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eTrans Systems, a leading developer of software solutions for connected and automated vehicles, has launched VSDP, a revolutionary new V2X Software Development Platform.
VSDP provides tools for the rapid development, testing and maintenance of cutting-edge V-to-Everything (V2X) and Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC) solutions. It features robust apps for DSRC messaging, input data generation, simulation, and resulting data analysis.
VSDP allows for applications to be coded once for a variety of hardware platforms including Renesas, Cohda Wireless, and Arada/Lear.
Users can apply VSDP’s integrated test environment for testing in the lab, over the air and on the road. This translates into a fast turnaround of system changes. In addition, a variety of display options means quick insight into what is happening within your application.
“With VSDP, companies can cut down their development and test time by over 50 percent,” says Robert Baily, eTrans Systems CTO. “That means faster time to market and lower costs.”
Fairfax, Virginia-based eTrans Systems specializes in the development of secure, connected vehicle systems for driverless cars, connected vehicles, and other technologies. Company founders each have over twenty years of experience in software solutions, software development and testing.
The VSDP consists of three main components:
eTrans’ VSDP is configurable and flexible, and can be installed locally or via the Cloud. Built-in tools allow for communication to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s warehouse and clearinghouse.
The Ides of March brought a number takeovers and company investments in the driverless world. LiDAR sensors are particularly hot. Here’s a roundup.
GM could be paying as much as $1 billion for Cruise Automation, a firm best known for retrofitting autonomous technology to Audi vehicles.
Why is that worth $1 billion? The assumption being that Cruise has got something much bigger that GM wants.
But Cruise is playing it quiet. Its public website is virtually empty, except for the line ‘Cruise + General Motors Join the Driverless Revolution.’ Click thru and you see more than a dozen job listings for positions that will help deliver whatever it is GM wants.
Silicon Valley-based Toyota Research Institute brought on board the entire 16-member staff of Jaybridge Robotics, a spinoff of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Jaybridge has been a supplier to the industrial and agriculture industries.
Jaybridge CEO Jeremy Brown said in a press release that the two would focus on reducing traffic accidents. That certainly narrows it down.
HI-RES FLASH LIDAR
Germany-based Tier 1 supplier Continental bought the automotive division of Advanced Scientific Concepts, provider of 3D LiDAR cameras and sensors. Price not disclosed.
Santa Barbara, Calif.-based ASC claims its hi-res flash LiDAR can ‘see’ through dust, fog and other real-world problems that might obscure the road.
Continental said in a release that the purchase would help it to “mass produce flash LiDARS at an affordable price” for the commercial auto industry.
ASC engineers will join the Chassis & Safety Division of Continental in Santa Barbara, led by Arnaud Lagandre, and it might grow to have 100 engineers.
(By the way, the graphic for this story is by Continental.)
One more for 2016, and we’re still in March.
Sensata, a Netherlands-based global parts supplier, ‘partnered’ with Quanergy to help it expand sales of its LiDAR sensors. Quanergy this January launched a LiDAR device that costs $250, compared with the high-end product from Velodyne that costs thousands.
BUILDING ON 2015 BUYS
That helps us to transition to 2015 because Quanergy received an investment from Tier 1 supplier Delphi last year.
These Tier 1 guys will sell so many LiDAR devices that the price will go down, right?
Delphi also purchased Ottomatika, a Carnegie Mellon spin off that develops autonomous driving software.
Lear Corp. bought Arada Systems, the Troy, Mich.-based supplier of Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2X), and Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communications systems.
Lear, a supplier of automotive seating and electrical distributions systems, last year also swallowed Autonet Mobile for its telematics and apps services (See “Lear’s Arada Buy Expands V2X Line”).
And don’t forget that GM made its $500 million investment in ride-sharing firm Lyft (See “GM Invests Half a Billion in Lyft for Autonomous Car Network”).
Does this mean GM is planning for a world where consumers stop buying cars, and instead rely on Uber, Lyft, public transportation, bikes, i.e. Mobility as a Service, to get around?
