GrabMaps to Power Location-based Services for AWS
Amazon Location Service targets industry in growing Southeast Asia market
Southeast Asia’s GrabMaps, a subsidiary of regional app powerhouse Grab GRAB 0.00%↑, will power location-based services for Amazon Location Service in eight countries.
Amazon Location Service, which is part of Amazon Web Services (AWS), allows developers to add maps, points of interest, geocoding, routing, tracking, and geofencing to their applications, the company said. As part of the deal, AWS customers, through Amazon Location Service, will have access to regional mapping data that includes more than 50 million addresses and POIs from GrabMaps.
AWS is targeting tech, logistics, telecommunications, and government agencies that require location-based services for applications. “With the rapid rise of Southeast Asia’s digital economy, having access to accurate and cost-effective mapping data is critical to efficient operations especially in the e-commerce, transportation, and logistics sectors. The integration of GrabMaps into Amazon Location Service now provides hyper-localized and up-to-date mapping data across Southeast Asia for AWS customers and their end users,” said Conor McNamara, AWS ASEAN managing director, in a statement.
GrabMaps was initially an enterprise service that was meant for in-house use. However, the unit has grown to power Grab’s app services across the region through community-based mapping.
Overall, GrabMaps leverages Grab’s network of consumers, merchants, driver and delivery partners to extract and refresh mapping data, the company said. This includes information from millions of orders and roads that includes real-time feeback on road closures and business address changes. In addition, the company said it has help to add more than 800,000 kilometers of missing roads to the OpenStreetMap.
For its part, Grab operates in 480 cities in eight countries in the Southeast Asia region (Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam). The Grab app offers access its driver and merchant partners for food or groceries, send packages, hail a ride or taxi and pay for online purchases. The app also allows access to such services as lending, insurance, wealth management and telemedicine.
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London Is a Tough Drive, Says TomTom Traffic Index
TomTom [TOM2] has released its 12th annual TomTom Traffic Index this week that revealed London’s city center was the slowest to drive through in 2022, with an average speed of 11 mph. The report detailed traffic trends in 389 cities from 56 countries.
The company says that traffic has increased 60 percent in the 389 cities monitored since 2021. The report also tested not only the driving time, but the money spent in transit and environmental impact per driven mile.
The report said that despite inflation spiking around the globe and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, driving was still the major mode of transport in most cities. “With congestion, fuel consumption increased as well. Consequence: drivers around the world spent 27 percent more on average to fill up their petrol tanks than in 2021, while those driving diesel cars shelled out 48 percent more in 2022 than the year before,” the report said. “With fuel prices hitting the roof, Hong Kong became the costliest city to drive in, with more than $1000 spent by a driver commuting every day at rush hour.”
TomTom tracked the traffic in 80 U.S. cities, saying that New York saw an average travel time of more than 23 minutes per six-mile drive. Washington, D.C. and San Francisco had travel times of more than 19 minutes. The fastest U.S. travel time was in Knoxville, Tenn.
Contact: TomTom, www.tomtom.com/Traffic-Index.
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Ouster and Velodyne Finalize Merger
Creating a lidar powerhouse, Ouster OUST 0.00%↑ and Velodyne have completed their previously announced merger. While the companies say it was a “merger of equals,” the new entity will not use the Velodyne name.
The combined companies will operate with more than $315 million in cash and save $75 million a year. The new Ouster will have more than 850 customers in the automotive, industrial, robotics, and smart infrastructure industries, the company said.
Ouster said it hopes to retain 350 employees in its San Francisco headquarters and worldwide offices. However, CNBC reported that Ouster will cut between100-200 positions, mainly in operations where roles overlap.
Velodyne shares ceased trading on Nasdaq last week. Each Velodyne share was exchanged for 0.8204 shares of Ouster common stock, the company said.
Key leadership positions will be Angus Pacala, CEO; Mark Frichtl, CTO; Mark Weinswig, CFO; and Darien Spencer, COO.
Contact: Heather Shapiro, Ouster, press@ouster.io, www.ouster.com.
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Otonomo and Urgently to Combine
Otonomo OTMO 0.00%↑ and Urgently have announced that they are merging in an all-stock deal. Urgently and Otonomo stockholders will own approximately 67 percent and 33 percent, respectively, of the new entity, which will trade under the ULY ticker.
After closing, Otonomo will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Urgently, whose investors include BMW i Ventures, Porsche Ventures, Jaguar Land Rover’s InMotion Ventures, American Tire Distributors, Iron Gate Capital and Emerald Technology Ventures.
