Google Will Pay $85 Million To Settle Location Data Lawsuit
Arizona contends the tech giant used location data without consumer's permission.
Expert nationwide installation services for fleet technologies.
Google GOOG 0.00%↑ has agreed to pay Arizona $85 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged the tech giant mislead consumers about how it they used location data via tracking smartphones.
In the original lawsuit, filed more than two years ago, the Arizona Attorney General’s office said that Google was collecting location data from Android users for targeted ads—without their consent. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said the case was one of the biggest consumer fraud lawsuits in the state’s history.
Google has been in the news for location privacy investigations for several years. The tech giant recently paid $100 million to Illinois residents over privacy violations in the Google Photos app.
In addition, a German federal agency is investigating Google Maps over concerns that the mapping giant limits customers’ options to use alternative map companies. According to published reports, the German Federal Cartel Office has opened a formal probe—to include Google’s Automotive Services.
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Lockheed Martin Awarded Southern Positioning Augmentation Network Contract
The government of Australia has awarded Lockheed Martin LMT 0.00%↑ a $1.18 billion contract to establish the Southern Positioning Augmentation Network (SouthPAN). The system, expected to be fully operational by 2028, will be provided as a service for 19 years with an option to extend, the company said.
The program will use the Lockheed Martin-developed, Second-Generation Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS), which will broadcast on two frequencies to augment signals from GNSS, GPS and the European Union’s Galileo system.
Lockheed Martin’s Second-Generation SBAS broadcasts augmentation messages for Dual Frequencies from Multiple Constellations (DFMC), the company said. It uses both the L1 and L5 frequencies from the GPS constellation and the E1 and E5a frequencies from the Galileo constellation.
Lockheed Martin said its programs support nearly 4,000 Australian jobs in advanced manufacturing and technology industries. “This contract will grow that footprint with additional jobs in at least four states,” the company said.
Hexagon, U-blox Make Leadership Changes
Hexagon AB has announced that its Autonomy & Positioning division will be led by Maria Luthström, who has worked at the company for seven years, most recently as head of sustainability and investor relations. Luthström will take over from Michael Ritter, who has served as the division’s CEO and president for nearly 14 years.
The company said that Ritter will “oversee all things autonomous across” Hexagon AB including Hexagon Mining and Hexagon Agriculture.
Luthström will also manage NovAtel , VERIPOS , AutonomouStuff , and Antcom Corporation.
In another major management announcement, Thalwil, Switzerland-based u-blox [UBXN] has named Stephan Zizala as CEO, effective Jan. 1, 2023. Zizala was Infineon Technologies’ senior vice president and general manager, automotive high power.
Zizala started at u-blox on Oct. 1, and will take over responsibilities from Thomas Seiler, who will retire on Dec. 31, following 20 years as company CEO.
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:
💲 Intel-owned Autonomous Driving Tech Company Mobileye Files for an IPO. “Intel INTC 0.00%↑ expects Mobileye to be valued at around $30 billion, due to soaring inflation rates and poor market conditions. Regardless, it's still bound to become one of the biggest offerings in the U.S. for 2022 if the listing takes place this year.”
✔ Vodafone Confirms Talks To Merge Operations With Three UK. “Vodafone VOD 0.00%↑ said that the potential transaction would involve both companies combining their U.K. businesses, with Vodafone owning 51 percent and CK Hutchison owning 49 percent of the combined entity.”
Maps:
🚗 The Religious Question of HD Maps: Tesla vs. Everybody Else. “By choosing not to rely on HD Maps, Tesla has undoubtably chosen a much harder problem to solve as their vehicles have no theoretical ‘ground truth’ to compare to. But assuming their approach is successful it should result in a much more capable, intelligent and independent system that doesn’t have the extreme cost burden of building and, more importantly, maintaining an HD Map. “
🏚 Zillow Now Lets iOS Users Explore a Neighborhood With Apple Maps' Look Around Feature. “iPhone and iPad users now will be able to explore the surroundings of a neighborhood directly in Zillow’s app using Apple Maps’ Look Around feature.”
👍 Some Google Maps Users Offered Free Fi Wireless Service for the Rest of the Year. "In a rather surprising move, select Google Maps users are being offered free Google Fi service for the remainder of 2022.”