Maybe, though it’s more likely GM is preparing for whatever the unpredictable consumer wants.
Right now, things are changing so fast, there’s no telling what we’ll see in 10 years.
The battle among states for driverless-vehicle technology and testing dollars is heating up.
California Assemblywoman Ling Ling Chang last week introduced a proposal that she says will keep the state in the forefront of developing autonomous technology.
The Republican from Diamond Bar introduced AB 2682 that would require the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles to hold hearings if the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) proposes a model state policy on driverless vehicles.
NHTSA has said it plans to announce the policy this year.
California has been a driverless leader with Mountain View-based Google working on its vehicles for over five years in the Golden State.
However, Google has been frustrated by driverless proposals by the California DMV that would require equipment like steering wheels, and that drivers have special certificates to operate the vehicles.
Google believes the proposals are onerous while the DMV argues the rules should be tough as the revolutionary technology evolves.
BUSINESS-FRIENDLY STATES
Chang’s proposal presumably would open up the DMV’s rule-making process.
“The DMV is not exactly known for being an incubator for high-tech,” Chang said in a press release. “We are competing with business-friendly states like Texas to keep the tech in California so we need to make sure we don’t lose another opportunity for keeping jobs in California – and potential federal funding.”
Google began testing in Texas last year, and U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has asked for $4 billion to speed the development of driverless vehicles.
States are also competing for testing dollars.
California’s Silicon Valley is home to the GoMentum Station and its 20 miles of test roads. Michigan opened the 32-acre Mcity facility in Ann Arbor in July, and plans to develop the massive Willow Run site in Ypsilanti (See “Michigan Launches 330-Acre Autonomous Vehicle Test Site”).
Another major player is the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. It is expanding its well-established auto testing operations in Blacksburg to the highly-congested Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.
TENNESSEE – AIN’T NO PLACE I’D RATHER BE
Also last week, the Tennessee Senate’s Transportation and Safety Committee approved SB 1561 that would allow driverless testing in the state. The full Senate is to hear the bill this Wednesday.
Tennessee state Sen. Mark Green said he introduced the proposal to encourage auto OEMs to expand their manufacturing in the state (See “Careful Steps on Driverless Laws for Tennessee, Virginia”).
Tennessee is already home to plants operated by GM, Nissan, and Volkswagen, along with the Tier 1 supplier Denso.
Truck platooning will soon go live in Europe in a cross border event organized by the Netherlands as it works to promote smart mobility.
The EU Truck Platooning Challenge will include seven platoons of trucks operating live on major European highways. The routes haven’t been released.
The trucks will be provided by six European truck manufacturers — DAF (Paccar), Daimler, Iveco, MAN, Scania, and Volvo.
The trucks will start on March 31 from various European countries and are scheduled to arrive in the Port of Rotterdam on April 6. The finish coincides with the Intertraffic trade fair running April 5-8 in Amsterdam.
Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, and Sweden are taking part in the Challenge.
Platooning has been tested on private courses in Europe but there’s been no live cross border operations of this scope previously. Mercedes drew media coverage last year for testing truck platooning in Arizona in the U.S.
Platooning is a form of Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) connected technology. A convoy of platooning trucks are connected through Wi-Fi, GPS, radar and other systems. The trucks move in sync, with the lead truck having some control over the acceleration and braking of the following truck(s).
Platooning improves aerodynamics, and tests have shown it can reduce fuel costs by 5 to 10 percent.
This truck platooning video from Scania shows how the concept works.
Steve Phillips, secretary general of the Conference of European Directors of Roads (CEDR), said the Challenge has several benefits. It encourages national road authorities to allow platooning trucks to operate, it publicizes the concept of platooning, and it encourages collaboration between business and governments, Phillips writes.
The Challenge is an initiative of the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment of the EU President. The Dutch hold the office during the first six months of 2016. The Netherlands announced it would make smart mobility a central theme during its presidency.
