Business Solutions
Business Solutions
Media Advisory: Webinar on Drones for Government Operations, Jan. 17
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jan. 11, 2018
Contact: Tom McMahon, tmcmahon@auvsi.org, (571) 255-7786
Ford and Postmates to spend 2018 exploring self-driving technologies
Ford and on-demand delivery company Postmates have announced that they will work together to “explore the sustainable application of self-driving technologies within local economies.”
Through this partnership, Postmates becomes the first on-demand delivery partner for Ford’s self-driving program.
During the first phase of their pilot, Ford and Postmates will evaluate and measure several things, including “what the merchant experience needs to be at the point of delivery, what the customer experience needs at the point of drop-off, and how the hardware of self-driving technology may need to be outfitted when integrated with an on-demand network.”
AUVSI Trusted Operator Program Takes Off
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jan. 9, 2018
Contact: Tom McMahon, tmcmahon@auvsi.org, (571) 255-7786
NVIDIA and Aurora to develop new Level 4 and Level 5 self-driving hardware platform
NVIDIA and self-driving tech company Aurora have announced that they are collaborating to develop a new Level 4 and Level 5 self-driving hardware platform that will utilize the NVIDIA DRIVE Xavier processor.
During the opening press conference of CES 2018 in Las Vegas, NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang revealed that the company’s automotive team is working with Aurora to “bring up a new modular and scalable DRIVE Xavier platform that will bring autonomous vehicles to market.”
AImotive to use new round of funding to further develop its autonomous driving technology
A full-stack autonomous vehicle technology company called AImotive has closed its $38 million USD Series C funding round, which was led by B Capital Group and Prime Ventures, and included participation from several other investors.
The new round of funding will be used to continue the development of AImotive’s proprietary autonomous driving technology, which mainly relies on affordable, off-the-shelf camera sensors and artificial intelligence-based vision processing.
According to AImotive, its technology is inherently scalable thanks to its “low cost modularity and flexibility,” and it is also open to the “fusion of non-vision based sensors” for extra safety in poor visibility conditions.
BlackBerry and Baidu partner to work on connected and autonomous vehicle technology
BlackBerry Limited and Baidu, Inc. have announced that they will work together to accelerate the deployment of connected and autonomous vehicle technology for automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers across the world.
The two companies have signed a statement of intent to make BlackBerry QNX’s safety operating system (OS) the foundation for Baidu’s Apollo autonomous driving open platform, which was announced in April 2017.
Aurora and Hyundai Motor Company partner to work on self-driving vehicles
Autonomous vehicle technology company Aurora has partnered with Hyundai Motor Company to develop self-driving Hyundai vehicles, which they hope to bring to market by 2021.
Through the partnership, Aurora’s self-driving technology will be installed in Hyundai’s vehicles, beginning with models custom-developed and launched in test programs and pilot cities.
The partnership will initially focus on the ongoing development of hardware and software for automated and autonomous driving, as well as the back-end data services required for Level 4 automation. According to the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), Level 4 autonomous vehicles can operate without human input or oversight under certain conditions.
Kratos receives $3.2 Million in UAS and other system orders; also receives contract for high performance UAS
On Jan. 3, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. announced that it recently received approximately $3.2 million in UAS and other system product orders.
Kratos Modular Systems Division (MSD), which provides specialized systems and products for UAS, ballistic missile defense, and intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR), just to name a few, will perform the work under these contract awards at secure Kratos production facilities.
“MSD is focused on the United States and its Allies' National Security, and we are proud to have been chosen by these customers in support of their missions,” says Tom Mills, President of Kratos Modular Systems Division.
AeroVironment announces joint venture to develop solar-powered HALE UAS
AeroVironment, Inc. has announced the formation of a joint venture to develop solar-powered high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) UAS for commercial operations.
The joint venture, known as HAPSMobile, Inc., will fund the development program up to a net maximum value of $65,011,481.
HAPSMobile, Inc. is a Japanese corporation that is 95 percent funded and owned by SoftBank Corp., which is a telecommunications operator based in Japan. The remaining five percent of the joint venture is funded and owned by AeroVironment, which is committed to contribute $5 million in capital for its five percent ownership of HAPSMobile.
AeroVironment has an option to increase its ownership stake in HAPSMobile “up to 19 percent at the same cost basis as its initial 5 percent purchase.”