Halo Using T-Mobile 5G Network for Las Vegas Self-Driving Service
5G Rapidly Becoming Mainstream for Location, Autonomous Vehicle Services
Halo has launched a commercial driverless car service using the T-Mobile [TMUS] 5G network in Las Vegas. The company, which has operated on the T-Mobile 5G network since the beginning of the year, is working with local government to accelerate electric vehicles integration with public transit systems to on-demand driverless cars.
The company says it will begin offering rides to customers later this year with service initially available in urban parts of the Las Vegas area. The company said customers can summon the vehicles through a mobile app, take them to a location, then drive to the next pick-up.
Industry experts would argue that the company’s use of the “driverless” term is too early as Halo said it would achieve Level 3 capabilities “over time.” In a recent TechCrunch article, Halo said the service will start with five vehicles, with a remote operator driving the car to the customer. The user then can drive the car for the duration of the trip.
This process is part of the company’s RemotePilot technology, in which Halo trains in-house drivers to remotely operate the driverless car over T-Mobile’s 5G network. “Full autonomy is a massive challenge from both a technical and social trust perspective that won’t be solved for years to come,” said Anand Nandakumar, the founder and CEO of Halo, in a statement.
Key Takeaways:
5G networks have tremendous implications for autonomous vehicles, emergency services, indoor positioning and industrial IoT applications, where localization will be critical.
T-Mobile is touting this announcement, saying its 5G program is a strong platform for autonomous car innovation because of its network that has more coverage than AT&T or Verizon.
Halo was founded by executives from Uber, Cruise Robotics, Proterra, Amazon, and other companies.
Contact: Halo, press@halo.car, http://halo.car; T-Mobile, MediaRelations@t-mobile.com, http://investor.t-mobile.com.
Analyst Blasts Intelligent Transportation Trade Organization
In an article titled, “Wireless Transportation Disruption,” veteran industry analyst Roger Lanctot hammers Washington, D.C.-based trade group ITS America and its affiliates as being “disconnected from automakers, wireless carriers, and technology companies.”
The reason? The reallocation of wireless spectrum by the FCC last year to shift away from dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) in favor of cellular-based V2X. ITS America, their client state DOTs and suppliers have been resistant to this change, Lanctot said.
ITS America, along with American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO), filed a lawsuit in Washington, D.C., District Court to enjoin the FCC, challenging its authority to reallocate the wireless spectrum, Lanctot said. “ITS America is simultaneously seeking reimbursement for DOT’s that have spent their own money on DSRC installations. One estimate from the USDOT puts the cost of decommissioning 67 existing operational DSRC installations and 65 sites currently in planning at $645 million,” Lanctot said.
He said that ITS America member suppliers Kapsch and Siemens, as well as Applied Information, are offering to buyback DSRC equipment from DOTs. “All of this is to suggest that ITS America is not only out of touch with shifts in technology and the market, it is losing touch with its own members,” Lanctot said.
Sierra Wireless Partners with Microsoft to Enable Advanced Asset Tracking Capabilities
Sierra Wireless [SWIR] said its IoT tracking product, Acculink, has been integrated with Microsoft Azure IoT Central [MFST] to allow companies to track the location and condition of high-value and sensitive assets.
Acculink is now integrated with Azure IoT Central to bundle both the hardware and platform, the company said. In addition to location, Acculink can alert customers if an asset is exposed to light, changes in temperature, humidity, shock, or other conditions, the company said.
Building Acculink with Azure IoT Central gave Sierra Wireless a number of important advantages— including an acceleration of product development, reducing complexity and being able to offer the solution globally, said Sam George, Microsoft Azure IoT corporate vice president, in a statement.
Acculink is currently available to customers throughout North America and comes in three offerings: Acculink Cargo for tracking shipments, Acculink Fleet for tracking vehicles, and Acculink Satellite which provides global satellite tracking. Sierra Wireless plans to expand availability of the solutions to other regions in the future.