Auto parts supplier Sensata Technologies has partnered with leading LiDAR developer Quanergy Systems to expand sales of Quanergy’s sensor products.
The two announced in a joint press release that, “Together, Sensata and Quanergy will leverage Quanergy’s substantial intellectual property and current and future technology development to deliver LiDAR sensors that have substantially lower costs, higher reliability, improved capability, and lower power consumption when compared to traditional mechanical LiDAR sensors.”
Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensors are used extensively in autonomous vehicles, and for 3D mobile mapping, and vehicle safety systems. The sensors are commonly seen as the bulb-like devices sticking out from autonomous vehicles.
Quanergy’s LiDAR systems are marketed to auto OEMs and parts suppliers for use in consumer and fleet vehicles, and for digital mapping. Quanergy has partnerships with Mercedes, Hyundai, and Renault-Nissan.
It says its sensors have a 360 degree field of view, a several-hundred meter range, accuracy down to the centimeter, and a 30 Hertz scanning frequency.
Quanergy CEO Dr. Louay Eldada said in the release his firm will “benefit from Sensata’s new product launch and manufacturing expertise, deep customer relationships and global presence as the leading independent sensor supplier.”
The two reached a “strategic partnership and investment agreements” but no dollar value of an investment was released. Sensata will have a seat on Quanergy’s board following the deal.
CONSIDERABLY LARGER
Publicly-held Sensata (ST) is considerably larger than Quanergy.
Sensata is a Netherlands-based holding company and manufacturer and marketer of auto parts, HVAC systems, and other technology. Net revenues totaled $2.9 billion last year, up from $2.4 billion in 2014. Nearly 70 percent of revenues came from auto products in its fiscal 2015 year.
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Quanergy is privately held.
It has raised $34.5 million through several invest rounds. A Series A funding round in November 2014 garnered $30 million from Rising Tide Fund, Wicklow Capital, Motus Ventures, Wardenclyffe Partners, and others.
Morgan Hill, Calif.-based Velodyne LiDAR is another major supplier of sensors. It introduced its smaller, lighter Puck Lite sensor last month.
Some heavy-duty truck makers are seeing a slowdown in North American sales just as platooning systems are getting closer to being road-ready.
Volvo this month predicted a decline of 14 percent in truck sales in North America and Brazil, according to Reuters. Germany’s Daimler sees a drop of 10 percent for class 6-8 trucks, while U.S. Paccar believes there will be a 12 percent drop for class 8 trucks.
The news comes as the American Trucking Associations trade group holds its meeting in Nashville.
The bad news may be tempered by technology that could lower fuel costs for operators.
Just last fall the Utah Department of Transportation was testing the truck-to-truck communications system from Peloton Technology.
The system allows trucks to connect, or platoon together, when they are about 50 feet apart.
Running this close together leads to better aerodynamics, and that leads to reduced fuel costs of 10 percent for the rear truck, and nearly 5 percent for the lead truck, Peloton reports.
The trucks travel safely due to direct communications that enable the rear truck to respond in kind as the front truck accelerates or brakes.
“We’ll have one truck driving ahead that is in complete control of the driving,” John Jacobs, a Peloton engineer, told the Desert News. “The rear vehicle uses a combination of sensors, including radar, high precision (global positioning satellites), a camera and two-way communications … to get a precise idea of the location of the front truck.”
Peloton also operates an operations center that monitors and shares local weather, vehicle, and traffic conditions with trucks participating in its system.
Peloton says a truck could save about $2,000 annually by using its system.
Peloton last month was named to the Global Cleantech 100 because of the promising impact of its technology. Peloton’s investors include Volvo, UPS, Denso, Intel, and Nokia.
MAJOR CHANGES COMING
The trucking industry sees major changes of this type on the horizon, according to a recent survey of company executives from Princeton Consulting, Trucking Info reports.
Princeton found that 28 percent of trucking leaders believe that autonomous trucks could have a medium or high impact on their industry in the next eight years.
This will happen in three phases, Princeton says.
