Intel To Take Mobileye Public
Deal Could Value Israel-based Company at $50 Billion
Intel said it will take its autonomous vehicle unit Mobileye public in mid-2022—in a deal that could value the Israel-based company at more than $50 billion, according to published reports.
Intel said it confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for the proposed IPO. After the IPO, which had been expected since December, Intel said it expects to retain Mobileye’s executive team, including CEO Amnon Shashua, while holding on to a majority ownership.
Mobileye, founded in 1999, shook up the autonomous vehicle industry when it was purchased by Intel in March 2017 for $15.3 billion. The acquisition of Mobileye, which makes sensors and cameras for driverless vehicles, sent a strong message to Intel’s competitors, namely Qualcomm and Nvidia , that they saw huge growth in this market segment.
At CES this year, Mobileye rolled out its EyeQ Ultra AV on a chip (AVoC) for Level 4 self-driving vehicles. The company also introduced Road Experience Management (REM) mapping technology for a future version of Ford BlueCruise, among other announcements.
The company has big automakers as clients: BMW, Audi, Ford, Volkswagen, Nissan, Honda and General Motors.
At CES this year, Mobileye rolled out its EyeQ Ultra AV on a chip (AVoC) for Level 4 self-driving vehicles. The company also introduced Road Experience Management (REM) mapping technology for a future version of Ford BlueCruise.
The company has big automakers as clients: BMW, Audi, Ford, Volkswagen, Nissan, Honda and General Motors.
Mobile World Congress Wrap Up: 60,000 Attendees, Upbeat Exhibitor Attitude
BARCELONA—The final numbers are in: more than 60,000 people attended the Mobile World Congress here, according to organizer GSMA. While that’s a big drop from the 109,000 attendees the smartphone trade show drew in 2019, those numbers were more than CES drew in January.
On the last day at MWC, Huawei unveiled Petal Maps, a map navigation system that leverages mobile phone hardware and intelligent algorithms. The mapping capabilities include indoor and outdoor positioning, lane guidance, offline maps, 3D architecture, multi-terminal collaboration between smartphones and watches.
Huawei said that the Petal Maps platform will be open its map services and capabilities to developers and partners worldwide.
The company said that Petal Maps Platform comes with 22 service capabilities including indoor positioning, altitude and map editing for developers and operators in the taxi, food takeout, logistics, e-commerce, hotel, restaurant and social networking sectors.
While saying Petal Maps was launched at MWC, it really has been out since 2020 through its app, which has 20 million monthly active users in 160 countries, Huawei said.
In other conference news, Wipro Limited [WIT] launched its “Cloud Car” platform at MWC, which was unveiled during the Engineering the Cloud Car Ecosystem panel. Wipro’s Cloud Car platform will bring together its Wipro FullStride Cloud Services and engineering capabilities with a 40-partner ecosystem as well as consortiums.
The platform, marketed to automakers who seemed not to attend MWC this year, features an integrated, cloud-native software solution for software-defined vehicles (SDVs).
“Today, most SDVs come with pre-set features that are difficult and time-consuming to upgrade, rendering them outdated as new technologies come to market,” said Thomas Mueller, Wipro CTO, engineering and R&D services, in a statement. “By 2030, the vast majority of new vehicles will be SDVs.”
In other MWC news:
Taoglas, which partnered with Swift Navigation at MWC, announced its smallest 9-in-1 combination antenna with dual-band GNSS and 5G/4G, the Taoglas MA990 Guardian.
Pozyx Introduces RTLS Planning Suite, Exhibiting at SXSW
Belgian real-time tracking provider Pozyx recently rolled out its RTLS (real-time location solutions) rolled out its RTLS Planning Suite for anchor and network planning. The company also said it is exhibiting at next week’s South by Southwest conference in Austin in the Belgian Pavilion.
The company, which has championed the use of ultra-wide band (UWB) real-time location solutions (RTLS), was founded in 2015 as a spin-off from Ghent University in Belgium.
Pozyx CEO and co-founder Samuel Van de Velde said that when the company launched, UWB was seen as a niche location technology. “Many companies compared UWB to four other location technologies—it’s something we saw in our first two years,” he said. “We were able to show proven installations, demonstrate that it is accurate and the business value for companies.”
One of the big initial projects for Pozyx wasn’t industrial, it was farming, Van de Velde said. “One of our main customers was agriculture animal tracking. We had an OEM partner selling [an RTLS] to their dealing network in dairy farming,” he said. “It had to be easy to install. In that environment, you couldn’t have Ph.Ds and engineers install it for them.”
The technology has gotten to the point that it can achieve 10-to-30 centimeter accuracy in industrial environments, Van de Velde said.
The RTLS Planning Suite, in four modules, generates infrastructure recommendations and installation proposals with accurate budget input, the company said. “Cisco and others have their own planning suite for Wi-Fi. Once installed, it is difficult to move,” Van de Velde said. “For UWB, the RTLS Planning Suite can capture the fields to allow companies to accurately know where to place their infrastructure.”
Pozyx has been working with other organizations to standardize location technology, including the Open omlox API standard, an ecosystem of suppliers, Van de Velde said.
