In connected car news are INRIX, Renesas, Valens, indie Semi, Intersec, Bee Mobile, Omni Design, EnSilica and Airbiquity.
INRIX Signalizes Intersections
Today, INRIX, Inc., a leader in transportation analytics and connected car services, announced that agencies in 12 states who collectively monitor nearly 40,000 signalized intersections are leveraging INRIX® Signal Analytics to make managing signal and corridor performance easier, faster and cheaper. Signal Analytics delivers unsurpassed intersection and corridor analytics in an easy to use yet powerful cloud-based platform designed for all levels of traffic professionals – management, engineering, operations, and maintenance.
Washington County Department of Land Use and Transportation (DLUT) in the Portland, Oregon metro area looked to INRIX to prioritize system enhancements, saving time and dollars while providing accurate and scalable performance measures. The City of Austin is adjusting signal timing to reduce delay as traffic volumes and patterns shift throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Washington State Department of Transportation is in the process of conducting “before and after” studies of a new Adaptive Signal System to quantify benefits. Others leveraging Signal Analytics include agencies in California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Rhode Island, and Washington.
“Signal Analytics has allowed us to quantitatively verify issues and measure improvement after signal retiming, and in our evaluation resulted in 30% reduction in delay,” said Shaun Quayle, P.E., Senior Traffic Engineer at Washington County DLUT. “INRIX makes it a lot easier for agencies to conduct signal analysis, a process that historically relies on counts and modelling. Why model when you can measure performance with real insights?”
Signal Analytics is the industry’s first intersection analytics platform based exclusively on anonymous connected vehicle data that directly measures the performance of all vehicle movements and all signalized intersections. With more than 160 million observed vehicle crossings daily, Signal Analytics calculates for industry-defined metrics including control delay, split failures, arrival on green percentages, intersection speeds/travel times, turn ratios and volume at a vastly lower cost than instrumenting an intersection. Systemwide summary metrics are updated daily and presented in an intuitive, web-based application available through INRIX IQ, a SaaS application suite for uncovering mobility insights.
Signal Analytics provides metrics necessary for operators to fully understand performance to find and reduce excessive network delay on more than 240,000 signalized intersections across the United States. Customizable daily reports and dashboards highlight key metrics, problems and trends for intersections and corridors across a road network. In-depth searches and advanced functionality, such as user-defined date(s) for individual vehicle movement, leverage the Center for Advanced Transportation Technology (CATT) Laboratory at the University of Maryland’s powerful Regional Integrated Transportation Information System (RITIS) platform.
“Every transportation agency in America now has the ability to monitor and manage the performance of their entire traffic signals system without hardware. Agencies can prioritize system enhancements, saving time, money, and the environment,” said Scott Sedlik, senior vice president and general manager of public sector at INRIX.
Reducing excessive delay has a direct and immediate benefit of reducing carbon emissions from unnecessary idling at intersections. INRIX calculated each one second of delay reduced across signals nationwide would translate into 800,000 fewer metric tons of CO2 emitted annually. The recently passed Bipartisan Infrastructure Law contains more than $1.2 billion annually for DOTs to reduce the surface transportation system’s carbon footprint. Signal Analytics is a cost-effective tool to reduce emissions immediately and ensure continued emission reductions by eliminating needless vehicle idling. Signal Analytics qualifies under multiple eligible project categories of this new Carbon Reduction Program.
Renesas’ RX Line Expanded
Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723), a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced that it has delivered more than one billion microcontrollers from the RX Family of 32-bit MCUs, which incorporate Renesas’ proprietary RX CPU core. Since its launch in 2009, the RX Family has expanded to include general-purpose, motor control, touch sensing, and industrial Ethernet applications, and has been adopted in a wide range of consumer, industrial, and IoT applications. In the home air conditioner compressor market, for example, RX MCUs’ outstanding inverter control has led to adoption by more than 70% of major manufacturers around the world.
“As the world’s leading MCU supplier, we are pleased and proud to work with outstanding customers around the world to achieve this significant milestone,” said Roger Wendelken, Senior Vice President in Renesas’ IoT and Infrastructure Business Unit. “RX MCUs with Renesas’ proprietary cores have established a strong position in applications that require power efficiency and true real-time performance.”
RX MCUs deliver high CPU performance due to their sophisticated architecture for embedded systems. Currently, four series of RX MCUs are available (RX100, RX200, RX600, and the high-end RX700) offering a wide range of performance, on-board memory, and a variety of peripheral functions and packages. Following the introduction of the latest RXv3 core in 2018, Renesas is also working on the development of the next core with the aim of surpassing the performance of the RXv3 core.
In order to ease implementation of RX MCUs, Renesas offers a smart configurator and code generator in response to the growing need for low and no code to reduce the development burden of embedded systems. Renesas continually works to expand the development environment to improve user experience (UX), shorten development time, and reduce development cost.