In other company news, Sierra Wireless, at our deadline, named Phil Brace as its new President and CEO.
Contact: David Climie, Sierra Wireless, (604) 321-1137, dclimie@sierrawireless.com, www.sierrawireless.com.
Other Location News:
News tip? Send them to kdennehy@driverlessreport.com.
😒 Connected car company Xevo, owned by Lear, hit with layoffs in Seattle area. “Bellevue, Wash.-based Xevo has laid off 97 workers, according to a new filing with the state of Washington. The company, acquired by global automotive giant Lear in 2019, develops connected-car software for automakers including Toyota, GMC, Hyundai, and others.”
🚀 Quanxun Spatial Intelligence is commercializing precision geolocation technology. “At the end of 2020, the company teamed up with Huawei Maps and AutoNavi (also known as Gaode) to provide mapping services accurate to within 1 meter, which it dubbed ‘lane-level’ navigation for drivers. Quanxun also provides this solution to a host of original equipment manufacturers like DJI, Xpeng Motors, Xiaomi, SAIC Motor, and China’s State Grid.”
👍 NovAtel OEM638 Used on Epic Branson Flight. “We use the NovAtel OEM638 for our inertial navigation system. It provides positioning, velocity and attitude using GPS and inertial. It is the heart of the system.”
🚛 GlobalmatiX Expands into North America. “The company specializes in M2M/IoT and supplies vehicle manufacturers, telematics providers, and rental and carsharing operators with telematics for GPS positioning, tracking, remote vehicle diagnostics, and predictive maintenance at the OEM level.”
🏠 Airbnb Partners With what3words To Support UK Staycations. “Airbnb and location tech app what3words have announced a collaboration in support of the booming demand for holiday properties in the UK.”
🌞 Solar-powered Asset Tracking: The Next Generation of IoT Sensors. Interesting press release about a unique tracking technology.
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Location Industry Briefs
Send your news to kdennehy@driverlessreport.com.
Company Recovers $500,000 in Stolen Trucks with Verizon Connect
Verizon [VZ] said its Connect Reveal fleet management software allowed law enforcement to recover 10 new trucks that had been stolen.
The trucks, worth $500,000 and owned by Verizon customer Diamond Landscapes, had location information passed to law enforcement without further incident or downtown, the company said.
Contact: Krys Card Grondorf, Verizon, (562) 370.0331, krys.grondorf@verizon.com, www.verizonconnect.com.
Trimble Introduces Mobile Mapping System
Trimble [TRMB] has introduced the Trimble MX50 mobile mapping system for asset management and mapping. The vehicle-mounted mobile Lidar system is targeted to first-time mobile mapping users and experienced providers, the company said.
Trimble says the MX50 is a “practical choice” for highway and road inspection and maintenance organizations; city, state and local governments; public utilities; contractors; and survey companies wanting to expand their service capabilities.
The Trimble MX50 features company-designed profiling lasers for high-accuracy data collection, a 360-degree panoramic camera and a GNSS/IMU positioning system from Applanix.
Contact: Trimble, geospatial.trimble.com/products-and-solutions/trimble-mx50.
NextNav Pinnacle SDK Becomes a Unity Verified Solution
NextNav said that its NextNav Pinnacle SDK is now a Unity Verified Solution. This means that the NextNav Pinnacle SDK has been verified to ensure it is optimized for integration with the latest version of the Unity editor, the company said.
This allows Unity developers who use the SDK to integrate into any application build with the company’s engine. The NextNav Pinnacle SDK delivers precise altitude data for 3D geolocation applications by integrating vertical location into any application built with Unity, the company said.
Contact: NextNav, partnerships@nextnav.com, www.nextnav.com.
u-blox Rolls Out Automotive-Grade Positioning Modules
Thalwil, Switzerland-based u-blox [UBXN] has introduced automotive-grade positioning modules that are operational up to 221 degrees. The NEO-M9L modules and the M9140-KA-DR chip are built on the u-blox M9 GNSS platform and use dead reckoning techniques to provide position data when satellite signals are compromised or unavailable, the company said.