First, the use of autopilot systems will expand in the heavy trucking. Second, platooning systems like that provided by Peloton will be operated on select highways. Eventually autonomous trucks will see widespread adoption on highways across the country.
Trucking executives also believe drones, a shift to Uber-style management by freight brokers, and greater use of data will all have major impacts on the industry, according to the survey.
Graphic by Linkoping Universitet.
Autonomous cars could be the disruptive technology that disrupts just about everything.
A new conference in Canada, “Automated Vehicles: Planning the Next Disruptive Technology” is designed to update transportation experts on the technology and help them prepare for its impact.
The event from the Conference Board of Canada will run April 19-20 in the One King West Hotel in Toronto.
The conference will address autonomous technology and its impact on urban planning, security and privacy, transit, and the movement of commercial goods. See the agenda here.
The conference arises in part from a 2015 paper from the consultant Canadian Automated Vehicles Centre of Excellence (CAVCOE), and the Conference Board. (See “Autonomous Vehicles to Save Canada $54 Billion, Many Lives”).
One year later, the Conference Board is organizing the event and the timing is right, says Barrie Kirk, executive director of CAVCOE, a conference sponsor.
For instance, a test of autonomous vehicles on public roads began near Toronto in January, and the government just released its 10-year strategic transportation plan that includes some mention of autonomous technology. The Toronto test could bring driverless cars traveling on everything from Highway 401 to suburban side streets, according to the Ontario Ministry of Transportation.
“We’re seeing the winds of change blow through our federal government,” said Kirk. The newly-elected Liberal government “is more open. They seek partnerships. And policy groups are seeing disruptive technology coming.”
CAVCOE is taking advantage of the open mood to request that 1 percent of the 18 billion (Canadian) the nation spends on infrastructure be devoted to smart infrastructure, says Kirk. That 180 million Canadian converts to $133 million U.S.
Smart infrastructure covers a lot of ground, notes Kirk, including autonomous vehicles, emissions, data and privacy, cybersecurity, weather, and distracted drivers.
The conference is also sponsored by the Canadian Automobile Association and BlancRide, a Canadian carpooling service.
Photo by CAVCOE.
Ford will triple its investment in driver-assist and autonomous-vehicle technology, Ford CEO Mark Fields pledged at the massive Mobile World Congress 2016 in Barcelona yesterday.
The technology includes hands-free parking assist, and traffic jam assist, which Ford will roll-out within three years.
Fields stressed in a keynote address that Ford is “an auto and mobility company” and not just an auto company, according to the Associated Press.
“(P)eople want mobility solutions, they want options, whether it’s car-sharing, ride-sharing, what we call multi-modal modes of transportation where you are taking a car for a portion of a journey or a train and then maybe a bike,” said Fields.
He called the mobility programs “a big revenue opportunity.”
Ford’s European car-sharing programs include GoDrive in London, and Ford Carsharing in Germany. The German project has 170 stations in small and medium-sized cities, and its bookings rose more than 75 percent last year, according to Ford.
At Mobile World Ford was promoting its in-vehicle Sync connectivity system that is compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It is to be launched in Europe this year. The driver can use voice commands to Sync to control navigation, audio, and vehicle climate, Ford said.
Ford’s aggressive announcement at the Mobile show follow the $500 million investment that rival GM made in the ridesharing firm Lyft in January (See “GM Invests Half a Billion in Lyft for Autonomous Car Network”). Lyft is estimated to be worth between $4 billion and $5 billion.
The Mobile World Congress last year drew 94,000 attendees from 200 countries. It runs through Thursday, February 25.
Traffic Jam Assist is a push-button system for use in crowded, slow-moving traffic. It keeps the vehicle in its lane, and accelerates and brakes in accord with the vehicle ahead.
Ford announced last month at the CES 2016 it would expand the number of its Fusion Hybrid autonomous research vehicles. That meant Ford was testing 30 of the vehicles in Arizona, California, and Michigan.
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