ITS World Congress: Hodgepodge of Technology That Lacks Focus
Is this venerable trade show still too government focused?
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HAMBURG, Germany—While conference organizers say this week’s 2021 ITS World Congress here is breaking attendance records with more than 13,000 attendees, some contend that the show lacks a focus as it is a gaggle of autonomous vehicles, tolls, drones, government traffic infrastructure and other technology.
In one of the few major announcements, HERE Technologies has partnered with Bridgestone to make make its Mobility Solutions Unit’s connected vehicle data available on the HERE Marketplace. Bridgestone Mobility Solutions, which services more than 1.2 million vehicles, is seeking to use connected vehicle data to improve smart city operations, road safety and traffic management, the company said.
HERE also made these announcements at ITS World Congress: Advanced Real-Time Traffic service and Probe Data, which includes lane-level information, expanding inner-city coverage and helps agencies understand mobility patterns, the company said. HERE Probe Data comprises of billions of GPS data points from vehicles on the road that HERE gathers every day, leveraging over 150 different probe data providers.
The company also said it is a founding shareholder of the Mobility Data Space in Germany. Mobility Data Space is a marketplace that allows companies to exchanged data to develop new products. In HERE’s case, they are partnering with Volkswagen Group for a vehicle sensor data-based hazard warning service.
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, MOIA and ARGO AI are currently testing autonomous ridesharing in Hamburg, which is planned to go into production in 2025.
In other ITS World Congress news:
Continental showed off its Autonomous Mobile Robot for both delivery and agriculture use.
Bird Introduces Smart Sidewalk Protection With GNSS Integrated
Bird has rolled out its Smart Sidewalk Protection technology, along with partner u-blox [UBXN], which will be integrated into the company’s electric vehicles. Smart Sidewalk Protection will combine u-blox’s ZED-F9R high precision dead reckoning module with centimeter-level sidewalk mapping and Bird’s suite of onboard vehicle sensors.
Thalwil, Switzerland-based u-blox contends that more cities, which are attempting to integrate micromobility into their climate action plans, are seeking technology that prevents sidewalk and footpath riding.
“Having GNSS on scooters is not new. It allows [companies] to track and manage their fleets,” said Alex Ngi, Product Manager Positioning at u-blox. “However, we are seeing evolving city-to-city regulations worldwide that require precise positioning.”
As opposed to traditional GPS with cloud-based maps that can take more than 15 seconds to respond, Bird's Smart Sidewalk Protection can bring a vehicle that has entered onto a sidewalk to a safe stop, the company said.
“After three years of building, testing, and piloting a range of technologies including but not limited to on board cameras, GPS tracking, ultra-wideband, and beacons, we found that each was insufficient with regard to accuracy, precision, immediacy, or scalability,” said Scott Rushforth, Bird’s chief vehicle officer, in a statement.
Bird, which is combining its business with Switchback II Corp. [SWBK] and has shared mobility fleets in 300 cities worldwide, said its sidewalk detection technology is being tested in Milwaukee and San Diego, and is expected to be piloted in Madrid in early 2022.
Contact: Natacha Seitz, u-blox, 41 76 436 0788 natacha.seitz@u-blox.com.
Polte and VMware Partner to Offer 5G Precise Positioning for Open RAN
Polte has partnered with VMware to enable an Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) product for what it calls global “5G Precise Positioning,” the company said. The deal, which leverages Polte as a xApp on VMware’s RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) platform, plans to address the challenges of security, accuracy and seamless cellular continuity that Polte says previously created barriers to access for 5G Precise Positioning.
“We plan to unlock a plethora of new global asset tracking use cases, especially within 5G Industrial and Critical IoT,” said Stephen Spellicy, VMware vice president of product marketing and business development, in a statement.
VMware’s RIC platform, championed by the O-RAN Alliance, allows operators to launch and optimize new cloud-native services and xApps, the company said. The platform enables Polte’s location xApp to not only democratize 5G Precise Positioning, but offer a foundation for other xApps which benefit from location awareness. “Solutions providers should think of location as a system, not a feature.” said Polte CEO Ed Chao, in a statement. “Taking a holistic approach to location at the earliest stages of any 5G deployment is fundamental to the success of offering value in 5G to enterprises.”
Contact: Christina Wicker, Polte, (949) 527-0923, christina@polte.com, www.polte.com.
Other Location News:
News tip? Send them to kdennehy@driverlessreport.com. Go to www.locationbusinessnews.comfor more news and an archive of stories.
🤦♂️ Following a Vote Against Unionizing, Mapbox Workers Say They’re Experiencing Harassment. ““After our election, Mapbox execs promised that there would be no retaliation against organizers. That was a lie,” the Mapbox Workers Union (MWU) wrote in a Sept. 22 Twitter thread addressing the topic. “The retaliation has already started at Mapbox. Organizers are being fired on flimsy excuses, others are being intimidated and threatened.”
😲 The EU’s Galileo Project Is in Jeopardy as Elon Musk’s SpaceX Receives Approval for a GPS Competitor. “Experts have given Elon Musk’s business, SpaceX, the go light to include GPS into its Starlink satellites, allowing it to compete with the EU’s Galileo system.”
