Lear’s Arada Buy Expands V2X Line

Burney Simpson

Lear Corp. has purchased Arada Systems, the Troy, Mich.-based supplier of Vehicle-to-Infrastructure, V2X, and Vehicle-to-Vehicle, V2V, communications following NXP Semiconductors investment in Cohda Wireless.

Financial terms of deal were not disclosed. Southfield, Mich.-based Lear (LEA) is a Fortune 500 supplier of automotive seating and electrical distribution systems to auto OEMs worldwide. In August Lear purchased Autonet Mobile, a provider of telematics and app services for the auto industry.

Buying the two firms offers growth opportunities “as the connectivity mega-trend drives increased requirements for data and signal management to meet rapidly growing demand for more connectivity and communication features in vehicles,” Lear President and CEO Matt Simoncini said in a release.

Arada develops V2V and V2X software and hardware designed for use in the 5.9 GHz dedicated short range communications (DSRC) and other wireless communications protocols, notably GPS. Arada’s V2X products include its LocoMate series of roadside units for infrastructure and on-board units for vehicles. It has 45 employees.

NXP & COHDA & CISCO

Last January, NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ: NXPI), a supplier of V2X technology, reported it had increased its investment in Cohda Wireless, a software specialist for V2X. A NXP fact sheet reports it owns 23 percent of Cohda.

A NXP executive said the investment would combine its own RoadLINK chipset for V2X communications and Cohda’s V2X software stacks and applications.

Netherlands-based NXP has operations in more than 25 countries and revenue of $5.7 billion in 2014.

In October, NXP announced that it and Cohda would provide the vehicle communications technology that Siemens would deploy for various V2X field tests and projects in the Netherlands, Germany, and Austria.

In January 2013, NXP and Cisco announced an investment in Cohda. The partners announced that NXP chips and Cohda firmware would be bundled and sold through NXP channels as a co-branded product.

Cisco said it and Cohda would explore how vehicles form a part of the Internet-of-Things.

Graphic from Lear Corp.