Meta Reaches $37.5 Million Facebook Location Settlement
Class action alleged Facebook tracked users after they had turned off Location Services
Expert nationwide installation services for fleet technologies.
Meta Platform META 0.00%↑ this week reached a $37.5 million settlement of a proposed class action accusing Facebook of violating users’ privacy by tracking them without permission. According to published reports, the settlement, filed in San Francisco federal court, requires a judge’s approval.
The settlement hopes to resolve allegations that Meta’s Facebook violated California law, in addition to the company’s own privacy policy, by gathering data from users after they had turned off the platform’s Location Services on mobile devices.
The class action lawsuit, filed in 2018 in the U.S. District Court's Northern District of California, alleges that Facebook users were not only tracked without permission, but their IP addresses were used for positioning to push targeted ads, according to Reuters.
While it is not clear how much each class members will receive from the settlement, there will be a website devoted to claims, according to court filings.
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Geotab Surpasses 3 Million Subscribers
Geotab has announced that it has surpassed 3 million subscribers worldwide, signaling a strong market for fleet telematics and data products. The 22-year-old company has added 1 million new subscriptions, despite the global pandemic, since 2020, said Geotab CEO Neil Cawse.
Geotab has leveraged the data from its devices, saying 55 billion data points are harvested each day. In addition, the company’s OEM telematics platform has been installed in many government fleets.
“In the government sector specifically, there is certainly additional opportunity for expansion as fleets seek to better manage and optimize performance and achieve sustainability commitments and mandates,” Cawse said. “Geotab is the telematics provider for New York City and the State of California among others, and has just recently added the State of Ohio, Oklahoma and the US Airforce, and will continue to drive success in this segment moving forward.”
As a location market, commercial telematics continues to mature, with an estimated grow of $34.79 billion in 2020 to US$158.31 billion by 2028, the company said.
While fleet telematics seems to be growing in such places as South America, mature markets like those in the United Kingdom have been fueled by government regulations. In fact, this week, The UK Ministry of Transportation is mandating that every vehicle (in categories N2 and N3) that were manufactured on and after Sept. 1, 2022, or new models made on Jan. 1, 2023, will be required to be outfitted with a tracking system if they carry hazardous goods.
Get your company’s products and services in the 2022 Location Industry Yearbook!
Trimble Ventures Invests in Sabanto
Trimble's TRMB 0.00%↑ venture capital fund, Trimble Ventures, has announced an investment in Chicago-based Sabanto, agricultural technology company that offers Farming as a Service (FaaS). While Trimble Ventures didn’t disclose its investment amount, it is part of a $17 million Series A funding round led by Fulcrum Global Capital, with participation from DCVC Bio, Hico Capital, Yara Growth Ventures, Cavallo Ventures and Johnsonville Ventures.
Sabanto provides FaaS through multiple smaller tractors equipped with its autonomous technology for in-field operations. Sabanto, which operates in several Midwestern states, has a fleet of smaller 60 and 90 HP tractors to autonomously till, plant, seed, weed, apply and mow, the company said.
"Sabanto is an ag technology pioneer offering autonomous tractors and services for row crops that can increase efficiency and maximize profitability for farmers,” said Phil Sawarynski, Trimble Ventures managing director and co-head, in a statement.
Sabanto, which has planted more than 750 acres of corn and soybeans with a 60 HP tractor, plans to increase its service to more farmers nationwide with the new investment. "We've assembled a team of ag-experienced engineers and scientists, working alongside farmers, proving this isn't just a thought exercise,” said Craig Rupp, Sabanto founder and CEO, in a statement.
Contact: Trimble Ventures, ventures.trimble.com.
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Other Location News:
News tip? Send them to kdennehy@driverlessreport.com. Go to www.locationbusinessnews.com for more news and an archive of stories.
Financial:
✔ u-blox Reports First Half 2022 Financial Results.
Policy:
🙁 Russian Aggression Shows the West's GNSS Weakness. NextNav’s NN 0.00%↑ Ganesh Pattabiraman: "It is worrying that the UK is currently the only United Nations Security Council member who does not have either sovereign GNSS capability or PNT service backup."
Maps:
😞 The Underlying Angst of Google Maps and Apple Maps. James Killick: “Will Google Maps GOOG 0.00%↑ and Apple Maps AAPL 0.00%↑ succeed in being the prominent ‘Explore & Discover’ platforms, or will they forever be stuck in a ‘Find it, Get there!’ world?”
