MapmyIndia Files For IPO
Company Has Automakers, Government Agencies As Customers
MapmyIndia has filed papers with India’s domestic market regulator for an initial public offering. Investors Qualcomm [QCOM] and Zenrin Co. will offer as many as 7.5 million shares, according to published reports.
While the company didn’t reveal the IPO’s value, Reuters reported that the offering could be worth $137.1 million to $164.56 million.
New Delhi-based MapmyIndia, which is also known as CE Info Systems, also powers Apple maps in India, as well as the navigation systems in MG Motor and BMW cars. India recently relaxed restrictions on mapping to allow firms to collect, generate and store geo-spatial data.
Founded in 1992, making it one of the older mapping companies outside of HERE, TomTom and Zenrin, MapmyIndia also includes Honda, Toyota Ola, PhonePe, Yulu among its customers.
ORBCOMM Announces Completion of Acquisition by GI Partners…Now A Private Company
IoT company ORBCOMM Inc. has announced the completion of its acquisition by investment management firm GI Partners for $1.1 billion, including net debt.
The provisions of the deal, announced in April, will have ORBCOMM stockholders receive $11.50 in cash per outstanding share of common stock, which represents 52 percent of the company’s closing share price on April 7.
As far back as the 1990s, ORBCOMM has pioneered remote tracking and monitoring via satellite.
Because of the acquisition, ORBCOMM will become a privately held company, with its stock no longer trading on Nasdaq, the company said. “As a privately held company, we will have the resources and flexibility to accelerate growth by enhancing our operations, fast-tracking innovation, entering new markets, and focusing on customer success,” said Marc Eisenberg, ORBCOMM’s CEO, in a statement.
Contact: ORBCOMM, www.orbcomm.com.
Other Location News:
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✈ New GPS-denied Navigation and Target Designation Features for V-BAT UAS. “Northrop Grumman Corporation and Martin UAV have completed successful flight testing of a V-BAT Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) with new features including GPS-denied navigation and target designation capabilities.”
🛰 Galileo replacement gets green light after UK snubbed EU return: 'Not spending millions'. “The Government appeared to give up on the dream of building a UK alternative when it invested an £364million ($500million) to acquire the satellite company OneWeb from bankruptcy, in conjunction with the Indian company Bharti Global. But now, OneWeb is said to be considering providing Positioning Navigation and Timing (PNT) services.”
😉 TomTom Go Update Makes It a Better Google Maps Alternative on Apple Carplay. “Can the navigation giant beat Apple and Google?”
🛩 These drones could speed up search and rescue after disasters like Ida.
🚛 Geotab Launches in Ireland. “The announcement coincides with the launch of Geotab’s cold chain solution, which enables accurate and continuous temperature monitoring for trucks and vans transporting refrigerated products and goods.”
🚗 TELUS (TU) to Equip General Motors' Connected Cars With 5G Network. “The 5G core network in vehicles will help to bring about performance enhancements with faster music and video downloads in high-quality, secure over-the-air software updates and faster navigation, mapping and voice services with enhanced roadway-centric coverage.”
🚕 Mobileye to Launch Robotaxis in Germany Next Year. “Mobileye broke ties with Tesla following a fatal accident in Florida in 2016.”
Mercedes-Benz Deploys HERE HD Live Map for DRIVE PILOT System
HERE Technologies said its HD Live Map is part of Mercedes-Benz’ new DRIVE PILOT, which is the first commercially available SAE Level 3 automated driving system in Germany. HERE says HD Live Map allows an automated vehicle to effectively “see around corners” with mapping information about the road network.
Mercedes-Benz plans to commercially introduce its DRIVE PILOT later this year with its S-Series cars. DRIVE PILOT controls the vehicle’s speed as well as the distance to the vehicle ahead and guides a car within its lane without any intervention from the driver, the company said.
The cloud-based HERE HD Live Map provides the system with detailed data about the three-dimensional road network, the company said. “[The] ultra-precise positioning system goes well beyond the usual GPS system,” said Georges Massing, Mercedes-Benz vice president MBOS, in a statement.
Contact: Sebastian Kurme, HERE, 49 173 515 3549, sebastian.kurme@here.com.
Hexagon Rolls Out Leica Products For Robot Market
Hexagon AB has launched its Leica BLK ARC and the Leica BLK2FLY for autonomous mobile reality capture. The Leica BLK ARC is a laser scanning sensor for the autonomous navigation of robots and other carrier platforms to deliver fully autonomous mobile laser scanning, the company said.
With the Leica BLK2FLY, users can quickly and easily scan structures and environments accurately and entirely from the air, the company said. The BLK ARC and BLK2FLY connect directly to Hexagon's cloud-based visualisation platform, HxDR, the company said.
