Google Sued for Alleged Android Location Data Tracking
Privacy issues are not going away for the industry...
Three U.S. states and the District of Columbia have sued Google for alleged ‘deceptive’ collection of location data on Android devices. The attorney generals of Texas, Washington state and Indiana joined with the District saying that Google makes it hard for users to stop sharing their location data, among other allegations.
From the District’s legal filings:
“Since at least 2014, Google has deceived consumers regarding how their location is tracked and used by the Company and consumers’ ability to protect their privacy by stopping this tracking. Google leads consumers to believe that consumers are in control of whether Google collects and retains information about their location and how that information is used. In reality, consumers who use Google products cannot prevent Google from collecting, storing, and profiting from their location.”
Google denied the allegations, saying “[t]he attorneys general are bringing a case based on inaccurate claims and outdated assertions about our settings.”
The lawsuit follows a 2020 complaint filed by the Arizona Attorney General over location data collection, reports The Verge.
Washington Auto Show Portends Autonomous Future
WASHINGTON—While it isn’t as big as the gigantic car shows they have in Detroit and Geneva, the Washington Auto Show here is known as “the policy auto show,” with government and industry officials trying to assess when fully autonomous vehicles will be on the road.
In an industry keynote, Chris Urmson, Aurora CEO, said that regulators rightly look to see whether autonomous vehicles pose an unreasonable risk on roadways. “Clearly, you can’t have zero risk. You can’t wrap [a car] in a bubble,” he said. “That no risk option is not acceptable.”
In terms of the current U.S. regulatory framework towards autonomous vehicles, Urmson said companies have to meet acceptable motor vehicle safety standards. In Germany, he said that the government, for [SAE] Level 3 driving, requires a person to be readily available to enter a vehicle. “I prefer the U.S. model. The reason is that it turns out we have a lot of lawyers in this country,” Urmson said. “Early on, it gives companies the flexibility to do more—and leads to innovation in the U.S.—with guiderails. It limits unreasonable actors in this space.”
Aurora had a big 2021 as it acquired Uber’s self-driving car business, partnered with Kenworth and Volvo Trucks, Toyota, Federal Express and Uber Freight. “We now have 1,600 [employees] in eight cities and seven states,” Urmson said. “We also went public.”
While many early autonomous vehicle companies championed robotaxi markets, Urmson said Aurora will continue to concentrate on the trucking industry. “We are concentrating on a trucking product first as there is a massive shortage of drivers and the need to help the supply chain and economy,” he said.
At the Washington Auto Show, almost every politico parroted the same thing: the need for 500,000 charging stations nationwide; climate change will drive the automotive industry and promote a clean energy economy; and repairing roads, infrastructure and public transit will be based on “climate resilience.” However, no politician uttered the words, “autonomous vehicles” or GPS/location, as critical technologies moving transportation forward.
Virginia Company Maps Potholes…
At the Washington Auto Show, McLean, Va.-based i-Probe is using car-mounted sensors to assess road conditions. These road deformities, which include potholes, are identified by the sensors and transmitted to the cloud to allow local and state road operators to gain insight on road conditions, said Shinya Shimada, i-Probe chief strategy officer.
“We make this road vibration and roughness of pavement analysis in real time. It then automatically gets recorded on a map,” he said. “We provide the results to state DoTs and other road managers.”
Contact: Shinya Shimada, i-Probe, shimada@i-probe-inc.com
IoT Tracking Startup Tag-n-Trac Grabs $10 Million in Funding
Tracking startup Tag-n-Trac Inc. this week launched out of stealth with $10 million in funding through an Series A round led by Dell Technologies. Other participants include Merck Global Innovation Fund and Aerosafe Global also participating.
Tag-n-Trac is going after the logistics market with Bluetooth and cellular smart label technologies. Customers include supply chain partners with inroads into multi-modal third-party logistics, enterprise resource planning, business intelligence software providers, and packaging and labeling manufacturers.
Founded in 2020, Tag-n-Trac has raised $11.8 million overall, according to Crunchbase.
Other Location News:
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😲 MWC Barcelona 2022 To Be 'Not Far From' Pre-pandemic Attendance – GSMA Chief. “The GSMA reported 109,000 attendees at its show in Barcelona, Spain, in 2019.” There is delusion…then there is reality…see CES 2022.
✔ Mercedes-Benz Acquires Stake in Lidar Maker Luminar. “Based on Luminar’s share price of $13.45 at market close January 19th, Mercedes-Benz is purchasing approximately $20.2 million worth of shares, or less than 1 percent of the company.”
🧨 The "Ligado Situation" - How Did We Get Here? Where Do We Go? “Putting the fox in charge of guarding the hen house is very effective… but only for the fox.”
🤦♂️ ITSA, AASHTO Reiterate Full 5.9GHz Band Needed to Reduce Crashes. “The lawsuit sought to reverse the FCC’s reallocation of 60 percent of the band to unlicensed, non-transportation uses and ensure Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) technologies can continue to safely operate throughout the 5.9 GHz band.”
🛰 Galileo Satellites 27-28 Reach Final Orbit; Initiate Testing Phase. “Launched in December from the European Spaceport in French Guyana, the Galileo satellites reached, on 21 January 2022, their orbital position at 23,222 kilometers above the Earth after completing the drift stop and fine-positioning maneuvers.”
😦 David Hall, Founder of Velodyne Lidar, Files Lawsuit Against Executives Over Alleged Misrepresentations Regarding 2020 SPAC Merger. “Believes evidence shows defendants schemed to seize corporate control of Velodyne Lidar via the SPAC merger, resulting in a nearly 80 percent loss of stockholder value.”