😣 Apple Is About to Copy the Worst Part of Google Maps. “We’ve known for a while that the Cupertino-based tech giant has been looking into new ways to generate revenue, and recently, it has emerged that the company plans to bring ads to a series of new products. Including Apple Maps, that is, as search ads could allow paying businesses to be displayed at the top of the results screen for certain keywords.”
😒 Inaccurate Maps Delay U.S. Government's $42 Billion Broadband Plans. “The U.S. government [has] yet to allocate any of the $42 billion set aside for expanding broadband coverage because of inaccurate maps.”
🗺 4 Ways Google Maps Needs To Improve Now. “Despite having many downsides over its competitor, Apple Maps is attracting iPhone 13 users because of its superior privacy settings, settings that Google needs to mimic.”
👍 New Waze Update Launches on iPhone and CarPlay With an Important Fix. “The company explains that Waze 4.86, which is live today on iPhone (and therefore on CarPlay as well), fixes a problem related to toll prices and distances, as in some cases, this information wasn’t displayed correctly.”
🥇HBD Snap Map! “Today, more than 300 million Snapchatters SNAP 0.00%↑ open the map each month.”
Military:
🛰 Commercial Geospatial Technologies That Detect GPS Disruptions To Be Tested in Military Exercises. “The project is led by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), a Pentagon organization focused on commercial technology.”
Autonomous Vehicles:
🚘 Tesla's Full-self Driving Software Is Going Up in Price Again. “From $12,000 to $15,000.”
🚗 Lincoln Unveils Self-Driving Concept Car. “Lighting plays a major role, with an artificial intelligence system and GPS sensors detecting people on approach and enabling a light symphony to follow them around the car.”
IoT:
⚡ Semtech Aids Clientele With Lacuna Space's LoRa Pick. “Semtech’s LoRa devices and LoRaWAN standard are also integrated into Smart Paddock’s Bluebell smart GPS ear tag for monitoring livestock location in real time and analyzing cattle’s behavioral data to solve livestock management issues.”
Drones:
🛩 FAA Awards $2.7M in Drone Research to Support Disaster Preparedness, Emergency Response. “The announcement is the third round of Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence (ASSURE) grants, which brings the total to 20 grants valued at $21 million for Fiscal Year 2022.”
👌 Commaris Announces Partnership with FIZUAS Unmanned Aircraft Systems.
🤞 LIG NEX1 Pushes for Development of Jammer Capable of Disrupting Drone Control Signals. “LIG Nex1 said it has proposed the development of drone jammers, citing the accumulation of technologies for navigation jamming, radio jamming and control network jamming equipment.”
Location Industry Briefs
Send your news releases to kdennehy@driverlessreport.com. Go to www.locationbusinessnews.com for more news and an archive of stories.
Woolpert Creates Digital Innovations Division
Woolpert has announced that it has established a Digital Innovations division to support its nearly decade-long partnership with Google GOOG 0.00%↑. Woolpert Digital Innovations was established to advance the company’s Google Cloud and Google Maps services for worldwide clients, the company said. Woolpert recently expanded its Google partnership internationally to serve customers in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, the company said.
Contact: Woolpert, www.woolpert.com.
Xos Signs Partnership With NationaLease
Xos XOS 0.00%↑ has announced a partnership with NationaLease, one of the largest truck leasing organizations in North America, to offer the Xosphere fleet management platform to customers. Xosphere features telematics, vehicle tracking, and battery health management.
This is a big partnership for Xos NationaLease has 900 locations and more than 165,000 vehicles in its fleet, the company said.
Contact: Xos, press@xostrucks.com, www.xostrucks.com.
HERE Gets AWS Supply Chain Competency
HERE Technologies has achieved the Amazon Web Services AMZN 0.00%↑ Supply Chain Competency designation that recognizes the company for helping customers solve supply chain challenges. In May, HERE announced a strategic collaboration agreement with AWS to help organizations improve supply chain visibility, transportation and logistics, fleet routing, and ETAs from the first-to-last mile of delivery, the company said.
HERE previously earned AWS Public Safety and Disaster Response Competency status to use location-based services to allow customers to protect against natural or man-made emergencies and disasters.
