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The future of the connected car is going to have many services that rely on the quality of the connection within the vehicle. Telecoms providers therefore need to make connectivity simple, reliable and most importantly, available.

JC&C Bowers, Pangea’s strategic partner and service provider in the automotive space, knows all too well of the opportunity and importance of telecoms providers to the connected car.

As JC&C’s CEO, John Bowers, explains: “It’s...

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Opinion I am pretty sure that Uber’s announcements over the past couple of years around building a centre of expertise in driverless vehicles did not come as a surprise to anybody interested in these technologies.

Though Uber hasn’t clearly mentioned why it would hire a few hundred engineers or buy a startup to support its driverless capability development, as it has done since then, the reason is quite straightforward: replacing more than one million freelance taxi drivers and...

Picture credit: Bright Box

Bright Box, a Switzerland-based connected vehicle applications provider, has announced the launch of a self-driving car product with a neural network which learns driving through gaming.

The product, Remoto Pilot, is a self-driving car retrofit kit with a neural network trained through computer games as well as real-life examples featuring safe, reliable road/lane following as well as real-time detection and avoidance of various obstacles such as cars and pedestrians.

By using...

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Automotive giant Ford has announced different services in the connected car, transportation and mobility spaces, acquiring Chariot Shuttle and launching the GoBike initiative in San Francisco.

Ford Smart Mobility is set to acquire San Francisco-based crowd-sourced shuttle service Chariot to grow its dynamic shuttle services worldwide. The company is also collaborating with bike-sharing provider Motivate for expanding its transportation solutions in city centres.

A new City...

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Vodafone has announced it is providing connectivity for the new Skoda Kodiaq, launched last week.

In a short news alert, the telco confirmed the Kodiaq will be equipped with a specialised SIM card, which keeps the vehicle connected to the Vodafone network and enables the vehicle’s driver to keep on top of various information, including whether the car is locked, its location, as well as automatically contacting the Skoda emergency call centre in the event of an accident.

The...

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By Kevin Taylor, EVP head of technology and Dick Williams, VP automotive, GfK

“They’re digging in the wrong place!” This is one of our favorite quotes from the first Raiders of the Lost Ark film, evoking that beautifully captured moment when, deep down in an Egyptian tomb, Indiana Jones and friends realise that the Ark of the Covenant isn’t buried where they thought it was. 

From what we are seeing, the same could also be true when it comes to automakers and technology...

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A new research report from Grand View Research predicts that global connected car market revenue will reach $180.30 billion (£138.2bn) by 2022.

The report argues the increase in consumer demand, the constant need for connectivity, as well as increased dependency on technology and a growing number of tech-savvy people are some of the reasons expected to boost worldwide connected car market growth.

The study lays down further key findings that suggest:

• The inclusion of safety technologies such as danger...

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A new study from Juniper Research titled “M2M: Strategies & Opportunities for MNOs, Service Providers & OEMs 2016-2021” has revealed that data intensive applications such as internet radio, music streaming applications and information services will generate approximately 6,000 petabytes per annum by 2021. The figure corresponds to over 300 billion hours of music streaming.

Research author Sam Barker said: “The wider M2M market offers a reprieve from declining...

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A new report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) released in partnership with the World Economic Forum has found that the adoption of self-driving cars and self-driving taxis could lead to a 90% reduction in accidents, an 80% or higher decline in tailpipe emissions and a 60% fall in the number of vehicles on city roads.

Nikolaus Lang, a BCG senior partner and report co-author, said: “There is a compelling case...

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Civil Maps, a developer of 3D mapping technology for fully autonomous vehicles, has raised $6.6 million (£5m) in a seed funding round. The company aims to ensure smooth and safe operation of fully autonomous vehicles.

Civil Maps turns sensor data into coherent map information for fully autonomous vehicles (SAE Levels 4-5) by leveraging artificial intelligence and vehicle-based local processing. The company will use the seed investment to accelerate product development and...