TomTom Launches Maps Platform, Announces 2.4 Billion Euro Auto Revenue Backlog
Company says announcement one of its most important in 30 years...
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Saying that improved maps will make it more competitive, TomTom [Tom2] today launched a new Maps Platform. The new maps will offer broader geographic coverage, an extended set of supported data types and faster update cycles, the company said.
TomTom, which plans to offer the new platform in the second quarter of 2023, says the maps will allow developers to build on it with location technology and develop an ecosystem that supports partners with shared data. The platform will use machine-learning techniques and AI to speed up the mapmaking process to keep pace with challenges, the company said. In addition, the company said the new maps will bring its data together with those from “super sources” that include OpenStreetMap.
The collaboratively sourced map data will become part of the TomTom base map, which everyone in the data pool will build on, the company said in a blog. “This base map includes all the basic geometry — like roads and building footprints — that you need to start building on top of to create a use case-specific map,” the blog said.
During an investor’s meeting, CEO Harold Goddijn reported a 2.4 billion euro automotive backlog that will serve as a strong foundation for accelerated revenue growth. This is good news for the company, which has suffered quarterly losses, stock price drops and employee layoffs this year.
Overall, the company, which said the announcement was one of its most significant in 30 years, said it was not competitive in such markets as Japan. “Until now Japan was out of reach. It was too expensive and a difficult market,” Goddijn said. “We are starting to enter with an impressive base map. Where we can improve it with other sources.”
NextNav Acquires Geolocation Company Nestwave
NextNav NN 0.00%↑ has acquired privately-held geolocation company Nestwave SAS for $18 million in a transaction that closed earlier this week. The deal’s consideration value is $19.3 million, which consists of $4.3 million in cash and $15 million in NextNav common stock, the company said.
Based in France, Nestwave offers IoT geolocation solutions to modem and digital signal processor vendors and end users. NextNav says the deal allows it to leverage Nextwave’s LTE/5G technology for its 900 Mhz spectrum asset for existing and new services. In addition, the company said that by leveraging signals from existing terrestrial networks, they can decrease their TerraPoiNT deployment costs by 75 percent.
“The acquisition of Nestwave presents a unique opportunity for NextNav to optimize further the use of its existing spectrum bandwidth, while contributing to a drastic decrease of our TerraPoiNT system’s future capital and operating expenditures,” said Ganesh Pattabiraman, NextNav CEO and co-founder, in a statement. “An LTE/5G waveform also enables broader penetration of NextNav’s applications and technology across the handset and device ecosystem for all of its products and target markets.”
Pattabiraman said that Nestwave, which has a solid European presence, brings executives that have strong European Union ties.
Overall, Nestwave will become part of NextNav, adopting its name and be integrated into existing TerraPoiNT engineering and technology efforts, the company said. Existing employees will remain at the company while Nestwave CEO, Ambroise Popper, will continue to serve as vice president and general manager in France. CTO and founder Rabih Chrabieth will serve as vice president of engineering.
Contact: Gillian Smith, NextNav, media@nextnav.com, https://nextnav.com.
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Vodafone Germany, Nokia and BMW Testing Indoor Positioning
Three major European companies are testing high-accuracy indoor positioning (HAIP) at a BMW Group auto plant in Leipzig, Germany. Vodafone Germany VOD 0.00%↑, Nokia NOK 0.00%↑ and BMW [BMWYY] are testing HAIP services over a 5G ‘campus network’ at the plant.
The site, which is used to test the automaker’s 5G and AI capabilities, will test positioning technology that locates machines, tools, cars and spare parts at the site down to centimeter-accuracy, the companies say.
“Real-time location technologies will play a key role in the smart factories of the future. They can be used to precisely localize networked materials, tools, machines and vehicles,” said Alexander Saul, Vodafone Germany, managing director, corporate customers, in a statement. “In the next step, they will then also be able to interact with their environment in real time via 5G networks.”
More than 1,000 vehicles roll off of the production line at the plant each day, which will integrate 5G positioning for the first time, to locate thousands of tools and spare parts across the factory, the companies said. In addition to the variety of location technologies that are used at the plant, which include Bluetooth Low Energy, WiFi, RFID and iBeacon, autonomous vehicles transport tools around the 4,500 square meters in the assembly hall.
The companies are making the bold statement that their 5G technology could be “the most important system for centimeter-precise positioning in the future.” The pilot project will equip the driverless transport vehicles and pallets with car parts and tools with the 5G positioning technology.
“The pilot project will help us to refine the 5G positioning technology in practical use. In the industrial environment, the exact location of objects is particularly challenging due to the different environments,” said Martin Beltrop, Nokia’s head of portfolio management enterprise. “Walls, machines or technical systems must be taken into account in the positioning calculations and 5G antennas must be aligned.”
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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.
