We summarize key news in sustainable mobility to lighten your info load. Check back often, or better yet subscribe at https://bit.ly/2FtvyNL, and share with your colleagues, customers, and friends to support our content development.
Joby Aviation acquires Uber Elevate, expands partnership
Joby Aviation, a transportation company developing an all-electric, vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) passenger aircraft for operation as early as 2023, has acquired Uber Elevate, with Uber Technologies, Inc. agreeing to invest a further $75 million in Joby as part of a broader transaction. (The Joby announcement came within hours after Aurora Innovation announcing it was acquiring Uber’s self-driving ground-vehicle unit, the Advanced Technologies Group; see our story at https://bit.ly/2WeDLdr). The Joby investment is in addition to a previously undisclosed $50 million investment made as part of eVTOL company’s Series C financing round in January. Along with the acquisition, the two parent companies have agreed to integrate their respective services into each other’s apps, to enable seamless integration between ground and air travel for future customers. Established in 2016, Uber Elevate played an important role in laying the groundwork for the aerial ridesharing market by bringing together stakeholders around a shared vision for the future of air travel. “The team at Uber Elevate has not only played an important role in our industry, but they have also developed a remarkable set of software tools that build on more than a decade of experience enabling on-demand mobility,” said JoeBen Bevirt, Founder and CEO, Joby Aviation. “These tools and new team members will be invaluable to us as we accelerate our plans for commercial launch.” Joby has spent the last decade developing an affordable, quiet, and clean transportation service using all-electric, vertical take-off and landing aircraft with a range of up to 150 mi (241 km) and a top speed of 200 mph (322 km/h).
Toyota to preview all-new battery-electric SUV
Toyota Motor Corp. announced on Monday that it will preview a brand-new model for its European battery-electric line-up. The unnamed mid-sized SUV will be based on the company’s forthcoming e-TNGA platform. At this stage, only a stylized silhouette and details of the platform architecture have been released, but it promises further details in the coming months. The basic e-TNGA architecture principle is that a number of key elements are fixed while others vary, the approach allowing variance in vehicle width, length, wheelbase, and height. The platform can also be defined with front-, rear-, or four-wheel drive and with a wide range of battery and electric motor capacities to suit various vehicle types and usage profiles. By using this versatile approach, the development time of different product variants can be reduced and individual models can be developed in parallel. The first e-TNGA based model has already been developed and is being readied for production. Manufacturing will take place at Toyota’s ZEV Factory in Japan. According to Koji Toyoshima, Deputy Chief Officer, ZEV Factory, Toyota Motor Corp., by 2025 Toyota expects to sell 5.5 million electrified cars every year, offering customers more than 60 new electrified choices.
GMC Sierra to get Super Cruise driver assistance
General Motors’ Super Cruise driver-assistance technology, currently only on some Cadillac models, will launch on the GMC Sierra 1500 Denali pickup in late model year 2022. The top-of-the-line truck will have the latest version of Super Cruise including the introduction of the ability to trailer while driving hands free. The industry’s first true hands-free driver assistance system, according to GM, Super Cruise is available on more than 200,000 mi (322,000 km) of compatible roads in the U.S. and Canada. It uses a driver-attention system and precision LiDAR map data in addition to real-time data from cameras, sensors, and GPS. The driver-attention system uses a small camera on the top of the steering column and works with infrared lights to determine where the driver is looking whenever Super Cruise is in operation. If the system detects the driver has turned their gaze away from the road ahead for too long, the steering wheel light bar will prompt the driver to return their attention to the road.
Sensible 4 tests autonomous driving software in Finnish Lapland
A test team from the Finnish self-driving technology company Sensible 4 is traveling to the Finnish arctic municipality Muonio to perform a two-week-long autonomous winter driving test in dark and snowy conditions. The goal of the test is to collect winter data and test how new features in the software perform in harsh winter conditions. The test vehicle software is for the first commercial release of Sensible 4’s autonomous driving kit solution called Dawn, which will be released in 2022. The upcoming winter tests are viewed as vital in enabling the launch of Dawn, a Level 4 software product enabling self-driving without a safety driver, built for self-driving last-mile shuttle buses. The final application could be similar to a Sensible 4 concept with Muji on a robobus for all weather conditions. The company says its solution will be the first commercial software in the world to handle driving in all weather conditions and environments. “Bad weather is one of the biggest challenges for autonomous vehicles,” said Tommi Rimpiläinen, Chief Operating Officer of Sensible 4. “Our strength is to cope with varying weather conditions and if the software works in difficult Finnish conditions, it will work also in sunny California.” Autonomous driving is based on software, including algorithms computing sensor fusion and driving decisions. To enable real autonomous driving in all weather conditions, real data needs to be collected, including the freezing winter of Finnish Lapland. The data are crucial for further developing the company’s autonomous driving kit’s algorithms. For more info, visit Sensible4.fi.
