Mapbox Makes Slew of Announcements at CES
Company rolls out 3D Live Navigation, Mapbox for EV and makes a deal with Toyota Europe
LAS VEGAS—Mapbox rolled out its Mapbox 3D Live Navigation at CES that seeks to improve a driver’s ability to understand their digital map in different scenarios. 3D Live Navigation combines 3D lane models, real-time sensor information, sign data, environmental models, 3D landmark buildings, dynamic lighting conditions and weather data, the company said.
“With 3D Live Navigation, we’ve added dynamic data layers that really change the qualities of the map and make them contextual to the consumer,” said Young Hahn, Mapbox CTO. “The whole goal is to make it easier for drivers to understand what is going on with the map. This could be in a complex interchange where a car has to get over two lanes to make the right maneuver.”
Mapbox 3D Live Navigation also integrates ambient weather and road weather alerts. Sun angles, scene lighting, and shadow angles are true to the time of day and actual local conditions, providing visual orientation cues reflecting the real world. “Weather is much more contextually integrated into the navigation experience. Drivers experience temperature drops of 20 degrees, light and dark road conditions,” Hahn said. “We wanted to represent the conditions dynamically, including atmospheric conditions, to tell drivers what is happening to the vehicle.”
The company also announced Mapbox for EV for electric vehicles that predicts available range, finding the best charging locations and enables payments directly from the infotainment screen at the charging location, the company said. Mapbox for EV, which comes as an option in the in-car navigation application Mapbox Dash, can also be integrated into any in-car or mobile application via Mapbox cloud APIs.
"Today, EV charging is broken," said Peter Sirota, Mapbox CEO, in a statement. "Finding functional and available charge points is clunky and the need to download and manage multiple apps for charging is a painful part of being an EV owner, adding to their already substantial range anxiety.”
By reviewing analytics from their own applications, and what OEMs tell them, the company has found out that more than 40 percent of charging attempts fail, Hahn said. “It’s a challenge for drivers. Sometimes the location of charging stations is in a remote corner of a parking garage, on the third level, or not working,” he said. “When it is working, sometimes the operator wants you to download an app and add a credit card.”
The company also announced that it is partnering with Toyota Motor Europe to offer cloud navigation powered by Mapbox Dash. Toyota’s European vehicle models Yaris, Yaris Cross and Aygo X will have access to lane-level navigation; parking search, including real-time parking availability; speed limit and speed camera warnings, the company said.
PreAct Technologies Raises $14 Million
Portland, Ore.-based PreAct Technologies has announced it has raised $14 million in Series B funding. Led by I Squared Capital, the round also included funding from State Farm Ventures, Luminate, and Traylor Capital.
“The bulk of the new funding will be used to enhance research and development, staff up to support mass production of units and also staff up to support all the other nonautomotive markets like robotics, ag tech, healthcare and smart city applications,” said Paul Drysch, PreAct Technologies CEO.
PreAct, which manufactures software-definable flash lidar technology, has experienced high growth over the last year. The company says its sensor costs less than other lidar systems on the market. Some of its markets include automotive, healthcare, smart buildings, consumer electronics, robotics and trucking
The company also announced that it will acquire Barcelona-based Gestoos, which makes a software platform that allows users to generate AI algorithms for their use cases. Financial details were not disclosed.
“By marrying a powerful AI algorithm development platform with our best-in-class flash Lidar, we have created a unique environment for our customers to quickly solve difficult use cases. For example, current in-cabin and cargo monitoring solutions were falling well short of delivering the kind of performance OEMs and fleets are looking for,” Drysch said. “The Gestoos AI development platform comes pre-integrated with our flash Lidar solution.”
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HERE Works With AWS To Provide Indoor/Outdoor Device Positioning Services
LAS VEGAS—HERE Technologies said, at CES 2023, it is working with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to deliver developers with improved performance for indoor/outdoor positioning capabilities to track and manage any number of internet-of-things (IoT) devices.
AWS recently introduced the AWS IoT Core Device Location to track and manage IoT devices without relying on GNSS hardware. The company said that not all IoT devices can be equipped with GPS due to its high-power requirements, larger device footprint and higher integration costs.
HERE Positioning, supported by AWS IoT Core Device Location, will use such technologies as Wi-Fi and cellular networks instead of GNSS technologies.
In other company news, HERE was named the No. 1 location platform for the sixth consecutive year by industry analyst firm Omdia. The research company assessed core data, mapping and platform capabilities, platform services and monetization strategy.
HERE obtained an overall score of 7.88 points, while Google $GOOG received 7.47 points and TomTom [TOM2] had 6.76 points. Mapbox was fourth with 6.03 points.
In other CES news, Qualcomm QCOM 0.00%↑ rolled out Snapdragon Satellite, which allows global, two-way messaging capabilities for smartphones. The solution is supported by Snapdragon 5G Modem-RF Systems and L-band spectrum provided by the Iridium satellite constellation.
The new satellite solution is supported by Garmin’s GRMN 0.00%↑ emergency response service, Garmin Response.
In other CES news:
🚗 Qualcomm Reveals New Connected Vehicle Platform. “Semiconductor giant Qualcomm QCOM 0.00%↑ has unveiled a concept car featuring its new connected vehicle platform, which it says will support a digital cockpit and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) on a single chip.”
🙂 Giles Rhys Jones, CMO of what3words, said that VinFast is the first electric car manufacturer to have the company’s location technology integrated. He said that the company has partnerships with 13 OEMs. “We are also seeing a huge uptake from emergency services in Los Angeles and Dallas,” he said. “We are also seeing such delivery and logistics companies as DPD and DHL use our service.”
✔ Sheeva.AI and AeonCharge announced a strategic partnership that will bring in-vehicle activation and payment of more than 50,000 public EV chargers in North America.