Top News:
😲 Raytheon Wires $1 Million to Whistleblower Over Fake GPS Test Results for Air Force. “A whistleblower said Raytheon Technologies Corp. RTX 0.00%↑ has paid him $1 million after he was punished for revealing that he was instructed to submit false test results to the US Air Force on the company’s troubled ground system for GPS satellites.”
😐 Ford, VW Seeking Buyer for Argo AI's Lidar Unit. “Ford F 0.00%↑ and Volkswagen are trying to squeeze any remaining value out of Argo AI, the autonomous vehicle startup the two automakers invested billons in before abruptly shutting it down last week. One of the primary items on the block: Argo Lidar, an 80-person team and the lidar tech they developed, according to sources familiar with the unwinding of the company.”
🚚 California Tightens Rules on Vehicle Tracking, Fleet Management. “Section 637.7 prohibits using an electronic tracking device to determine the location or movement of a person, however, it does not apply when the vehicle owner (e.g., the employer) has consented to the use of the device.”
Space:
👍 SpaceX’s Swarm Subsidiary Launches Satellite-Based Tracking Device.
🛰 NaVIC, India's GPS, May Soon Get "Regional to Global" Changeover: ISRO. “India plans to expand its regional satellite navigation system NaVIC in a bid to increase its use in the civilian sector and also by ships and aircraft travelling far from the country's borders.”
Maps:
🗺 12 Map Happenings That Rocked Our World: Part 3. “Warning to those of you born after 1990: smartphones have not always been ubiquitous. Before their invention one had the laborious task of having to refer to something called ‘printed maps’ to determine locations and routes to get there.”
🤔 Scott Forstall Was Fired From Apple 10 Years Ago Today. “iOS 6 included a brand-new Maps app, using Apple data and cartography, replacing Google Maps as the stock maps app on the phone. The launch was a widespread catastrophe. Apple Maps’ data sources were widely incorrect or incomplete. Navigation was unreliable and the fancy 3D city Flyover feature exhibited model rendering issues for many landmarks.”
🤷♂️ Google Removes Google Maps Feature Because Nobody Was Using It. “It’s not us saying it but Google GOOG 0.00%↑, as the Mountain View-based search firm has confirmed that the COVID-19 layer in Google Maps is going dark because of declining usage.”
😉 Google Maps Rival Sygic Came Up with a Brilliant Navigation Feature. “The Real View Navigation feature bundled with Sygic’s software is supposed to provide navigation guidance based on live images captured by the phone’s camera.”
Connected and Autonomous Vehicles:
🤨 Comma AI founder George Hotz is Stepping Down From the Company. “George Hotz, the 32-year-old CEO of Comma AI who made a name for himself as the hacker “geohot” when he was just a teenager, announced that he is stepping away from his company on his GitHub page. According to Hotz, he no longer feels “capable” to continue leading the driver-assist technology company he created seven years ago.”
😮 Robot Truck Developer TuSimple Ousts CEO After Report Of Ties To Chinese Startup. “TuSimple fired CEO and cofounder Xiaodi Hou, the architect of its technology, following a report that he was being investigated for his role in improperly financing and transferring technology to a Chinese startup.”
Wearables:
⌚ The Cult of Garmin: Why Athletes Stick With These Smartwatches Over Apple or Samsung. “Despite their notoriously hard-to-use controls. Garmin GRMN 0.00%↑ makes up less than 5% of the smartwatch market, but Apple and Samsung are eager to win over its dedicated athlete fan base. Try as they might, the tech giants haven’t succeeded—at least not yet.”
Financial:
✔ Mobileye Pops More Than 37% In Market Debut After Spinning Out of Intel.
✔ MiX Telematics Limited Expected To Earn FY2023 Earnings of $0.39 per Share.
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HERE Says Smart Electric Cars Will Use Maps
HERE Technologies has announced that smart will use its Connected Vehicle Services and Software Development Kit (SDK) to power its new compact SUV. The all-electric smart #1 will use the company’s digital services that include map data, real-time traffic and POIs, including on- and off-street parking, the company said.
The real-time traffic feature will be combined with HERE Parking to help drivers plan more efficiently by providing ETAs that take into account the time it takes to drive and to park, the company said. The HERE SDK creates a mobile companion application that allows users to locate their vehicle’s position as well as nearby EV charging points, the company said.
Contact: Zara Barlas, HERE Technologies, 49 175 260 6210, zara.barlas@here.com.
BAE Systems Opens $100 Million Facility to Support GPS Business
BAE Systems [BAESY] has opened a $100 million, 278,000-square-foot facility in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to support its burgeoning GPS business. The company, home to its Navigation and Sensor Systems (NSS) business, says more than 800 employees will work at the site.
“The first GPS signal ever received on Earth was received here in Cedar Rapids,” said Luke Bishop, director of Navigation and Sensor Systems at BAE Systems, in a statement.
Contact: Mark Daly, BAE Systems. (603) 233-7636, mark.g.daly@baesystems.com.