👍 Apple GPS Tracker Thwarts New-Generation Truck Double Theft Attempt. “A recent report highlights a Texas story where the new owner of a truck got a notification on his iPhone that an AirTag was moving with them.”
🚌 How Chalo Redefines Bus Travel in India Using Location Technology. Using TomTom [Tom2] for its location data.
🥇 Trimble Inc. [TRMB] and Boston Dynamics integrated solution was named a finalist for the 24th annual SXSW Innovation Awards at the South by Southwest conference.
🙌 Goodbye, Michael Jones, the Man Who Gave the Power of Maps in Our Hands. Michael Jones, founder of Google Earth, passed away on January 18.
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Location Industry Briefs
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SIMETRA and TomTom Sign Distribution and License Agreement
SIMETRA and TomTom have signed a distribution and license agreement that allows SIMETRA to distribute TomTom's traffic data for its own transport planning and intelligent transport systems (ITS) solutions. Areas of collaboration include historical traffic data (TomTom’s Traffic Statistics and O/D Analysis) and real-time traffic data, as well as the use of TomTom mapping products, the company said.
Contact: TomTom, www.tomtom.com.
HERE Partners With Transsion
HERE Technologies has announced that Transsion will use HERE Network Positioning to improve its location accuracy capabilities in emerging markets such as Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Indonesia and Thailand. By deploying HERE Network Positioning, Transsion will be able to identify positioning of its devices both indoors and outdoors, the company said.
This works especially when GPS is not available, such as when the device is located indoor or the satellite’s signals are blocked by objects.
Contact: Camy Cheng, HERE, 65 9088 4127, Camy.cheng@here.com.
Hexagon Integrates RTK From the Sky Into TerraStar-C Pro
Hexagon Autonomy & Positioning division’s RTK From the Sky will be integrated into the core of TerraStar-C PRO, the company said. RTK From the Sky technology allows TerraStar-C PRO to become the fastest global correction service to provide centimeter-level accuracy, the company said.
TerraStar-C PRO uses a quad-band receiver and antenna technology to leverage modernized BeiDou III, GPS III and Galileo E6 signals, the company said.
Contact: Jennifer Busser, Hexagon, (403) 295-4588, jennifer.busser@hexagon.com, NovAtel.com/TerraStar.
Rohde & Schwarz Delivers Test Sequences for E112 Emergency Caller Location
Rohde & Schwarz has announced an extension to its R&S TS-LBS location-based services test system, making it the first test solution available to perform the necessary LBS compliance tests. Certification service provider CETECOM has already started first E112 testing using these test sequences, the company said.
A new regulation requires all smartphones sold in the European Union—starting in March 2022—to support caller location for 112 emergency calls. To ensure this feature, the devices must be compliant with several positioning systems as outlined by the European Commission.
Contact: Christian Mokry, Rhode & Schwarz, 49 89 412913052, press@rohde-schwarz.com, www.rohde-schwarz.com/product/ts-lb.
GL Communications Launches LCS Test Suite
GL Communications has launched a Location Services (LCS) Test Suite to support emulation of location services on GSM, UMTS, and LTE networks. “Though there are a massively scalable suite of tools and high-quality database available for mobile location services, there is a need for pinpoint user’s location solution,” said Vijay Kulkarni, GL Communications CEO.
GL’s MAPS LCS Test Suite comprises of products that support location-based services in GSM, UMTS, and LTE networks, the company said. Message Automation & Protocol Simulation (MAPS) is a protocol simulation and conformance test tool that supports simulation of telecommunication protocols (VoIP/IP, TDM, Analog, Wireless), the company said.
Contact: GL Communications, pressrelease@gl.com.
Hemisphere GNSS Announces Agreement with Inteq Distributors
Hemisphere GNSS has announced a distribution agreement with Inteq Distributors. The company will introduce several new products, including the FR500 machine control smart antenna as part of their compact excavator and mastless dozer solution, the F631 survey smart antenna for base station and rover applications, and SiteMetrix and GradeMetrix software for use in completing various jobsite tasks, the company said.
Contact: Hemisphere GNSS, (480) 348-6380, press@hgnss.com, www.hgnss.com.
Trucker Tools Adds AirIQ Location Data
Trucker Tools has added location data from electronic logging devices (ELDs) on AirIQ’s IoT platform. AirIQ provides shipment location information, complementing the Trucker Tools mobile driver app, which uses the embedded GPS features of the driver’s smart phone, the company said.
The integration, which was completed last month and is now live, will provide Trucker Tools customers with more comprehensive shipment visibility data, the company said. The ELD data in Trucker Tools’ platform is completely permission based, with the truck owner and/or driver maintaining full control over access, the company said.
Contact: Michael Robb, AirIQ, (905) 831-6444, mrobb@airiq.com.
Titan GPS Obtains Canadian ELD Certification
Certified Tracking Solutions’ Titan GPS has announced it has obtained Canadian Electronic Logging Device (ELD) certification. The company says it is the only ELD solution that offers alternate day start time.
The product, compatible with Apple iOS and Android, integrates with the company’s in-field application that provides digital forms, vehicle inspection, document management and time tracking, the company said.
Contact: Emma Wu, Certified Tracking Solutions, (780) 391-3800, pr@ctstracking.com.
People
Xona Space Systems named Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet, PhD, U.S. Navy (ret) to its advisory board. Gallaudet served as NOAA’s Deputy Administrator, Superintendent of the Naval Observatory and as the Navigator of the Navy.
Shield AI has named former Navy SEAL Vice Admiral Bob Harward to lead expansion of company's global operations. Harward joins Shield AI from Lockheed Martin [LMT].
Jobs
Sales, Marketing, Engineering Jobs. Javad GNSS.
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