RX MCUs are key products in Winning Combinations that combine numerous products within the Renesas portfolio that work together seamlessly. Examples of Winning Combinations featuring the RX devices include the AC Drives/GP Inverters Solution and High-Voltage Motor Driver Solution. In 2021, during COVID-19, Renesas provided a ventilator solution Winning Combination that contributed to saving lives. Furthermore, with the desire to minimize physical contact from a hygiene standpoint, there are a growing number of applications in non-contact applications, such as “touch-free user interface reference design,” which utilize robust and reliable capacitive touch sensing technology. More Winning Combinations are available at renesas.com/win.
Valens & Stoneridge Connectivity
Valens Semiconductor, a premier provider of high-speed connectivity solutions for the automotive and audio-video markets, and Stoneridge, Inc., a leading designer and manufacturer of highly engineered electrical and electronic vehicle systems, announced their partnership to introduce a connectivity solution related to vision and safety systems in tractor trailers to address safety-critical issues in the trucking industry.
Trucks on the road today experience visibility limitations, due in part to the inability for existing connectivity technologies to support the level of data transfer needed to appropriately address challenges within the truck and the required length of the link between the tractor and the trailer.
Since 2020, Valens and Stoneridge have been working on the development of a long-reach connectivity solution to enable the delivery of high quality, zero-latency, error-free video.
Bee Mobile to Nodle
Bee Mobile is joining the Nodle Network as a Strategic Network Developer, connecting last mile electric vehicles to Nodle’s next generation network. Nodle is a blockchain based, citizen-powered decentralized wireless network that provides enterprise grade, low-cost, secure connectivity for the Internet of Things (IoT). The Nodle Network uses Bluetooth and a citizen crowd of millions of smartphones to create a global wireless network.
Bee Mobile is a fast growing, last mile electric mobility company, deploying electric vehicles including the Bee Mobile scooter and bike platforms in markets across the USA. Bee Mobile will leverage the Nodle Network to locate and connect Bluetooth-enabled vehicles, reducing reliance on expensive and power-consuming 4G connectivity. As connectivity makes up a significant percentage of electric mobility operating costs, Nodle gives Bee Mobile a competitive edge.
How
Bee Mobile is piloting The Nodle Network by provisioning their electric vehicles’ already enabled Bluetooth Identities onto the Nodle Network. Anyone running the Nodle Cash app, or Network Contributors running the Nodle SDK will be able to securely and anonymously locate Bee Mobile scooters, bikes and vehicles. In exchange, Network Contributors are paid in Nodle Cash Cryptocurrency for locating Bee Mobile devices.
To further reduce costs of connectivity, Bee Mobile will be deploying the Nodle Cash SDK in their own mobile app. By running the Nodle SDK in their App, and with the permission of their users, the Bee Mobile community anonymously and securely connects nearby IoT Devices, along with their own vehicles. This enables Bee Mobile to act as a Network Contributor, earning Nodle Cash by deploying Network Coverage, and use those earnings to pay for vehicle connectivity as a Network Subscriber.
“Nodle will give us a new way to provide more accurate location information, offset our 4G connectivity expenses, and provide a fun way for our riders to earn Nodle cash. I couldn’t be more excited as this will make the experience better for everyone.” – Zef Vataj, CEO, Bee Mobile
Why
Through Bee Mobile using a wireless network that it is also helping to deploy, connectivity costs can be reduced even further. In the rapidly growing world of last mile electric mobility, a way to reduce operating costs can have a significant impact on the overall economics of shared mobility networks.
Bee Mobile is excited to be announcing new locations all over the East Coast in early 2022 and expansion across the US throughout the year.
Intersec Adopted by Tier-Ones
Intersec (or the “Company”), a global leader in mobility and activity data solutions, announced the acceleration of the adoption of its 5G-ready geolocation platform by tier-one carriers around the world, enabling them to monetize new 5G positioning use cases, in compliance with data privacy regulations. The platform has already been selected by tier-one telecom operators in France, Canada, Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Thailand, Vietnam and, Hong Kong.
“The arrival of 5G opens a wide range of geolocation use cases for mobile operators, public authorities, media, manufacturing, automotive, and transportation industries,” said Intersec CEO Yann Chevalier. “Performance requirements in terms of accuracy, availability, latency, and reliability encourage operators to go beyond connectivity and capitalize on new revenue streams to seize sustainable growth opportunities”.
The Intersec platform collects anonymized location datasets on a mass scale, computes insights, detects pre-defined or machine-learned patterns in real-time, and triggers relevant instant actions. By bringing its positioning accuracy down to the meter thanks to 5G, it enables CSPs to fully leverage top-of-the-shelf location-based applications, unlock monetization opportunities with existing use cases, and seamlessly plug in any new and disruptive use cases.