In a SPAC deal in 2021, Otonomo went public at a $1.4 billion valuation. However, the company, which had Avis, Alliance Holdings, SK Holdings and Bessemer as investors, has seen its valuation dip to a little more than $70 million. Urgently had 2022 revenue estimated at more than $185 million, which was a 25 percent increase over 2021 totals.
Urgently and Otonomo have more than 100 partnership agreements across the automotive OEM, transportation and mapping, insurance, fleet and rental sectors covering up to 70 million vehicles, the company said.
The combined companies will target such applications as first notice of loss for insurance carriers; fleet management with connected vehicle data; and vehicle ownership experience that connects data with Urgently’s mobility assistance solutions.
Contact: Juliet McGinnis, Otonomo, press@otonomo.io, www.otonomo.io.
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News tip? Send them to kdennehy@driverlessreport.com. Go to www.locationbusinessnews.com for more news and an archive of stories.
Top News:
😐 Trimble's Transportation Revenue Falls 3 Percent In Q4. “Tech solutions firm expects acquisition of Transporeon to close by April.”
🚙 U.S. Senators Urge Telecom Agency to Ok Use of Connected Vehicle Spectrum. “Senators Gary Peters and Cynthia Lummis urged the FCC to approve waiver request to enable deployment of Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) technology in the 5.9 GHz band.
😮 US Space Force Crafting New Schedule for GPS Ground System. “The service is re-evaluating the delivery schedule for the Next-Generation Operational Control Segment, an upgraded version of the ground system used to operate GPS satellites. The program, dubbed OCX, was most recently planned for delivery this April.”
🚚 Sustainability, Safety Take Center Stage at Geotab Connect 2023. “Geotab has 3.2 million vehicles connected, a 60 percent increase from the last Geotab Connect in 2020.”
✈ Disruption of GPS Signals at Two Airports Increases Risks of Flight Safety. “According to details, the problem is being reported at around 150 nautical miles from the Allama Iqbal International Airport and Sialkot International Airports.”
Maps:
🗺 Apple Maps Is Good Now, and That's a Big Problem for Google. “Google Maps tends to offer arbitrary commands like ‘turn left in 200 meters’ rather than ‘turn left at the next crossing,’ and the latter makes more sense. Add Apple Maps' cleaner interface to this, with fewer labels and more visible streets and roads, and I prefer driving with this service.”
😐 Petal Maps Will Bring a Huge Change in User Interface. “Huawei Petal Maps is testing a new app version 3.3.0.205 in beta mode and it comes with a huge set of changes in terms of features tagged along with a brand-new user interface.”
👍 Google Wants To Help Developers Make Experiences Like Maps' New 'Immersive' View. “The technology behind Google’s GOOG 0.00%↑ new immersive view in Google Maps is now available for developers to use.”
😉 Google Maps Rival Gets New Features to Become a Better Waze Alternative. “HERE WeGo has just received an important update for iPhone and CarPlay users, with new features now in charge of finding a faster to the destination when heavy traffic is detected.”
🤔 "It Feels Like Google Doesn’t Want Us to Use Waze": Users Again Better on Google Maps. “An error that’s plaguing Android Auto as we speak is pushing some Waze users to Google Maps, as the navigation app freezes at random times for no clear reason.”
Connected and Autonomous Vehicles:
🚚 Self-Driving Truck Companies Face a Potential Roadblock in California. “California Assembly Member Cecilia Aguiar-Curry introduced in late January a bill that would require a trained human safety operator to be present any time a heavy-duty autonomous vehicle operates on public roads in the state.”
🚘 NTSB Finds No Evidence Tesla Autopilot Used in Fatal 2021 Texas Crash. “The federal vehicle safety watchdog found no evidence the company’s driver assistance system, which is marketed as Tesla Autopilot, was in use at the time of the crash.”
🛺 Amazon’s Self-Driving Car Shuttles People on Public Roads for the First Time. “Zoox, the self-driving startup owned by Amazon AMZN 0.00%↑, carried passengers in its fully autonomous vehicle on public roads for the first time.”
Fleet:
🚛 Smaller Fleets Lagging Behind in Telematics Adoption and Missing Out on an 'Integral' Part of Fleet Operations. “Penske’s 2022 Telematics Use and Trends report reveals that 54% of large fleets, 51% of medium fleets and 37% of small fleets use telematics. Large fleets continue to adopt telematics at a higher rate than small and medium fleets.”