Lantronix Introduces PNT Series GNSS Receiver Modules
Lantronix LTRX 0.00%↑ has announced the launch of its new PNT Series Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Receiver Modules. The PNT Series GNSS receiver modules are marketed for people/pet and asset tracking devices, agriculture asset monitoring, drones, toll road charging, fleet management, maritime, rail, critical infrastructure, utilities and other applications.
The new receiver modules are the PNT-SG3FS flash-based module and PNT-SG4FM, a pin-compatible flash-based module designed for multi-frequency GNSS deployments that will be rolled out in the future.
Contact: Gail Kathryn Miller, Lantronix, (949) 453-7158,
media@lantronix.com, www.lantronix.com.
Trucker Tools Integrates Into Verizon Connect Reveal
Reston, Va.-based Trucker Tools has enhanced its Smart Capacity product’s real-time shipment tracking by integrating with the Verizon VZ 0.00%↑ Connect Reveal fleet management platform. The integration will allow more than 100,000 commercial vehicles in the U.S. equipped with Verizon Connect to enable location updates, the company said.
The link-up with the Verizon Connect Reveal platform complements the Trucker Tools mobile driver app, which uses the embedded GPS features of the driver’s smart phone to provide near real-time, accurate in-transit location updates as frequently as every 15 minutes, the company said.
Contact: Gary Frantz, Trucker Tools, (925) 594-1434, gary@gnfcomms.com, www.truckertools.com.
DATAMARK Rolls Out SaaS Solution
DATAMARK, a unit of Michael Baker International, has announced the release of Inside, a cloud-native Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution designed to enhance indoor location intelligence and enable mission-critical decision making. Inside’s software is powered by Esri, which allows users to create, interact with and manage valuable indoor data for emergency dispatchers, first responders and school safety personnel, the company said. Other features include enhanced location intelligence in 2D and 3D, smart floorplans for safer futures and precise indoor incident location.
Contact: Julia Covelli, (866) 293-4609, julia.covelli@mbakerintl.com, https://mbakerintl.com.
DCS Launches MiEbike Asset Tracking Solution
Direct Communication Solutions [DCSX] has launched MiEbike, a cloud-based asset tracking IoT solution for the E-Bike market. MiEbike, a mobile app, is fully integrated into DCS' MiFleet cloud-based platform that is designed to track E-Bikes in real-time and provide location data in the event of theft, the company said.
MiEbike is available for purchase through the company’s carrier partners, on-line and through its network of dealers and resellers. MiEbike can be purchased as an annual or month-to-month subscription plan.
Contact: Chris Bursey, DCS, (858) 525-2483, cbursey@dcsbusiness.com, www.dcsbusiness.com.
Keysight Combines 5G and GNSS Technology for LBS Implementation
Keysight Technologies KEYS 0.00%↑ has announced that it is first to gain Global Certification Forum (GCF) validation of a 5G location-based services (LBS) Assisted Galileo (A-Galileo) test case by combining 5G new radio GNSS technology. The GCF conformance agreement group (CAG) meeting #72, held on Oct. 21, confirmed the validation of the first 5G LBS A-Galileo test case, which was supported by Keysight’s S8705A RF/RRM DVT and Conformance Toolset, the company said.
Contact: Geri Lynne LaCombe, Keysight Technologies, (303) 662-4748, geri_lacombe@keysight.com, www.keysight.com.
Nearable Partners With Bentley Systems
Nearabl has partnered with Bentley Systems BSY 0.00%↑ to expand the use of its indoor navigation technology within the global infrastructure, construction, and design industries. The company is now an iTwin Premier Partner, and its Nearabl app has achieved the "Powered by iTwin" designation from Bentley.
Nearabl's indoor navigation technology integration enables iTwin users to achieve real-time occupancy monitoring of their infrastructure, supporting overall digital twin AI wisdom, the company said.
Contact: Nearabl, nearabl.com/digital-twins.
Geotab and TNEDICCA Partner on Pilot Project
TNEDICCA and Geotab have collaborated on a pilot project to assess location crash risk for fleet drivers. Analysis of TNEDICCA crash data against a sample of Geotab’s aggregate connected information from 800,000 vehicles found that they were three and a half times more likely to have an accident based on routes driven even after adjusting for miles driven, the company said. The companies also say that taking environmental conditions into account is critical when evaluating comprehensive fleet safety.
Contact: Geotab, https://www.geotab.com/blog/fleet-safety-insights.
POND Rolls Out Asset Tracking Platform
POND Mobile has launched its new asset tracking and management platform, POND Connect, which is an integrated GPS tracking solution for fleets and such high-value assets as vehicles, equipment, containers and employees.
Features include real-time location tracking and location history of high-value assets and equipment, enterprise-grade GPS trackers, geofence setup and alerts, temperature and condition monitoring and vehicle speed.
Contact: POND, www.pondmobile.us.
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