👍 Comtech [CMTL] Inks $5.6M Deal for Messaging Application Support. The contract, from an anonymous “tier-one mobile network operator,” was awarded to Comtech’s Trusted Location group.
✔ Royal Institute Contributes to U.S. Discussion of Resilient PNT in Transportation. “It is always good to get others' perspective and validation that the U.S. isn't the only country dealing with such issues.”
🤷♂️ Who Will Survive the Coming Shakeout of Lidar Suppliers? “Co-founder and CEO Angus Pacala thinks Ouster [OUST], which went public in March, can survive the shakeout.”
😮 GM-backed Cruise Targets 1 Million Self-driving Vehicles by 2030. Cruise CEO Dan Ammann said the company expects “to scale the business rapidly.”
👍 Accurate and Reliable Responder Location-tracking Scheduled To Be Released Early Next Year. “POINTER (Precision Outdoor and Indoor Navigation and Tracking for Emergency Responders) is scheduled for a soft commercial release in early 2022, with a full commercial rollout expected later in 2022.”
🛩 Alphabet’s Wing Tests Drone Deliveries From Shopping Center Rooftops in Australia. “Within the first six weeks of operating from the Grand Plaza, Wing's drones have already made 2,500 deliveries to several Logan suburbs.”
🙁 GPS Lessons from Before 9/11 Still Endanger the U.S. “Public policy must ensure, primarily, that safety is maintained even in the event of loss of GPS,” officials wrote in the 2001 Volpe Report.
🚑 IoT-Enabled Location Services: Gain the Data to Enhance Hospital Operations and Patient Care. “Using an RTLS solution, the system can monitor if a healthcare worker washed their hands upon entering and leaving a patient room or even patient bays with sub-room level location accuracy mechanisms.”
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Location Industry Briefs
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Sheeva.AI Closes Funding Round
Sheeva.AI has closed a strategic round of funding, led by Hagiwara Electronics Co., Ltd. of Japan, and the Aggarwal Family of the Sterling Group. The company will use the funding to fuel the adoption of its connected vehicle technology and Open API platform for automation of location-based services and in-car payments. Sheeva.AI said that the investments build on the long-term collaboration with Hagiwara America and the Aggarwal Family in Asia to open the way for relationships with automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers in North America, Europe, and APAC.
Contact: Sheeva.AI, press@sheeva.ai.
Orolia to Demonstrate Locator Beacons
Orolia will introduce the new Aviation Partner Portal during MRO Europe 2021. The new platform will include documentation for Ultima-DT and Ultima-S, Orolia’s new-gen Emergency Location Transmitters (ELT), the company said.
In addition, machine learning algorithms have been applied to location, transit and stop-time calculations, the company said.
Contact: Sophie Zangs, Orolia, 33 (0)6 07 42 39 33, sophie.zangs@orolia.com, www.orolia.com.
Zonar Celebrates 20th Anniversary
Seattle-based Zonar, which has partnered with thousands of fleets, said it is celebrating its 20th year in business. Founded in October 2021, the company rolled out its Electronic Verified Inspection Reporting (EVIR) solution. In 2015, the company was acquired by Continental AG.
Contact: Ben Hohmann, Zonar, (206) 455.9072, ben.hohmann@zonarsystems.com, www.zonarsystems.com.
Descartes Rolls Out AI and Machine Learning Enhancements
Descartes Systems Group [DSGX] has unveiled artificial intelligence (AI)- and machine learning (ML)-based enhancements to its Routing Mobile & Telematics suite, the company said. These enhancements include Descartes AI Advisor, an intelligent configuration and monitoring module that allows users to determine the best route optimization strategies to meet business goals.
Contact: Cara Strohack, Descartes, (800) 419-8495 ext. 202025,
cstrohack@descartes.com, www.descartes.com.
Join u-blox for a webinar on the new PointPerfect GNSS Augmentation Service.
Onfleet Integrates Software for Azuga Fleet Management Product
Azuga has integrated its fleet management solution with logistics software from Onfleet. The integration combines data on the status of fleet drivers and their vehicles with customer work orders, so fleet managers have a real-time view of field service operations, the company said. It uses GPS, artificial intelligence, vehicle diagnostics, and in-vehicle cameras to provide fleet managers a clearer picture of what’s happening on the road, the company said.
Contact: Kevin Wolf, for Onfleet, kevin@tgprllc.com.
CalAmp's Tracker Launches iOn Fleet Management Software in U.K.
CalAmp [CAMP] has announced that its subsidiary, Tracker Network Limited, has launched CalAmp's iOn fleet and asset management software in the United Kingdom. The software will enable commercial fleet operators in the U.K. to not only track driver behavior and vehicle usage, but also manage portable assets through a single, easy-to-use platform, the company said.
The iOn software also provides access to a tracking tool that aims to improve workflow and deliver business-critical data to fleet operators, the company said.
Contact: CalAmp, www.calamp.com.
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