Tip detection
Rotation counting
Impact detection
The Remora3 also functions as a Bluetooth Low Energy Gateway and can optionally scan for nearby Bluetooth tags and sensors for additional asset location and sensor monitoring applications. The Remora3 supports roaming across Cellular LTE-M and NB-IoT networks to enable global asset tracking and monitoring applications in supply chain visibility, logistics, returnables and more.
For more information on the Remora3 or Digital Matter’s other IoT asset tracking solutions, click here.
Contact: Shay Kettner, Digital Matter, shay@digitalmatter.com, digitalmatter.com.
Expert nationwide installation services for fleet technologies.
Parkopedia Expands Partnership With Mercedes-Benz
Parkopedia has expanded its partnership with Mercedes-Benz to include in-car parking reservations in the automaker’s latest MBUX infotainment systems for 5,000 locations in the United States. In addition, the company said that on-demand parking payments are available in 14 European countries.
The companies, which first partnered in 2018, offer Parkopedia’s in-car payment technology that allows users to find, reserve and pay for parking. The company’s parking information also includes garage opening times, costs and height restrictions.
In Europe, Mercedes-Benz drivers can make on-demand payments in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Slovenia. However, parking reservations can only be made in Germany, France, Italy and Belgium, the company said.
Location technology is integrated in the infotainment system to allow drivers to find, reserve, navigate to and pay for the desired parking. Drivers can also pre-book parking before a trip by selecting applicable parking locations and reserving a space via the infotainment system, the company said.
Contact: Adam Calland, Parkopedia, 44(0)7838219129, adam.calland@parkopedia.com.
Get smarter in 5 minutes with Morning Brew (it's free)
There's a reason over 4 million people start their day with Morning Brew - the daily email that delivers the latest news from Wall Street to Silicon Valley. Business news doesn't have to be boring...make your mornings more enjoyable, for free.
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 News:
🛰 AFRL’s NTS-3 Satellite Experiment Tinkers with GPS But Doesn’t Really Fix America’s PNT Problem. “The Air Force Research Laboratory is leading the effort to launch and put an experimental satellite called NTS-3 through its paces with more than 100 different PNT-related technology experiments once the satellite launches later this year.”
🤞 New York City to Hand Out 500 Free Apple AirTags To Deter Car Thefts.
😉 Entanglement Could Step in Where GPS Is Denied. “Using the strange quantum phenomenon known as entanglement, which can link particles together anywhere in the universe, sensors can become significantly more accurate and faster at detecting motion, a new study reveals. The findings may help augment navigation systems that do not rely on GPS, scientists say.”
😧 Contractor Wants Refund After Satellite Failure. “A spokesman for JJ Ltd said the outage hit many tractor operators in the South, across many tractor brands running a GPS-system built by technology company Trimble TRMB 0.00%↑.”
Maps:
📱 This New Location-based Android Timeline Setting May One Day Replace the One in Google Maps. “By shifting the timeline feature from Google Maps to Android’s settings, it could be looking to give users a more secure feeling reminiscent of the company’s earlier days.”
🤔 Google Maps Needs Waze to Become the King of Navigation Apps. “Google GOOG 0.00%↑ has recently moved the Google Maps and Waze teams under the same roof in an attempt to streamline the collaboration between the two, making some people believe Waze’s days are already numbered.”
😐 This Google Maps Alternative Just Received a Must-Have Parking Feature. “MAPS.ME version 14.6.0 includes an option to save your parking spot, too, as well as support for switching the map styles in the layers flow.”
😮 Garmin’s Top GPS Navigator Makes Google Maps Almost Unnecessary. “It’s not hard to figure out that traditional GPS navigators have more or less become obsolete. Garmin GRMN 0.00%↑, however, doesn’t want to leave this product category to go dark, so it still offers several models for turn-by-turn navigation in a car.”
👍 Apple Maps Redesign Expected To Go Live in Taiwan in June. “Public testing of redesigned Apple Maps for Taiwan has begun, but the full release isn't expected until June.”
Pet Tracking:
😼 Tile's Latest Accessory Helps Track Your Cat. “The $40 Tile for Cats tracker from Life360 is a modified version of the Tile Sticker with a silicon collar attachment and 250 foot Bluetooth range.”
Reach nearly 15,000 subscribers and 60,000 more via social media by advertising in Location Business News!
We can promote your webinar, service or product to a focused group of industry executives. Email us at info@driverlessreport.com for more information, or click here to view our one-page media kit.
People:
😲 Los Altos Hills Estate Sells for $19M. Former HERE Technologies CEO Edzard Overbeek’s family trust sold last year, according to reports.
Connected and Autonomous Vehicles:
🚛 Bill Outlawing Self-driving Trucks Without a Human Driver on Board Advances in California.
🚙 Here's Where Governments Are Testing Self-Driving Vehicles.
🚚 Self-driving Trucks Struggle To Deliver. “There's been an industry shakeout over the past year, causing once-giddy investors to pull back, while survivors shed workers and struggle to fund continued development.”