Contact: Reed Findlay, HERE, (703) 966-6284, reed.findlay@here.com.
Iteris Wins Sub-Contract With Virginia DOT
Iteris ITI 0.00%↑ has announced that it has been awarded a sub-contract by the Virginia Department of Transportation for connected and automated vehicle (CAV) related planning services. The project, which includes the company’s specialized consulting services, supports VDOT’s initiative to keep pace with advancements in CAV technologies, the company said.
Iteris will deliver a CAV data strategic plan to help VDOT gain a understanding of how to integrate CAV data from external sources into VDOT’s information technology and operations technology systems.
Contact: Breanna Wallace, Iteris, (949) 996-5348, brwallace@iteris.com, www.iteris.com.
Polaris Wireless Location Solution Integrated in FLIP Go Phone
Polaris Wireless has announced that its Z-axis location solution will be integrated into TCL’s new feature phone, the FLIP Go. This is the second commercial public safety product deployment for Polaris Wireless in the past three months, the company said.
The company’s vertical location technology has been demonstrated to meet the FCC’s 3-meter indoor vertical location accuracy requirements which the U.S. wireless carriers have begun certifying this year.
Contact: Becky Obbema, for Polaris Wireless, (408) 569-3546, becky.obbema@interprosepr.com.
Aeris Launches IoT Readiness Calculator
Aeris has launched the IoT Readiness Calculator, a free online tool to help determine enterprises’ level of preparedness for deploying IoT solutions. The IoT Readiness Calculator provides organizations planning IoT projects with a scorecard that outlines, from a business and technical perspective, how it compares to others in the same vertical market or geography, the company said. Besides a security analysis, the online tool examines such variables as latency, integration and scalability.
Contact: Dawn Marks, Aeris, dawn.marks@aeris.net, www.aeris.com.
Inpixon RTLS Module Receives FCC, ISED Certification
Inpixon INPX 0.00%↑ has announced that its Swarm Chirp V3 RF transceiver module received a Grant of Equipment Authorization certification from the FCC and a certificate from ISED (Innovation, Science and Economic Development) Canada. The company also signed a CE declaration of conformity confirming the product passed RED, EMC and LVD tests.
The Inpixon Swarm Chirp is a 2.4 GHz chirp transceiver module that integrates into real-time location system (RTLS) devices, enabling signals of up to 1,000 meters
Contact: Inpixon, marketing@inpixon.com, www.inpixon.com.
Parkopedia Partners With ETCP
Parkopedia recently partnered with China-based ETCP in a deal that allows drivers to find and pay for parking at 5,000 locations in 60 cities in the country. This includes more than 3 million parking spaces. According to a driver survey carried out by Parkopedia and Zhongyan last year, there is a growing demand for in-vehicle parking express payments in China, with less than 1 percent of those surveyed still paying for parking with cash, the company said.
Contact: Adam Calland, Parkopedia, 44(0)7838219129, adam.calland@parkopedia.com, www.business.parkopedia.com
Freeze Tag Offers Location-Based Scavenger Hunt App
Location-based game creator Freeze Tag [FRZT] said it is continuing its partnership with McKinney, Texas, Parks and Recreation for its Eventzee scavenger hunt app. The app, which encourages locals to explore during July each year, allows players to find hidden QR codes and follow instructions to complete GPS challenges.
The company also offers Munzee, a social platform with more than 12 million locations worldwide.
Contact: Freeze Tag, (714) 210-3850, ext. 26, info@freezetag.com, www.freezetag.com.
People
Daimler Trucks’ subsidiary Torc Robotics named Peter Vaughan Schmidt as new CEO, effective Oct. 1, 2022. Michael Fleming is stepping down as CEO, but will remain on the company’s Board of Directors.
Ridecell named Heidi DiAngelo as Strategic Business Development Director and Kathryn Mullins as Growth Director. DiAngelo was Geotab’s Senior Business Development Manager.
Mappedin named Zoltan Szabadi as VP of Partnerships. His experience includes partnerships and strategic alliances at Amazon, Google, and Mapbox.
Jobs
Sr Account Executive Automotive Sweden. HERE Technologies.
GNSS Sales Manager. Septentrio.
Partnership Business Development Manager (Remote). Geotab.
Business Development Representative. Pozyx.
Director, Automotive and AV Partnerships. Cavnue.