🗺 A New Google Maps Alternative Launches on CarPlay. “Navigation specialist TomTom [TOM2] has recently updated its very own AmiGO navigation app with support for CarPlay, therefore allowing the software to run on the larger screen inside the car.”
Satellites:
🛰 Can NavIC Dethrone GPS? “For context, it’s expected to offer a positional accuracy of 5 meters compared to the 20–30 meters you’d get out of GPS.”
👏 U.S. Air Force Developing New Nav Technology as a GPS Backup. “In response to concern over GPS jamming by adversaries, the USAF initiated study on the Resilient Embedded GPS/Inertial Navigation System program—shortened to “R-EGI” in military-speak.”
Financial:
✔ Innoviz Files Universal Shelf Registration on Form F-3.
Connected and Autonomous Vehicles:
🚘 Qualcomm Gears up to Drive Automotive Industry Transformation. “Qualcomm’s QCOM 0.00%↑ automotive revenues, traced to telematics and connectivity, are projected to total $1.3 billion in 2022."
🚜 How John Deere Plans To Build a World of Fully Autonomous Farming by 2030. “However, while Deere DE 0.00%↑ is aiming to push further into other autonomous farm vehicles and other technology-aided advancements, the global fleet of such vehicles is currently less than 50.”
Asset Tracking:
🚚 Sigfox Picks up Another Trolley Tracking Deal. “Sigfox operator Heliot Europe signed with Post of Slovenia, the state-owned mail delivery company.”
Location Industry Briefs
Send your news releases to kdennehy@driverlessreport.com. Go to www.locationbusinessnews.com for more news and an archive of stories.
ORBCOMM Awarded U.S. Government Ship Tracking Contract
ORBCOMM has announced that it has been awarded a multi-year contract by a “U.S. government agency” for a competitive renewal of its global Automatic Identification System (AIS) data services used for ship tracking and other maritime navigational and safety efforts. The company was also awarded a separate competitive contract to deliver AIS services to multiple other U.S. Government users.
ORBCOMM’s AIS data will continue to be used in a maritime domain awareness software platform that supports U.S. Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security agencies, the company said. The contract is for 5 years, including option years, which began in August 2022.
Contact: Lina Perez, ORBCOMM, (613) 875-1485, paerez.lina@orbcomm.com, www.orbcomm.com.
Hyundai Mobis Launches 5G Communication Module
Hyundai Mobis has announced that it has developed a 5G communication module for automotive use in telematics services. The 5G communication module features ultra-high-speed connections, ultra-low latency, and hyperconnectivity, the company said.
The 5G communication module combines a communication chip, memory, an RF circuit and GPS.
Contact: Jihyun Han, Hyundai Mobis, jihyun.han@mobis.co.kr, www.mobis.co.kr.
U-blox Rolls Out XPLR-HPG Explorer Kits
Thalwil, Switzerland-based u-blox [UBXN] has announced the XPLR-HPG explorer kits that enable engineers to quickly evaluate and design products requiring centimeter-level positioning capabilities. The XPLR-HPG-1 and XPLR-HPG-2 feature high-precision GNSS (HPG) positioning with real-time kinematic (RTK), dead reckoning, cellular, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth communications, as well as the necessary antennas, the company said.
The XPLR-HPG application boards are also designed to integrate with complementary u-blox services, such as the PointPerfect GNSS augmentation service.
Contact: Natacha Seitz, u-blox, 41 76 436 0788, natacha.seitz@u-blox.com, www.u-blox.com.
Trimble Launches Agriculture Displays
Trimble TRMB 0.00%↑ has launched the GFX-1060 and GFX-1260 displays that allow farmers to map and monitor field information with real-time precision. Featuring an Android-based operating system and enhanced processing power for controlling and executing in-field work, the GFX-1060 has a 10-inch display and the GFX-1260 includes a 12-inch display.
Both displays are compatible with the Trimble NAV-500 and NAV-900 GNSS guidance controllers. When paired with the NAV-900, farmers can achieve increased accuracy by leveraging Trimble's CenterPoint RTX correction service, the company said.
Contact: Trimble, www.trimble.com/agriculture.