The modules are designed for first-mount automotive solutions. Applications include integrated navigation systems such as in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) and head units, integrated telematics control units (TCU), and V2X, the company said.
Contact: Natacha Seitz, u-blox, 41 76 436 0788, natacha.seitz@u-blox.com, www.u-blox.com.
JAVAD GNSS Offers New TRE-3S OEM Board Promotion
JAVAD GNSS said that only a couple weeks remain in the introductory offer for its new TRE-3S OEM board. The company is offering a buy one, receive a second with an evaluation kit for free. The company one unit can operate in the field, while the other with an evaluation kit can be used in a lab for development. The offer expires July 31, 2021.
Geoflex Demonstrates Centimetric Positioning in Africa
Geoflex has demonstrated its centimetric positioning product for the first time in Brazzaville, Congo, on July 8th. The demonstration used a dual-frequency GNSS chipset, which received both the signals from GPS and Galileo satellites and the Geoflex corrections service sent from the Nigerian NIGCOMSAT-1R satellite, the company said.
This demonstration was part of a larger program led by ASECNA (Agence pour la Sécurité de la Navigation Aérienne en Afrique et à Madagascar) with Thales Alenia Space , Nigerian Communications Satillite (NIGCOMSAT) to develop a regional Satellite-Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) for the aviation in Africa and the Indian Ocean.
Contact: Ludovic Privat,Geoflex, ludovic.privat@geoflex.fr, www.geoflex.xyz.
IMS Rolls Out Vehicle Security Product
IMS rolled out its IMS Vehicle Security Solution, a vehicle security monitoring and recovery product for fleets. The company said that there are increased vehicle thefts because an increase in the number of keyless start vehicles and that only 52 percent of commercial fleet vehicles have GPS tracking devices installed.
IMS Vehicle Security Solution is a fully-managed offering which comes complete with 24/7 monitoring and alerts, recovery and repatriation services, access to a security monitoring portal, the company said. Fleets also can upgrade to the IMS Sleeper mini-GPS tracker.
Contact: IMS Vehicle Security, https://ims.tech/security.
TXI Systems and BudgetGPS Integrate Fleet Software
TXI Systems is integrating its TOPS Dispatch software, in a partnership with BudgetGPS, into HAAS Alert’s Safety Cloud. Customers using TOPS Dispatch software can activate Safety Cloud for Towing and Roadside Assist fleets. Vehicles equipped with TOPS Dispatch software and BudgetGPS require no additional hardware to begin using Safety Cloud, the company said.
Motorists can receive these alerts through the Waze app on mobile devices, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, or other compatible vehicle information systems, the company said.
Contact: BudgetGPS, sales@txisystems.com, www.budgetgps.com.
TSD Becomes Ford Telematics Service Provider
North Andover, Mass.-based TSD Mobility Solutions said it is now a Ford [F] Dealer Telematics Services Provider. TSD will integrate its telematics products into Ford and Lincoln vehicles through its Courtesy Transportation Program and Rent-A-Car teams. Possible use cases include allowing a Ford service managers in Los Angeles to draw a geofence of their local area to deter customers from taking a gamble with a rental in Las Vegas or going on a joyride in Tijuana, the company said.
Contact TSD, sales@tsdweb.com, www.tsdweb.com.
People
Ridecell named Shiva Kumar chief financial officer (CFO). Shiva joined Ridecell in 2019 as executive vice president of business development and strategic finance. Shiva led the latest financing round and played an important role in securing and strengthening long-term partnerships with industry ecosystem leaders and customers, the company said. Ridecell also announced that Woven Capital, a venture capital unit of Toyota, has made an investment in Ridecell.
Contact: Jane Gideon, Ridecell, (415) 682-9292, press@ridecell.com.
CalAmp [CAMP] named Richard Scott as senior vice president, general counsel and secretary. Scott will oversee CalAmp's global legal affairs, compliance, corporate governance and secretarial functions, the company said.