Drones:
🛩 Regulus Cyber Launches Ring – A Counter-drone/ UAS System Using GNSS Manipulation. “The counter-UAS system using unique GNSS manipulation technology to defeat UAS threats, including swarms, multi-direction attacks, dark drones, manually-piloted drones and 4G/5G drones.”
Other News:
🛰 Galileo Signal Component Tested for Internet of Things Use. “One of Europe's Galileo satellites has been reconfigured to emit a new signal component optimized to serve low-end receiver devices and Internet of Things applications. “
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Send your news releases to kdennehy@driverlessreport.com. Go to www.locationbusinessnews.com for more news and an archive of stories.
Geo Week 2023 Offers New Industry Products and Applications
Geo Week 2023 in Denver this week offered several industry panels on drones, survey, lidar, mapping and other topics.
Geo Week press releases:
Autodesk Construction Cloud accepts Cintoo – Premium Integration Partner
Presagis and Airbus Partner to Provide VELOCITY 5D Users Direct Access to OneAtlas Satellite Imagery
Presagis Launches Cloud-Based VELOCITY 5D Digital Twin Production Platform
Esri Releases New ArcGIS Reality Software to Capture the World in 3D
Exyn Announces Partnership with Easy Aerial to Integrate Autonomy on New Flagship Airframe
Comparing the Mosaic X vs Ladybug6 – the two newly released 360° mobile mapping cameras
Advanced Navigation Launches Boreas D70
Advanced Navigation has announced the Boreas D70, a fiber-optic gyroscope (FOG) inertial navigation system (INS). D70, part of the digital FOG product line, is tailored for surveying, mapping, and navigation across subsea, marine, land and air applications, the company said.
Boreas D70 combines closed-loop DFOG and accelerometer technologies, with a dual antenna RTK GNSS receiver. While D70 does contain a GNSS receiver, it’s not required for gyrocompass operation, the company said.
Contact: Laura Hayward, Advanced Navigation, laura.hayward@advancednavigation.com, www.advancednavigation.com.
GEODNET Announces GNSS Corrections Service
GEODNET has announced a Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) GNSS corrections service for OEMs and systems integrators. GEODNET is compatible with thousands of fielded GNSS receivers from all major brands, on-vehicle automated steering and spraying kits, as well as the latest drones and robots, the company said. The GEODNET data stream is a full constellation corrections service that includes more than 1,700 reference stations, RTCM 3.2 data format and GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and BDS signal tracking.
Contact: GEODNET, info@geodnet.com, https://geodnet.com/ntrip.
Teledyne Geospatial Releases Galaxy Onboard
Teledyne Geospatial has released Galaxy Onboard, a workflow-focused solution that enables airborne surveyors to deliver quality-controlled processed data in real time. The company says that Galaxy Onboard allows companies entry into airborne mapping without months of expertise or training.
Galaxy Onboard features a rugged onboard computer, real-time processing engine and quality control system. Galaxy Onboard extends the lidar sensor into a full solution that accelerates workflow from airplane to office, the company said.
Contact: Jennifer Parham, Teledyne Geospatial, Jennifer.Parham@teledyne.com, www.teledyne.com.
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UK Competition Seeks Quantum-Enabled Systems for PNT
Innovate UK is launching a Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competition that seeks to deliver quantum-enabled systems for positioning, navigation and timing, and quantum-enabled sensors for navigation applications, such as magnetic or gravity field. Companies can apply for a share of a 25-million pound award. The competition closes on April 12, 2023.
Contact: Innovate UK, 0300 321 4357, support@iuk.ukri.org.
Sewio Releases On-Premises Version of myRTLS
UWB-based real-time location system (RTLS) vendor Sewio has announced the availability of an on-premises version of their set of subscription services and software, myRTLS Care. The myRTLS Care package consists of software that monitors the system and provides alerts with proactive support services, the company said.
The Sewio system is built on ultra-wideband technology (UWB) and delivered with RTLS Studio remote management and visualization software. Sewio customers include Volkswagen, Toyota, Budweiser Budvar, TPCA, Škoda and ENEL.
Contact: Sewio, www.sewio.net.
POND Mobile Transitions U.S. Division to POND IoT
POND Mobile has transitioned its U.S. division to POND IoT. The new POND IoT brand represents the company’s focus on the Internet of Things. POND IoT’s capabilities include asset tracking and management.
Contact: POND IoT, www.pondiot.com.
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Patience Pays Off: How Xavier Orr's AI Research Led to Deals With Google, Apple, Airbus and More.
The Future of GPS Could Be on the Ground Rather Than in Space. Interview with NextNav NN 0.00%↑ CEO Ganesh Pattabiraman.
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