Over the past 12 years, Intersec has developed a comprehensive catalog of active and passive geolocation integration schemes, providing cellular, subcellular, and indoor accuracy. 5G achieves unprecedented precision thanks to the use of millimeter waves and beamforming, unleashing the potential of the RF Fingerprinting technology. By combining those geolocation techniques in the 5G ecosystem, the Intersec platform enables a higher spatial and temporal accuracy, optimizes network resources, reduces blind spots, and provides enhanced tracking capabilities.
indie Semi Building in Japan
–indie Semiconductor, Inc. (Nasdaq: INDI), an Autotech solutions innovator, is extending its market reach and building a strategic presence in Japan. The Company has created a Kabushiki Kaisha, or KK, and recently hired semiconductor industry veteran Yasuyuki Arai to lead its Japanese sales and marketing initiatives from Tokyo. Arai was previously Head of Marketing for RF and Sensors at Infineon Technologies Japan KK with responsibility for managing and growing Infineon’s radar, Time of Flight and MEMS portfolio for automotive, consumer and industrial markets. Prior to Infineon, he was with Atmel and Freescale in various sales, marketing and operational roles. Arai achieved a master’s degree in Telecommunications Engineering from Osaka University.
Omni Design Tech Partners with EnSilica
Omni Design Technologies, a leading provider of high-performance, low-power mixed-signal Intellectual Property (IP) solutions, and EnSilica, a leading provider of custom ASIC design and supply solutions, announced that they have entered into a partnership agreement. Under this agreement, the companies will work together to leverage Omni Design’s advanced data converter solutions together with EnSilica’s turnkey ASIC solutions, to service the needs of customers who are developing the next generation of innovative products.
Integrating high-performance analog IP cores into increasingly complex SoCs is essential for applications such as 5G, communication systems, LiDAR and radar especially in advanced process nodes. It requires seamless collaboration between the ASIC supplier and the IP provider to deliver the functionality and cutting-edge performance required in the SoC. Engineers from Omni Design and EnSilica have been working in close collaboration on multiple customer projects to develop complex SoCs that are going to be deployed in production systems.
“Omni Design is delivering high-performance data converters in advanced process nodes to enable the next generation of products in automotive, 5G, and AI markets,” said Dr. Kush Gulati, president and CEO of Omni Design Technologies. “EnSilica has a very experienced team with proven ability to integrate mixed-signal IP into complex SoCs. We look forward to working with them in this partnership in support of our customers.”
“EnSilica has deep expertise in custom RF front-ends and mixed-signal design as well as the production of SoCs for automotive and advanced communication systems,” said Ian Lankshear, CEO of EnSilica. “The high-speed data converter IP from Omni Design is amongst the most advanced in the semiconductor industry and we see many opportunities to work together to service our customers who are developing cutting-edge products.”
Airbiquity Partners With Renesas R-Car
Airbiquity®, a global leader in connected vehicle services, today announced an advancement in its collaboration with Renesas, a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions. This expanded technology integration involves the Renesas R-Car S4 system-on-chip (SoC) and the Airbiquity OTAmatic® software management platform.
An increasing dependency on software, electronic control units (ECUs), sensors, and microprocessors to power autonomous vehicle systems and features—combined with the intricacy and complexity of securely managing over-the-air (OTA) software updates for millions of vehicles simultaneously—has created a demand for an automotive-grade solution comprised of high-performance telematics processors backed by a robust OTA software management platform. Bringing Renesas R-Car S4 together with Airbiquity OTAmatic enables a secure, high-performance solution to power the next wave of advanced autonomous driving capabilities for automakers.
Initially, the combination of R-Car S4 and OTAmatic provides delivery of software updates to a Linux-based primary ECU. Additional integrations will provide delivery of software updates to secondary ECUs and compliance with the AUTOSAR Adaptive software architecture standard for ease of integration with automotive platforms and software stacks.
“Providing sophisticated services and technologies that enable advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous driving are critical needs of the automotive industry,” said Keefe Leung, Airbiquity Vice President of Product Management. “Airbiquity and Renesas are advancing the integration of our OTAmatic software management platform running on Renesas’ R-Car SoC by adding secure multi-ECU updates utilizing the latest AUTOSAR Adaptive software architecture standard to address the latest emerging functionalities.”
“As vehicle architectures continue to evolve, reliable and secure management of in-vehicle software will continue to be a challenge for the industry,” said Naoki Yoshida, Vice President of Renesas’ Automotive Digital Products Marketing Division. “Airbiquity has leading OTA software technology and cloud services that enable connected vehicle OTA as well as experience working with Renesas’ R-Car SoCs. Working together, we will deliver an advanced production-ready solution for R-Car SoC customers that will mitigate these OTA challenges while contributing to the widespread adoption of connected and autonomous driving.”