LBS & AI

Innoviz Technologies to accelerate solid-state LiDAR production

Innoviz Technologies has raised $132 million in Series C funding. This significant raise will support Innoviz’s commercialization of its leading InnovizPro and InnovizOne solid-state LiDAR solutions and address growing demand for cutting-edge autonomous vehicles (AV) technologies worldwide. www.innoviz.tech

Velodyne achieves half a billion dollars in Lidar sensors shipped

Velodyne has shipped a cumulative total of 30,000 lidar sensors with a total value of half a billion dollars. This achievement underscores Velodyne’s lidar market leadership and ability to deliver a broad portfolio of lidar sensor products at mass production levels. Lidar sensors are a central component of autonomous vehicles (AVs) and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).

SAS announces $1 Billion investment in AI

SAS is investing $1 billion in AI over the next three years through software innovation, education, expert services and more. The commitment builds on SAS’ already strong foundation in AI, which includes advanced analytics, machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing (NLP) and computer vision. Educational programs and expert services will equip business leaders and data scientists for the future of AI, with the technology, skills and support they need to transform their organizations. www.sas.com

Augmentir launches AI-powered augmented reality platform

Augmentir, Inc. has announced the general availability of its Augmented Operations™ platform. The company’s software platform is the first of its kind to combine enterprise augmented reality (AR) with artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML), empowering frontline workers to perform their jobs with higher quality and increased productivity while driving continuous improvement across the organization. www.augmentir.com

Berntsen International receives US Patent for UHF RFID technology

Berntsen International Inc. has received a US patent for the company’s Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) RFID technology that is the centerpiece of its connected infrastructure locating and asset management solutions. UHF RFID, the global standard for product tracking in retail and manufacturing, has had slower adoption for underground utility marking products because of its perceived challenges of “reading” through subsurface environments.

Geotab launch new GO9 device

Geotab has announced the availability of its new GO9 telematics device. It is designed to help businesses better manage their fleets. With better acceleration tracking, a more accurate GPS, better support for vehicle-generated data and for new vehicle types, Geotab’s GO9 device is designed to enable businesses to drive more information from their fleet. www.geotab.com

Mapping and location services for China by HERE

HERE Technologies has announced that it is extending its suite of location services to China. As a result global and Chinese customers will have access to fresh and up-to-date mapping services as well as key location-based features and functionalities for China to address the Chinese market. here.com

Delhi gets IoT-driven garbage bins

Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has launched Internet of Things (IoT)-driven garbage bins across South and North Delhi Municipal Corporation area, which automatically sends a signal to the waste collection authority once the bins are full.

The IoT-driven initiative is fitted with a real-time indicator of the garbage level in the waste bin at any given time. The data is useful in scheduling waste pickup accordingly and also for optimising routes for waste collection vehicles. The bins use ultrasonic sensors for detecting the level of trash in the bin.

RoboSense provides LiDAR to GACHA -first autonomous driving bus

RoboSense has announced that it has provided cold-resistant all-weather LiDAR for the world’s first autonomous driving shuttle bus for all weather conditions – GACHA. The autonomous shuttle bus robo-taxi GACHA was designed in collaboration with Finnish autonomous driving company Sensible 4, who provided software for positioning, navigation, and obstacle detection; MUJI, who provided expertise in design and user experience; and RoboSense.

Ford to build new factory in Michigan for autonomous vehicles

Ford is building a new plant in Michigan for autonomous vehicles as the company realigns some factories to focus on its future lineup of selfdriving and electric cars.The new facility, scheduled to open in the next two years, will take new commercialgrade hybrid models and incorporate the self-driving technology needed to turn them into autonomous vehicles

HawkEye 360 next-gen microsatellite cluster

Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) has been awarded the prime contract to develop the next generation cluster of formation-flying microsatellites for HawkEye 360 Inc. of Herndon, Va. The HawkEye Constellation, comprised of multiple clusters of three satellites each, is the first of its kind to detect and geolocate radio frequency (RF) signals for maritime, emergency response, and spectrum analysis applications. SFL built the platforms and integrated the HawkEye 360 Pathfinder cluster which was launched into low-Earth orbit in December 2018 and commissioned early this year. www.utias-sfl.net

Toyota, Carmera will create HD maps

Toyota Research Institute and Carmera, a company focused on HD mapping, announced that the two are developing a proof of concept of TRI’s Automated Mapping Platform, which takes data from participating cars and turns that into HD maps that could be used to help autonomous vehicles navigate.

Most modern safety systems in vehicles contain at least one forward-facing camera, and the two companies believe these cameras can provide the data necessary to help create HD maps, instead of developing and building sophisticated mapping vehicles that are somehow expected to traverse and map the entire globe. www.cnet.com

World’s first full size, autonomous electric bus

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) and Volvo Buses have launched the world’s first full size, autonomous electric bus. The single-deck Volvo Electric bus is 12 metres long and has a full capacity close to 80 passengers.

This is a key milestone in NTU and Volvo’s development programme under the university’s partnership with the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to develop and conduct autonomous vehicle bus trials for fixed route and scheduled services, which was announced in October 2016.

The Volvo 7900 Electric bus is equipped with numerous sensors and navigation controls managed by a comprehensive artificial intelligence (AI) system. Ensuring maximum safety and reliability, the AI system is also protected with industry-leading cybersecurity measures to prevent unwanted cyber intrusions. www.volvobuses.com

FABU AI chips for autonomous driving

FABU, has announced the results of recent design metrics for the company’s Phoenix-100 perception chip for autonomous driving solutions. The Phoenix-100 conducts real-time, high precision perception of the environment to support safe and accurate intelligent driving technologies. The results, extrapolated from benchmark testing of the chip’s deep learning accelerator silicon, point to FABU’s superior performance, lower power consumption and enhanced memory capacity when compared to design metrics for similar vision computing chips from other major developers of vision-based advanced driver-assistance systems. www.fabu.ai/en

5G-connected driverless car tested in New Zealand

The test was carried out in a controlled area at Auckland’s Wynyard Quarter Innovation Precinct, using Spark’s precommercial 5G network available as part of its 5G Innovation Lab. Spark launched its Innovation Lab in November 2018 to showcase 5G technology to New Zealand businesses. The 5G-connected driverless car was developed by Ohmio, a New Zealand company, which has been trialling autonomous vehicles at Christchurch airport. Since these trials, the car has been upgraded with new technology to ensure it integrates with Spark’s 5G test network. www.driven.co.nz

Lumotive unveils high-performance LiDAR to enable autonomous vehicles

Lumotive, the Bill Gates-funded startup developing LiDAR systems for autonomous vehicles, today introduced a disruptive beam-steering technology, which will significantly improve the performance, reliability and cost of LiDAR systems for the emerging selfdriving car industry. Initially targeting the robo-taxi market, Lumotive’s patented system uses Liquid Crystal Metasurfaces (LCM™) and silicon fabrication to achieve unmatched levels of manufacturing efficiency while simultaneously delivering unprecedented range, resolution and frame rate. LiDAR has emerged as a key 3D sensing technology by enabling autonomous driving systems as well as so-called ADAS, or Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (such as systems for lane keeping, automatic braking and collision avoidance). www.lumotive.com