Ford Motor Company has announced plans to move its key autonomous vehicle and electric vehicle business and strategy teams to a historic building known as The Factory, in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood.
Expected to be up and running in early 2018, The Factory will serve as a place for the teams to work on urban mobility challenges and solutions. More than 220 employees will work at The Factory.
“We’re excited to choose this inspirational location in one of Detroit’s resurgent neighborhoods to accelerate our work on electric and autonomous vehicles,” says Jim Hackett, Ford president and CEO.
Software
Software
UAS tech company Vigilant Aerospace receives investment from The Flying Object
Vigilant Aerospace, which has a product called FlightHorizon for UAS pilots, autopilots and airspace managers, has announced a new investment from The Flying Object (TFO), which is a global venture fund focused on the commercial UAS industry.
Managed by the global investment firm Kluz Ventures, TFO invests in UAS technology and service companies that are leading the industry.
BAE Systems and the University of Manchester successfully complete first flight trial with MAGMA UAS
BAE Systems and the University of Manchester have successfully completed the first phase of flight trials with a small scale UAS called MAGMA.
The flight trials are part of an ongoing project between the two entities, as well as a long-term collaboration between industry, academia and government to explore and develop innovative flight control technology.
“The technologies we are developing with the University of Manchester will make it possible to design cheaper, higher performance, next generation aircraft,” says Clyde Warsop, Engineering Fellow at BAE Systems.
Leptron UAS to manufacture Black Swift S1 UAS as a result of strategic alliance
Black Swift Technologies (BST) and Leptron Unmanned Aircraft Systems have formed a strategic alliance that will result in Leptron UAS manufacturing the Black Swift S1 UAS integrated with BST’s SwiftCore Flight Management System.
Leptron and Geotech Environmental Equipment, Inc.—which Leptron is a subsidiary of—will market the resulting aircraft as the GeoSwift Mapper.
Cyient to host India's first UAV hackathon
A company called Cyient, which provides engineering, manufacturing, geospatial, network, and operations management services to global industry leaders, has announced that it will host India’s first UAV hackathon, Hackadrone 2018.
Hackadrone 2018, which is being organized by Cyient and DJI, in sponsorship with Microsoft and the Government of Telangana, is open to tech students, independent software programmers, developers and start-ups who are interested in developing innovative commercial and industrial technologies using the latest UAV technology.
Gainesville Autonomous Transit Shuttle to launch in Gainesville, Florida next May
Starting in May, students trying to get to the University of Florida campus will have a new option of transportation in the form of the Gainesville Autonomous Transit Shuttle (GAToRS).
The city of Gainesville will have three of these shuttles, which will be funded by a state grant of $2.6 million.
According to the University of Florida’s Transportation Institute, the shuttle, which will carry 12 people each and run in a loop every 10 to 20 minutes, is expected to provide a number of benefits; chief among them, lowering the number of crashes and pollution, while simultaneously increasing mobility for the public and improving traffic flows.
Weekend Roundup
This Week in the Unmanned Systems and Robotics World
Week of 11/20/17
Intelsat General has successfully demonstrated beam switching capabilities of an in-flight UAS operating on the Intelsat 29e satellite. According to Intelsat, the tests validated the compatibility of the Intelsat EpicNG platform with the GA-ASI Block 5 Predator B/MQ-9’s newly developed beam switching capability. (Intelsat)
Autonomous vehicle could turn into 'Batmobile' through Intel and Warner Bros. collaboration
During the Los Angeles Auto Show on Nov. 29, Intel announced a collaboration with motion pictures/entertainment company Warner Bros. to develop “in-cabin, immersive experiences in autonomous vehicle (AV) settings.”
Intel CEO Brian Krzanich says that the companies are creating the AV Entertainment Experience, which is a “first-of-its-kind proof-of-concept car to demonstrate what entertainment in the vehicle could look like in the future.”
The vehicle, which is a member of the Intel 100-car test fleet, will demonstrate the potential for entertainment in the world of autonomous driving.
uAvionix secures $5 million in latest round of funding
uAvionix has closed a $5 million round of funding that was led by new investor Airbus Ventures, and included participation from Playground Global and Redpoint Ventures, both of which are existing investors.
uAvionix says that this latest round of funding, which brings its total funding to $10 million, will be used to expand its product line and services in both unmanned and manned aviation.
SeeByte awarded Naval Sea Systems Command contract to support MK18 UUV Family of Systems
After being awarded a Naval Sea Systems Command contract worth $22.59M over five years, SeeByte will provide engineering, technical support, and training services for the MK18 Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) Family of Systems (FoS).
Thanks to the award, the government will be able to easily execute task orders with SeeByte “for the provision of various supplies and services,” including upgrades to the SeeTrack Common Operator Interface for Navy (COIN) EOD software modules, purchasing autonomy software (SeeByte’s Neptune autonomy engine) licenses for MK18 UUVs, and developing Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) modules, just to name a few things.