Drones:
☹ Iran Has Drones Fighting In Ukraine (They Have U.S. DNA). “When a single Russian-launched UAV was discovered to be comprised of components manufactured by U.S. and Western companies, the White House created a task force to investigate how.”
Financial:
✔ CalAmp: Fiscal Q4 Earnings Snapshot. “CalAmp CAMP 0.00%↑ last week reported a loss of $8.1 million in its fiscal fourth quarter.”
✔ Mobileye Shares Plunge After Self-driving Tech Company Cuts Guidance Amid Tesla's EV Price War.
Compliantly hire anyone, anywhere, in 5 minutes with Deel
Deel is your one-stop shop for hiring, paying, and managing your remote team. We stay on top of local labor laws across the world to ensure compliance and mitigate risk so that you don't have to.
Location Industry Briefs
Send your news releases to kdennehy@driverlessreport.com. Go to www.locationbusinessnews.com for more news and an archive of stories.
Tive and Freightflow Announce Partnership
Tive has announced a strategic partnership with Freightflow for its real-time visibility solution on all shipments. The sensors in Tive Solo 5G trackers provide real-time location, temperature, humidity, and light exposure data, the company said. By combining Tive’s real-time sensor data with Freightflow’s transportation metrics on carriers, lanes, and commodities, customers are able to provide higher-quality services through better decision making, the company said.
Contact: Tive, www.tive.com.
Leica Geosystems Rolls Out Pegasus TRK100
Hexagon’s Leica Geosystems has launched its Pegasus TRK portfolio of mobile mapping solutions. Designed for GIS professionals, the new mobile mapping system is a geospatial solution built for large-scale infrastructure measurement and digital twin creation, the company said.
With its mapping capabilities, the Pegasus TRK100 enables GIS professionals to visualize and understand the location of assets, to help make the right decisions, improve asset management, and support infrastructure building and maintenance, the company said. Applications include telecommunications, utilities and road maintenance.
Contact: Leica Geosystems, www.leica-geosystems.com/products/leica-pegasus-trk.
Kyocera, Hot Pepper Mobile Integrate NextNav’s Pinnacle Technology
Kyocera International has announced the integration of NextNav NN 0.00%↑ Pinnacle vertical location technology into Kyocera’s DuraXV Extreme+ feature phone. The DuraXV Extreme+ includes a Barometric Pressure Sensor, enabling the use of NextNav Pinnacle’s Z-axis capabilities for 911 calls.
NextNav also said that Hot Pepper Mobile has debuted its Tabasco flip feature phone, that integrates the company’s vertical location technology. The announcement stems from Hot Pepper Mobile’s 2022 agreement with NextNav.
Contact: Leasa Ireland, for Kyocera, leasa@lpicommunications.com, www.nextnav.com.
Hesai Technology Partners With Inertial Labs
Hesai Technology has announced a multi-year lidar sensors partnership with Inertial Labs, which selected the company to provide perception and navigation capabilities for its autonomous marine, land and aerial-based robotics systems. Hesai's lidar sensor solutions provide real-time 3D point cloud data for localization, obstacle detection, and path planning, the company said. Inertial Labs' navigation and Inertial Measurement Units provide integrated heading and ego-motion data to the lidar data stream.
Contact: Leo Liu, Inertial Labs, leo.liu@inertiallabs.com, https://inertiallabs.com.
STEER Tech and Lightning eMotors Partner
Lightning eMotors and STEER Tech have announced a collaboration to offer autonomous functionality to Lightning's customers. STEER's autonomous vehicle technology will be integrated into Lightning's medium-duty commercial electric vehicle product line.
The company uses a sensor suite coupled with GPS and stereoscopic camera vision to navigate vehicles within geofenced areas. STEER-enabled vehicles can be either remotely controlled from a singular central command or launched on a singular basis, the company said.
Contact: STEER Tech, (240) 787-8000, media@steer-tech.com, www.steer-tech.com.
Duck Creek and Novo Insurance Partner
Duck Creek Technologies has announced today that it has been selected by telematics startup Novo Insurance for policy, billing, insights and data hub solutions. Duck Creek OnDemand enables Novo Insurance, a subsidiary of Telenav, to bring its auto insurance products to market more quickly using its configurable open architecture platform, the company said. Based on its LBS capabilities, Novo is currently looking to launch in multiple states in 2023, the company said.
Contact: Carley Bunch, Duck Creek Technologies, (201) 962-6091, carley.bunch@duckcreek.com, www.duckcreek.com.
Semtech and Connected Development Launch IoT Board
Semtech Corp. SMTC 0.00%↑and Connected Development have launched the XCVR Development Board and Reference Design integrating the LoRa Sub-GHz Radio Transceiver. Based on Semtech’s LoRa SX126x Series, the Development Board and Reference Design reduces time-to-market for customers.
Some markets include building management, agriculture, supply chain, logistics and industrial control.
Contact: Ron Vener, Connected Development, (781) 910-3869, ron.vener@connecteddev.com, www.connecteddev.com.