Goodyear Innovation Challenge open students to build future mobility
A collaboration between The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company’s Akron Innovation Lab and Case Western Reserve University offers college and graduate students an opportunity to design the future via a virtual competition focused on the mobility ecosystem. Goodyear is sponsoring the competition for the fifth straight year as part of its continuing drive to deliver future mobility solutions. While prior events were held at the university’s world-class maker-space in past years, the 2021 edition will be hosted virtually due to the ongoing pandemic. Students are invited to submit their proposals in response to the brief until Feb. 1, 2021. A review panel will select five teams to participate in the event, which begins Feb. 22, culminating in virtual pitches to Goodyear leaders and an awards program on March 3. Student participants get a chance to practice their innovation skills in a real-world context and receive valuable mentoring and interaction with Goodyear innovation leaders, along with the chance to win cash prizes up to $5000. In conjunction with the program, Goodyear will interview participating students for a possible internship position next summer. This year’s Goodyear Innovation Challenge brief is available at https://design.case.edu/.
Baidu highlights autonomous driving commercialization push
At the second Apollo Ecosystem Conference in Guangzhou, China, earlier this week, Baidu, Inc. released new intelligent-vehicle and several high-end intelligent driving solutions, reinforcing the company’s commitment to win-win partnerships to propel industry development. The company also announced an enhanced Apollo presence in Guangzhou and demonstrated the progress of the Apollo Go robotaxi service rollout in Beijing, Changsha, and Cangzhou, underscoring both the commercialization prospects and revolutionary potential of intelligent transportation, intelligent vehicles, and autonomous driving. “The transportation industry and automobile industry are undergoing a once-in-a-century transformation,” said Zhenyu Li, Corporate Vice President of Baidu and General Manager of Intelligent Driving Group (IDG), during the conference. “With its focus on ‘intelligence’, Apollo is helping automakers to build good cars and governments to build good roads through intelligent transformation.” Apollo’s four series of solutions are for intelligent driving, cabin, map, and cloud. One of the highlights was the Apollo Navigation Pilot (ANP), which is powered by Apollo’s L4 autonomous driving technology. Apollo’s aim is for intelligent driving solutions to be pre-installed on 1 million vehicles over the next 3-5 years, bringing a safe and cutting-edge autonomous driving experience to more consumers. During the event, Guangzhou Huangpu district officially launched an intelligent transportation MaaS (mobility as a service) platform, which will include the deployment of robotaxis, robobuses, and autonomous-driving utility vehicles. The rollout of these AVs will cover the core area of Huangpu, where AI roadside sensors and cloud engines are already set up. For more on Apollo solutions, visit https://apollo.auto/.
Digital-license-plate startup Reviver gets Black Star funding
ReviverMX, Inc., developer of the world’s first digital license plate, has announced that Black Star Fund has made a “significant six-figure” equity investment in the company. Black Star, known primarily for taking stakes in early-stage tech companies founded by African Americans, cited Reviver’s digital license plate solution as an “industry-changing technology with the potential to affect tens of millions of people on the planet.” Currently, Reviver’s plates, which work through an encrypted app, can instantly and without paperwork renew auto registration, display varied designs and banners, flash stolen and Amber alerts, and tell you where you left your car and if it’s been driven outside a selected radius. By next year, says Reviver Cofounder Neville Boston, they will likely be able to pay tolls, parking, and summon roadside assistance. “These features,” said Black Star CEO and Founder Kwame Anku, plus the aesthetic beauty of the plates could allow Reviver to achieve “exponential growth in 2021.” He added: I can readily envision a scenario where digital license plates will one day become standard equipment in many parts of the world. I am further optimistic that 2021 may be the bridge to this trend.” Reviver’s Rplate and Rplate Pro, currently being sold in California and Arizona, are legal for driving across all 50 states. Eleven other states are actively engaged in adopting Reviver plates in the near-term. The company is currently selling its plates through multiple channels, and both products can also be reviewed and purchased by consumers at www.reviver.com.
FIA names Siemens ‘Official Supplier of Urban Mobility Advocacy Solutions’
As a newly designated “Official Supplier of Urban Mobility Advocacy Solutions” for the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile), Siemens plans to develop a toolkit of software solutions for FIA member clubs to help them provide an evidence-based approach to advocate for the implementation of mobility policies and strategies. The FIA Mobility Advocate combines modeling for mobility, autonomous vehicles, and the environment, with enhanced analysis outputs to help meet current and future mobility goals. Mobility patterns “require a rethink of how our transport networks are built,” said FIA Secretary-General for Automobile Mobility and Tourism Andrew McKellar. FIA’s member clubs will now be able to leverage Siemens’ expertise to explore ways to optimize transport and mobility solutions for a variety of geographic areas, helping ensure “the safety, efficiency, and sustainability of mobility in the future.” Supported by the FIA Innovation Fund, the ‘FIA Mobility Advocate will use a suite of integrated software platforms from Siemens Mobility’s Intelligent Traffic Systems and Siemens Digital Industries Software. The project will begin with pilots in cities around the world, integrated and managed out of digital centers of expertise in the U.S., to demonstrate the technical feasibility of the toolkit and its application across different mobility scenarios. “Siemens Mobility will help cities stay ahead of the curve by enabling them to better understand how connected, autonomous, and electric vehicle technology will affect transportation in cities in the future,” said Marc Buncher, CEO of Siemens Mobility, Inc.