Geotab, Verizon Connect and Solera Take Top ABI Research Telematics Spots
Geotab, Verizon Connect VZ 0.00%↑ and Solera Fleet Solutions took the top spots in ABI Research’s 2022 Commercial Telematics Vendors rankings. The company found that Geotab remained the overall leader in rankings as the top global commercial telematics provider. ABI Research evaluated the following companies: Geotab, Gurtam, MiX Telematics, Motive, Samsara, Solera Fleet Solutions, Teletrac Navman, Trimble, Webfleet Solutions (formerly TomTom Telematics), Verizon Connect, and Zonar.
Contact: Deborah Petrara, ABI Research, (516) 624.2558, pr@abiresearch.com, www.abiresearch.com.
Teledyne Exhibits at InterGEO
Teledyne Geospatial will exhibit their latest survey and mapping solutions at InterGEO 2022 in Essen, Germany, October 18-20, 2022. The company will display its Galaxy T2000 airborne terrain mapper for delivering precision data in challenging terrain, weather and vegetation.
The Teledyne booth will feature exhibits in “reality capture”, “airborne mapping”, and “marine solutions” featuring the Teledyne Marine Z-Boat mounted with a CL-360.
Contact: Jennifer Parham, Teledyne Geospatial, Jennifer.Parham@teledyne.com, www.teledyneimaging.com/geospatial.
Sonitor to Merge Subsidiaries
Sonitor Technologies AS has announced that it will merge its Forkbeard and Sonitor Technologies subsidiaries. The company plans to launch the Forkbeard platform for smart mobile devices’ indoor positioning. Palle Furum will serve as chief commercial officer of Europe and the Middle East (EMEA). Murray Robinson will be chief commercial officer for Asia Pacific (APAC).
Contact: Dan Conley, for Sonitor, (312) 593-8461, dconley@beaconpr.com, www.sonitor.com.
Velodyne Acquires Bluecity
Velodyne Lidar VLDR 0.00%↑ has acquired Bluecity, a Montreal-based artificial intelligence (AI) lidar company. The all-stock acquisition is expected to be immaterial to operating expenses and cash usage, the company said.
Bluecity’s executive, software development and sales teams will join Velodyne. Bluecity has partnered with Velodyne for many years to deliver lidar-based solutions for smart city applications.
Contact: Jane Maynard, Velodyne Lidar, PR@velodyne.com.
GeoTraq Selects Manufacturing Partner
SPYR Technologies’ [SPYR] GeoTraq subsidiary has selected Asiatelco Technologies Co. as its manufacturing partner. The company, which has offices in the U.S. and Asia, manufactures wireless terminal products, smart home/appliances, smart IoT applications, security and vehicle safety devices.
Contact: SPYR, tmatula@spyr.com, www.GeoTraq.com.
GPS Insight Offers Scholarships for Trade School
GPS Insight has announced its 'You are the Reason' Skilled Trades Scholarship Program, which awards two $10,000 scholarships to students planning to pursue full-time skilled trades study at a college or accredited vocational-technical school. Active customers of GPS Insight can nominate high school seniors, graduates, or undergraduates with a minimum 2.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale, who plan to pursue a degree or certificate in a fleet or field service trade industry such as construction, mechanical/electrical/plumbing, the motor/power/solar sector, or trucking/automotive.
Contact: Bailey Wray, for GPS Insight, (318) 470-5403, bailey.wray@anthonybarnum.com.
People
Max Muller, who has been with Apple AAPL 0.00%↑ for 20 years and has been leading the Apple Maps team, will officially become vice president overseeing Maps as a whole.
Derek Luke will join Geotab as COO on Oct. 31. Luke was president and board member at Muse by Interaxon.
Tim Schock has been named vice president of smart mobility business development at Parsons Corporation. Schock was president of Lightning Capital Consulting.
Morten Brøgger has been appointed new CEO of MapsPeople AS. He previously was CEO of Wire.
iFIT has named Kevin Duffy as CEO. Duffy served as a board member at Octo Telematics North America.
Jobs
Senior Director, Platform Commerce (US Remote). Trimble.
EMEA Sales Manager. Taoglas.
Sales Manager GNSS/INS. Septentrio.
Multiple Positions. Aisin Europe.