👍 Mercedes Is The First Automaker To Offer Level 3 Self-Driving In The US. “The German luxury brand will receive its certificate of compliance from the state of Nevada soon.”
🚎 Tewksbury, Mass.-based inertial sensing company Aceinna has focused on electrification and autonomous driving the past year, said Teoman Ustun, company vice president of marketing. “Our sensors provide accuracy and speed to focus on high-power applications. On the automization side, we are focusing on [SAE] Level 2 and a half and Level 3 and higher for our INS turnkey navigation systems,” he said.
😮 At a CES keynote, Intel's INTC 0.00%↑ autonomous driving unit Mobileye CEO said that is has more than $17 billion in bookings through 2030.
✔ Hyundai Mobis Partners With Qualcomm for Autonomous Driving. “Under the agreement, announced at CES, Hyundai Mobis will work on developing an integrated autonomous driving controller that can scale up to level 3 based on Qualcomm's Snapdragon Ride Platforms.”
👍 AirBolt launched its Airbolt GPS tracker at CES for consumer and enterprise markets. The company said it is growing in several consumer markets, including pets, bikes and travel.
😣 Nothing at CES 2023 Can Solve the Nightmare of Getting Around Las Vegas. “The great irony of coming to CES to witness the future of mobility has always been the fact that Las Vegas is so irredeemably hard to get around. Just to get from one rosy-hued keynote about a “frictionless” future of mobility to the next, one must battle the inhuman scale, perpetual congestion, and incoherent infrastructure of this neon Babylon.”
🚘YoGoKo and Geoflex are partnering to offer V2X and precise positioning.
🙁 Kagan: Ces 2023 Shows Difficulty Companies Face Getting Noticed. “This year’s CES illustrated how difficult it is for companies to be seen and heard trying to shout above all the noise created by other companies.”
🏎 The Indy Autonomous Challenge (IAC) team PoliMOVE from Politecnico di Milano and the University of Alabama won the second annual Autonomous Challenge @ CES at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, reaching max speeds of 180 mph. TUM Autonomous Motorsport from Technische Universität München took second place.
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Top News:
✔ U-blox Reports Record Fy 2022 Revenues of Approximately CHF 624 Million.
🛰 Maxar Technologies buys Aurora Insight. “Aurora Insight has been acquired by Maxar Technologies MAXR 0.00%↑ after Maxar announced a strategic investment into the company roughly a year ago.”
😮 Researchers Could Track the GPS Location of All of California’s New Digital License Plates. “A team of security researchers managed to gain ‘super administrative access’ into Reviver, the company behind California’s new digital license plates which launched last year.”
☹ Chinese Tracking Device Hidden in UK Government Car Sparks National Security Fears.
Maps:
🤔 The Overture Maps Foundation: Yet Another Global Map. But Will it Fly? James Killick: “Well, having talked to a few people in-the-know, I think I can distill it down to three things: Money, Control and Interoperability.”
🤞 Introducing Apple Business Connect. “Apple AAPL 0.00%↑ introduced Apple Business Connect, a free tool that allows businesses of all sizes to claim their location place cards and customize the way key information appears to more than a billion Apple users across Apple Maps, Messages, Wallet, Siri, and other apps.”
🙂 Apple Maps Launches New Parking Feature in U.S. and Canada. “In partnership with parking platform SpotHero, Apple Maps now provides parking information for more than 8,000 locations across the U.S. and Canada. Parking availability can be filtered based on EV charging, wheelchair accessibility, and more.”
😦 “Feels Like Google Is Letting Waze Die”: Widespread Bug Makes Google Maps the Only Option. “And in the case of Waze, the most recent struggle comes down to mysterious freezing happening on Android Auto.”
🤞 Google Releases New Android Auto Update As Everybody Wants the Big Redesign. “The release of the highly-anticipated Android Auto redesign, also known by pundits as Coolwalk, was, perhaps, the most important announcement of the year for the application and for its growing community out there.”
Connected and Autonomous Vehicles:
🤨 South Korea To Complete Preparations for Level 4 Autonomous Car by 2024. “South Korea will set up safety standards and an insurance system for the launch of Level 4 autonomous vehicles in the country by next year, the transport ministry said. The effort includes Motional, a 50-50 joint venture set up in 2020 between Hyundai Motor Co. and U.S. mobility startup Aptiv to test fully autonomous vehicles for ride-hailing services.”
IoT:
👌 Semtech Strengthens Clientele With LoRa Selection. “SMTC recently announced that Sindcon (Singapore) IoT Technology and IoT Kreasi Indonesia used its LoRa devices and LoRaWAN standard.”
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Airgain Partners With Deutsche Telekom for Borderless IoT
Airgain has partnered with Deutsche Telekom IoT to integrate its asset tracking devices with connectivity from the teleco across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) as well as within the United States. Airgain’s cellular-based asset tracking solution allows for tracking throughout an asset’s entire journey, whether inside, outside, or in transit, the company said.
These asset tracking devices have a battery performance of up to 14 years, the latest in cellular technologies including LTE-M and NarrowBand IoT (NB-IoT), the company said. They can location tracking through cellular, GPS, and WiFi triangulation.
Contact: Brian Critchfield, Airgain, (760) 579-0200 ext. 5412, media@airgain.com, www.airgain.com.
Razor Tracking and EFC Systems Partner
Razor Tracking and EFC Systems have partnered to integrate data within their respective platforms to allow customers to remotely monitor vehicles and non-powered equipment. Razor Tracking's solutions feature fleet monitoring, inspections, safety reporting, dash cameras, maintenance, routing and geofencing, the company said.
The EFC Systems by Ever.Ag integration functionality will be available in February.
Contact: Razor Tracking, http://razortracking.com.
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