Pozyx, with an office in Greenville, S.C., says that the European indoor location market is more mature than in the United States. “America is a little behind. Europe has a good ecospace for indoor location,” Van de Velde said. “It was challenging to open an office during COVID, but the [U.S.] South is a hub for manufacturing and logistics.”
Contact: Elly Schietse, Pozyx, 32 479 761825, marketing@pozyx.io, www.pozyx.io.
Other Location News:
News tip? Send them to kdennehy@driverlessreport.com. Go to www.locationbusinessnews.com for more news and an archive of stories.
🛩 Ukraine Using Drone Called The Punisher Against Russian Forces. “The Ukrainian military is using "game-changing" drones that can carry 3kg of explosives and hit targets up to 30 miles behind enemy lines.”
🙁 HawkEye 360 Detects GPS interference in Ukraine. “Prior to Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, the Herndon, Virginia-based geospatial analytics company noted continual and increasing GPS interference near Ukraine.”
👌 Nvidia Invests $10M in Sidewalk Robot Delivery Company Serve Robotics. “Chipmaking giant Nvidia is investing $10 million in Uber spinout Serve Robotics, funds the startup will use to further expand its sidewalk delivery robot service outside Los Angeles and San Francisco.”
🚓 Waze Helps the U.S. Police Deal With Traffic Problems Caused by Heavy Construction. “In other words, authorities themselves can update Waze with real-time reports and therefore help the app provide the best route for those driving in a specific region.”
🙁 Google Maps and Waze Have One Major Flaw, Apps Must Offer Safer Routes. “A study conducted by researchers at Texas A&M and authored by Transportation Institute researcher Soheil Sohrabi and Dominique Lord, professor in the Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, shows that sending drivers on the fastest route comes with a significantly higher risk of an accident.”
🚲 Laser-Projected GPS Directions Should Be a Standard Feature on Every Bicycle. “But of all the other ways there are to get GPS directions while out for a ride, having a big directional arrow projected on the road ahead of you is, hands down, the coolest.”
👏 Phillips Connect’s Smart GPS Gateways Provide Telematics Benefits. Phillips Connect has introduced three new Smart nosebox GPS gateways – Smart S7 Swiveling Nosebox, Smart Q-Box, and Smart iBox – that provide telematics benefits.
👍 Starship Technologies Raises Another $42M to Fuel the Growth of Its Fleet of Self-driving Delivery Robots. “The company, founded and developed in Estonia but headquartered in San Francisco, has picked up $42 million in equity, bringing the total raised to over $100 million in the last month.”
🛩 Airspace Link Receives Esri's 'Analytics to Insights' Award at the Esri Partner Conference. “State and local government partners and commercial operators have described Airspace Link's AirHub Platform as the ‘smart maps for drones’ but with the added complexity that the roads for drones in the sky don't exist yet.”
✔ Turn by Turn Navigation With Mapbox.
✔ Ituran Has Record Subscriber Growth in Fourth Quarter, 2021 Results.
✔ Innoviz Technologies Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Operational and Financial Results
👌 GeoComm Joins the Esri ArcGIS Marketplace with GeoComm Indoor Maps.
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Location Industry Briefs
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Bornemann AG Partners With Quuppa
Bornemann AG is partnering with Quuppa to offer their customers the Quuppa Intelligent Locating System, a platform for RTLS. “Real-time positioning not only reduces search times, but also optimises material flows,” said Lars Bornemann, CEO and founder of Bornemann AG.
Bornemann solutions are tailored to such industries as healthcare, which has been aware of the many advantages of using RTLS, the company said. Bornemann offer sensor technologies that support the automated tracking of medical equipment.
Contact: Sari Arjamo-Tuominen, Quuppa, sari.arjamo-tuominen@quuppa.com.
Foresight Williams, Verve and u-blox Invest in Zero Point Motion
Foresight Williams, together with Verve Ventures and u blox [UBXN] have announced a $2.81 million investment into Zero Point Motion Limited, an early-stage semiconductor company which is developing a chip-scale inertial measurement unit (IMU) for motion-tracking and indoor navigation.
The investment will used for key hires and ensure early moves into the market, the company said.
Contact: Claire Rose, WAE, 44(0)7483014046, Claire.rose@wae.com, www.wae.com.
Hexagon-Veripos Expand Product For DP and Vessels
Hexagon-Veripos are expanding their SPAN GNSS+INS technology from NovAtel to dynamic positioning (DP) applications and vessels. SPAN GNSS+INS offers GNSS and inertial navigation system (INS) for centimeter-level positioning for operators. With SPAN GNSS+INS solution, dynamic positioning vessels can endure GNSS outages in tracking and through short periods of radio-frequency interference, jamming or spoofing.
Contact: Kristin Christensen, Hexagon AB, (404) 554-0972, media@hexagon.com.
BeWhere Launches Tracker for North American Market
BeWhere [BEW] has announced the North American launch of its miniaturized, low-power 5G tracker, the BeMini, and its exclusive availability through Bell Canada. The BeMini is a miniaturized GPS tracker with indoor location that works on Bell’s LTE-M (low-power 5G) network.