Descartes Expands BLE Tags on ULD/Pallets
Descartes Systems Group has expanded its IoT network to include Bluetooth Low Energy-powered tags placed on Unit Load Devices or pallets. This expansion allows air carriers and ground handling agents with real-time visibility into the location and condition of air cargo shipments in transit, the company said. The company has reported a 20 percent in active readers worldwide, with 1,300 at 200 airports.
Contact: Descartes, www.descartes.com.
Driver Technologies Solution on Geotab Marketplace
Driver Technologies has announced the availability of its Driver Enterprise Solution on the Geotab Marketplace. The Driver Enterprise Solution provides customers access to its dash cam app and its mobility safety features, the company said. Through integration with Geotab, fleet managers can access their driver's dash cam videos in the Driver Cloud on the MyGeotab platform.
Contact: Maddie Hirsch, for Driver Technologies, driver@calibercorporateadvisers.com.
Create a FREE ManyMe Account.
Trimble Technology Lab Established at Swiss University
Trimble TRMB 0.00%↑ and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland have established a Trimble Technology Lab at FHNW's School of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geomatics program in Muttenz, Switzerland.
The lab brings a range of professionals, including future experts in virtual design and construction, geomatics and architecture, direct access to state-of-the-art technologies for the entire construction process, the company said. The lab will include technologies such as the Trimble XR10 with HoloLens 2; GNSS receivers, controllers and tablets; robotic, universal and scanning total stations as well as laser scanners.
Contact: Trimble, www.trimble.com.
Sanborn Launches Digital Twin Base Map
Sanborn Map Co. has released its Digital Twin Base Map for city and county governments. Digital Twin Base Map is a high-resolution 3D map providing mapping information with the complexity of an entire city or region’s infrastructure and environment in a single, integrated data set, the company said. Sanborn created its Digital Twin Base Maps using a combination of remote sensing data, high-quality aerial photography, and advanced machine learning algorithms.
Contact: Jason Caldwell, Sanborn Map Co., (719) 593-0093, jcaldwell@sanborn.com
Aerometrex Lands $2.65 Million Licensing Agreement
Aerometrex Limited [AMX] has announced a $2.65 million MetroMap license agreement with Landchecker. MetroMap’s aerial imagery is used on Landchecker’s online platform and is subscribed to by customers who use integrated products through the platform, the company said.
This new agreement requires Landchecker purchasing a fixed number of tailored MetroMap licences. Overall, Landchecker provides property information to more than 90,000 property professionals, the company said.
Contact: Aermetrex, https://aerometrex.com.au.
Sonitor Introduces SonitorBLU and SonitorMOBILE
Sonitor Technologies has launched its SonitorBLU Bluetooth Low Energy solution and SonitorMOBILE, a location visibility platform for positioning smart devices. The products combine Sonitor’s ultrasound technology with BLE, effectively turning a smart phone into an RTLS tag, the company said.
Contact: Teresa Brasac, Sonitor, (305) 776-4501, teresa.brasac@sonitor.com, www.sonitor.com.
Innoviz To Deliver Lidar for CARIAD
Innoviz Technologies INVZ 0.00%↑ is set to deliver lidar for CARIAD's future advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and automated driving functions. CARIAD and Innoviz are evaluating concepts to accelerate the integration of lidar systems to improve time to market, the company said.
Contact: Maya Lustig, Innoviz Technologies, 972 54 677 8100, media@innoviz-tech.com, www.innoviz-tech.com.
MocPOGO Changes Location For Games and Apps
MocPOGO Studio has released its location spoofer for location-based games, social and dating apps. MocPOGO V6.1.2 allows users to change GPS location on iOS or Android devices.
MocPOGO supports GPS joysticks, simulates movement at customized speeds and teleport location. The software can spoof location on multiple devices, the company said.
Contact: MocPOGO, www.mocpogo.com.
People
Sandra MacQuillan, an industry executive and Trimble TRMB 0.00%↑ board member since 2018, has died following a long battle with cancer.
CARIAD has announced the appointment of Scott Runner as U.S. CEO. Runner will lead a team of 250 software and engineering experts in Santa Clara and Redmond, Calif.
KORE named Scott Barnes as vice president, sales, fleet and mobility.
Parkopedia has appointed Gary Bull as the new CFO. Bull was COO at software company Condeco.
Torc Robotics named CJ King as chief engineering officer.
Your partner in global employment
Over 1000 companies are hiring, paying, and taking care of their team members all over the world with Oyster’s all-in-one global employment platform.
Jobs
Senior Director / VP, Public Sector Sales. RapidSOS.
Open Positions. Mappedin.
Director of Product Marketing. Swift Navigation.
Regional Sales Director - Americas. Swift Navigation.
GNSS Sales Executive - DACH. Swift Navigation.
Senior Account Executive – Japan. Swift Navigation.
Senior Consulting Specialist. SBD Automotive.
Sr. Manager, Partnerships. Maxar Technologies.
Senior Program Officer. Transportation Research Board.
Senior Product Manager, Automotive. TechInsights.
WiFi/BT Sales Manager-EMEA. Quectel.
Click HERE to Join our growing Location Business News LinkedIn Group!