The first robotic compatibility for the BLK ARC is with the Boston Dynamics Spot. Enhancing Spot with autonomous reality capture technology, the BLK ARC delivers fully autonomous mobile laser scanning specifically designed for robots, the company said.
Contact: Kristin Christensen, Hexagon AB, (404) 554-0972, media@hexagon.com.
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Location Industry Briefs
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Bridgestone Americas Completes Azuga Acquisition
Bridgestone Americas has announced it completed the acquisition of Azuga Holdings, Inc. for $391 million from Sumeru Equity Partners, Danlaw and other shareholders. The acquisition also includes the Azuga fleet management platform, which features GPS tracking, video telematics, driver behavior management and accident reduction solutions for insurers.
Bridgestone says the Azuga purchase allows them to scale and compliment their existing cloud-based fleet mobility solutions. Bridgestone recently purchased autonomous freight company Einride and its partnership with long-haul trucking company Kodiak Robotics.
Azuga, with 6,000 customers in the U.S. and Canada, will remain headquartered in Fremont, Calif.
Contact: Bridgestone Americas, http://www.bridgestoneamericas.com.
U-Blox Launches U-Center 2 Next Generation GPS Evaluation Software
Thalwil, Switzerland-based u-blox [UBXN] has launched of its new GNSS evaluation software, u-center 2. The software, which runs on Microsoft Windows, offers an interface to configure GNSS products, evaluate their performance, improve the quality of their software, and experience the performance boost achieved using GNSS-related services, the company said.
The software, compatible with the latest u blox M10 GNSS technology, provides personalized workspaces with adaptive window elements offering a choice of views to observe static and dynamic behavior of the connected GNSS receiver, the company said. U-center 2 is free for download at www.u-blox.com/en/product/u-center.
Contact: Natacha Seitz, u-blox, 41 76 436 0788, natacha.seitz@u-blox.com, www.u-blox.com.
Auburn Autonomous Vehicle Laps Competition at Indy
Auburn Engineering's autonomous vehicle research program recently lapped its competition at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in preparation for the the first-ever Indy Autonomous Challenge on October 23.
Comprised of students in Auburn's GPS and Vehicle Dynamics Lab (GAVLAB), Autonomous Tiger Racing (ATR) was the first to run the Dallara AV-21 autonomous race car around the speedway, the school said. Using LiDAR, GPS-INS, computer vision cameras, radar and other sensors, teams must design a software stack that not only allows an Indy Lights car to travel at race pace but interpret draft influence and the movements of competitors, the school said.
Contact: Auburn University-College of Engineering, www.eng.auburn.edu.
Globitel Partners With Comtech for LBS in Saudi Arabia
Globitel has partnered with Comtech Telecommunications Corp.'s Location Technologies group to implement LBS for “two of the biggest mobile operators in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East at large.”
The Saudi Arabia operators, long-time customers of Globitel, received LBS solutions across their 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G networks, the company said.
Contact: Natalie Haddad, Globitel, 962 (6) 5300 130, natalie.haddad@globitel.com; Comtech, www.comtechtel.com.
Sheeva Launches Location API Platform
Sheeva.AI has launched an open API platform to enable mobile app developers to automate and tailor their services specifically to the driving experience. Sheeva.AI's API platform serves as a programmatic interface to monitor real-time vehicle location to automate payments, trigger driver-centric contextual events, and streamline consumption of vehicle services such as fueling, EV charging, parking, tolls, and curbside retail, the company said. “This level of accurate location, at least four [times] better than smartphone GPS, is what enables the last-mile automation of services for the vehicle,” the company said.
Contact: Sheeva.AI, press@sheeva.ai, https://Sheeva.AI.
Green Hills Software RTOS Selected By Raytheon
Green Hills Software said Raytheon [RTN] Intelligence & Space has selected its INTEGRITY-178 tuMP real-time operating system (RTOS) for their Military GPS User Equipment (MGUE) Increment (Inc) 2 Miniature Serial Interface (MSI) with Next-Generation Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC).
RI&S is developing one MSI card for aviation and maritime systems and another MSI card for ground-based systems, and INTEGRITY-178 tuMP will be used in both solutions running on the Arm® processor-based ASIC, the company said. Financial details were not disclosed.
Contact: Green Hills Software, http://www.ghs.com.
Virtual Surveyor Enhances Software
Virtual Surveyor has developed an enhanced point cloud workflow for Version 8.3 of its drone surveying software. The new cloud workflow allows users to take full advantage of the new Lidar payloads like the DJI Zenmuse L1, the company said. These Lidar drone sensor systems enable users to capture survey-grade elevation data even in vegetated terrain, the company said.
Contact: Mark Paulson, Virtual Surveyor, (917) 789 1555, info@virtual-surveyor.com, www.virtual-surveyor.com.
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