LBS & AUTONOMOUS DRIVING

Navigation without relying on satellites

The UK’s first quantum accelerometer for navigation has been demonstrated by a team from Imperial College London and M Squared.

Most navigation today relies on a GNSS, such as GPS, which sends and receives signals from satellites orbiting the Earth. The quantum accelerometer is a self-contained system that does not rely on any external signals. This is particularly important because satellite signals can become unavailable due to blockages such as tall buildings, or can be jammed, imitated or denied – preventing accurate navigation. One day of denial of the satellite service would cost the UK £1 billion.

Now, for the first time, a UK team has demonstrated a transportable, standalone quantum accelerometer at the National Quantum Technologies Showcase, an event demonstrating the technological progress arising from the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme – a £270m UK Government investment over five years. The device, built by Imperial College London and M Squared, was funded through the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory’s Future Sensing and Situational Awareness Programme, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, and Innovate UK. It represents the UK’s first commercially viable quantum accelerometer, which could be used for navigation.

Accelerometers measure how an object’s velocity changes over time. With this, and the starting point of the object, the new position can be calculated. https://phys.org

Eyesight and Exsun partnership

Eyesight a leading provider of edgebased computer vision AI solutions for the automotive industry, has teamed up with top Chinese GPS and telematics firm Exsun to make trucking safer, helping commercial trucks comply with new Chinese regulations which came into place in order to reduce accidents caused by driver drowsiness and inattentiveness. To meet new safety requirements, Eyesight and Exsun have signed a multi-million dollar deal to produce an aftermarket Driver Monitoring System. Eyesight’s camera and Computer Vision AI will be part of Exsun fleet management and telematics solutions, which are installed in hundreds of thousands of trucks. www.eyesight-tech.com

Hyundai Mobis to launch an ‘Open Innovation Center’ in Silicon Valley

Hyundai Mobis is launching its first open innovation center, ‘M.Cube’ in Silicon Valley of the US to make a full-fledged commitment to source and invest in startups possessing new technologies for future vehicles such as self-driving. It will use M.Cube as its core base to discover and invest in startups with strong growth potential in the areas such as self-driving (sensors, logic, software platforms), connectivity (Infotainment, biometrics) and innovative new businesses (AI, vehicle security), to strengthen its technologies for future vehicles. http://mobis.co.kr/

XPENG Motors partnersship with NVIDIA

XPENG Motors has signed a strategic partnership agreement with NVIDIA, the world’s leader in AI computing, and its China partner Desay SV to jointly develop Level 3 autonomous driving technology tailored for the driving environment in China. Powered by Xavier, XPENG Motors will self-develop the software for China’s typical traffic conditions and user scenarios and will work with Desay SV to jointly develop the computing hardware platform for autonomous driving. www.xiaopeng.com.

SCISYS launches Cartosys for location-based data, maps and apps

SCISYS UK Ltd has launched its locationbased services toolkit, Cartosys. It has been designed to drive the deployment and takeup LBS by offering a new approach to how organizations discover, create and share location-based data, maps and apps.