It revealed a photo yesterday of a test model Bolt with a LiDAR unit mounted on top, parked in a Scottsdale lot

Read the full article at: telematicswire.net

The picture is of the old GM proving grounds in Mesa, AZ – closed since 2009. I guess there is a new reason to test cars in hot weather again.

For the LAA standard, the 3GPP adopted a Listen-Before-Talk channel access mechanism to share the spectrum fairly

Read the full article at: www.abiresearch.com

Access to unlicensed spectrum, even if shared with the public, has great appeal to operators given the never ending demand for wireless data. Cars promised to accelerate this demand, if the ITS and auto industries can ever figure it out.

Even though the automotive industry is hamstrung by a lengthy development and production cycle, consumers are becoming less patient with the gap in performance between automotive electronics and other consumer electronics.

Read the full article at: finance.yahoo.com

This is kind of old news, and most people will agree the car experience, even on brand new models, pales in comparison to rapidly changing user experiences offered on phones and tablets. Carmakers need to accelerate deployment of OTA and deeper phone integration to keep customers.

Levandowski led Google’s self-driving car efforts, Ron was an executive on Google Maps and Motorola, while other staff have spent time with Apple, Tesla and other notable automotive firms

Read the full article at: techcrunch.com

Pretty interesting that “other notable automotive firms” include Apple and Tesla, since they are far removed from the mainstream automakers. I’m not sure I’m ready to get picked up at the airport by a Robo-car yet, but this is a dream team if there was one for Uber to have.

The group has already put down roots in Silicon Valley and backed a number of ride-sharing start-up companies

Read the full article at: www.ft.com

Unlike many other automakers simply setting up shop in Silicon Valley to recruit software talent, Ford seems to really be digging into autonomous projects. 

“Intel has four main business lines — PCs, mobile, internet of things and servers — and it’s hitting on one of them,” said Patrick Gelsinger, a longtime Intel executive who is now chief executive of the software company VMware. The factories where Intel builds chips “now cost $10 billion, at least,” each to set up, he said, “and the competition is catching up.”

Read the full article at: www.nytimes.com

Gelsinger would know, he bailed out for a  CEO slot and VMware is still doing pretty well it seems. Recently they hired one of Intel’s best software guys, Dirk Hohndel to build the open source strategy.

Since Google Fiber launched, Comcast, AT&T and Centurylink have all begun to offer superfast broadband speeds in certain markets, including AT&T offering its U-Verse Gigapower service in Kansas City and Austin, Texas, where Google Fiber operates

Read the full article at: www.ft.com

You have to wonder if the pressure from Google to light up glass in neighborhoods spurred this development. Alphabet still wins with video capable ad endpoints supported by others. (subscription to FT may be need to read article)

the plan would require LTE-U to play much more nicely with Wi-Fi than Wi-Fi would play with LTE-U, meaning that the deck is stacked against the new technology

Read the full article at: www.networkworld.com

Wi-Fi’s “free” spectrum is worth billions to network providers, and the newest LTE standards aim to capitalize. This opportunity will induce some fighting over the money.

the fact that Basis is completely dropping the Peak and its services is a bad sign for the company as a whole

Read the full article at: arstechnica.com

I bought the first model when it was offered at a discount to employees, it was OK. I never upgraded to the Peak model due to the price but found out they’ll take my old watch back too – if I can find it in my dust pile.

Unfortunately I got a reply when setting up the return: “We are experiencing delays in processing refund requests due to high volumes.”

Ever since launching the first (and current) generation of the Autopilot, Musk said that the hardware combined with gradually improving software should allow for ramp-to-ramp autonomous driving on highways as always with constant monitoring by the driver.

Read the full article at: safecarnews.com

Elon saying “as always” becomes a key comment to note, and with software updates possible on-the-fly Tesla leads the pack. When will the hardware be able to handle “driverless”? Probably sooner than any other carmaker until others get the OTA capabilities in place.