The tracker is designed for B2B applications, but can also be used for B2C, the company said. It operates on a micro-USB rechargeable battery and combines GPS with the addition of Wi-Fi location tracking to offer indoor positioning. In Canada, Bell will distribute the BeMini through its commercial salesforce, targeting mid- to large enterprises, the company said.
Contact: Margaux Berry, BeWhere, (844) 229-4373, info@bewhere.com.
Parkopedia Partners With Sunny Cars
Parkopedia has partnered with Sunny Cars, one of the largest rental car specialists in Europe, to provide parking information to their drivers through the ‘Sunny2go’ web application. Parkopedia gathers information about every parking location, including the precise position, number of spaces, prices, hours of operation, electric vehicle charge points, height restrictions and more, the company said.
Sunny Cars works with selected fleets, with more than 8,000 locations in more than 120 countries. The Sunny2go mobile app now features Parkopedia’s parking data.
Contact: Laura Biss, Parkopedia, 44 (0)7813736265, laura.biss@parkopedia.com, business.parkopedia.com.
Phunware Issued Notice of Allowance From USPTO
Phunware [PHUN)] has announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a Notice of Allowance for the patent application, “Monitoring Outdoor and Indoor Regions with Mobile Devices.” The new patent allowance further strengthens and protects Phunware’s core patent portfolio, which includes the Multiscreen-as-a-Service (MaaS) platform, the company said.
The patent allowance expands Phunware’s existing patent family for monitoring a user who crosses from an outdoor location via GPS to an indoor location via high or low density Wi-Fi networks, physical or virtual beacons, or both, the company said.
Contact: Phunware, (512) 693-4199, press@phunware.com.
CalAmp Partners With Noregon
CalAmp [CAMP] has partnered Noregon to deliver remote vehicle diagnostics and predictive maintenance capabilities to transportation, logistics and fleet operators. The partnership integrates real-time data insights from CalAmp iOn fleet management software, edge computing, and cloud platform services with predictive algorithms in Noregon’s TripVision remote diagnostic software, the company said.
Contact: Ben Osborne, Noregon, (336) 338-7060, bosborne@noregon.com.
MiX Telematics Partners With SGESCO-MAX
MiX Telematics [MIXT] has partnered with SGESCO- MAX in Australia. The companies plan to offer an end-to-end fleet ecosystem that targets safety metrics for customers. "The partnership will provide new ways for Australasian companies to improve the safety of its fleet organisations including driver monitoring, GPS tracking and video telematics,” says Scott McPherson, Managing Director of SGESCO-MAX.
Contact: Saphia Verdiglione, MiX, Saphia.verdiglione@mixtelematics.com, www.mixtelematics.com.
Utility Trailer Manufacturing Partners With Phillips Connect
Utility Trailer Manufacturing Co. has partnered with Phillips Connect for trailer telematics with the launch of Utility Connect. Utility Trailer is the industry’s largest manufacturer of refrigerated trailers and a leading manufacturer of dry freight vans, flatbeds, and Tautliner curtainsided trailers.
The Utility Connect product suite will include GPS trailer tracking, light-out detection, intelligent ABS fault code reporting, among others.
Contact: Elda Paloulian, Artime Group, elda@artimegroup.com.
Omnitracs Gets Canadian ELD Certification
Omnitracs has announced that its Intelligent Vehicle Gateway electronic logging device (ELD) has received mandatory third-party certification in Canada. Omnitracs' ELD has been certified by FP Innovations for compliance with the Canadian ELD Mandate.
Full enforcement of the ELD mandate is scheduled for June 12—and Omnitracs said that fleets should adopt ELD technology to avoid possible violations and service disruptions.
Contact: Omnitracs, www.omnitracs.com.
Zebra, Quuppa, Inpixon Grab Gartner Recognition
Zebra Technologies Corp. [ZBRA] and Inpixon [INPX] have been recognized by Gartner as a Leader in the Magic Quadrant for Indoor Location Services. Zebra’s location solutions range from passive RAIN RFID tags on packages to active tracking of athletes in real time.
Inpixon offers location-aware enterprise apps, RTLS solutions for smart factories and other products. Quuppa uses its angle of arrival (AoA) and angle of departure (AoD) technology for its solutions.
Contact: Bill Abelson, Zebra Technologies, (631) 738-4751, bill.abelson@zebra.com; Inpixon, marketing@inpixon.com, inpixon.com/contact-us; Sari Arjamo-Tuominen, Quuppa, sari.arjamo-tuominen@quuppa.com.
People
Parkopedia has appointed John Donaldson as Chief Financial Officer. Donaldson has an extensive financial background, including multiple executive roles within leading businesses across technology and telecoms, the company said.
Trevor Curwin has joined Sheeva.AI as Director of Partnerships. Curwin has 15 years 15 years of experience in distributed asset management around renewables and IoT/smart cities.
CalAmp [CAMP] promoted Brett Jackson to Senior Vice President of Transportation and Logistics. Jackson joined CalAmp in 2021, serving as the company’s Vice President of Strategic Partnerships.
Jobs
Product Manager, Data Collection. Javad GNSS.
Current Openings. Maxar.
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