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Everything is connected
Lots is happening in the IoT world, and what I find most interesting is what's happening in the fields of Industrial IoT (huge investments), transportation (self driving) and energy. And it's all connected.
ELON MUSK
On the month that Elon Musk is buying Solar City, and 4 months after the record breaking pre-orders of the Model 3, Panasonic, one of the first investors in Gigafactory, has announced it is raising a $3.9B investment to keep up with the aggressive growth of Gigafactory, the huge and smart industrial complex that's going to power Musk's vision of building fleets of cars, trucks and busses. The initial investment was only $1.6B, but that was before the the Model 3 went balistic in pre-orders.
More startups doing IoT, wearables and VR are setting their shop in Lighthouse in Ra'anana. Why? I could think of 2 main reasons.
First, sitting here is just enjoyable. With open spaces, different size offices and private meeting rooms, you set up your business where you're most comfortable in and become a part of the growing startup community here, as only startups sit here.
Second, it's the opportunity to scale your business and get assistance in raising your next round. Lighthouse calls itself a "scalarator", so as part of its business model it provides mentors (like me and others), services you may need (free or paid) and introductions to the right investors.
Buses in Finland go autonomous
As Finland declared its wish to make car ownership pointless by year 2025, two self-driving buses have rolled out on to the public roads of Helsinki, alongside real traffic and commuters, in one of the first trials in the world. The buses will be "On Demand" and commuters would be able to call them via an app, which would also allow them to pay from their phone. The self driving busses are called Kutsuplus.
Riding Kutsuplus costs more than bus fare, but less than an expensive Helsinki taxi. At current exchange rates, it’s a $4.75 fee plus 60 cents per kilometer — less than half the cost of cab fare.
It's a pilot. Two buses arrived in July to Helsinki Hernesaari area. After that they moved to Espoo for August-September and finally will go to Tampere, ending operation before winter. The current strategy of the Finnish Ministry of Transportation and Communication’s allows testing of autonomous vehicles in the actual urban environments. This strategy gives Finland unique piloting possibilities, as legislation allows this type of piloting only in a few countries.
Ford is co-investing $150M (together with Baidu) in an expensive self driving technology called Lidar from a company called Velodyne. According to BBC, Ford plans on having a fully autonomous self-driving car without a steering wheel, mass produces and on the road in 2021. Business Insider says "It's commonly accepted in the auto industry that Lidar is the most expensive path to a fully autonomous vehicle".
This news comes in the context of Uber's first self driving cars that will start picking up passengers this month, in Pittsburgh. Uber recently bought Otto, a startup that compete's with Velodyne, which just got an investment from.... Ford and Baidu.
Bloomberg writes, “Trips will be free for the time being, rather than the standard local rate of $1.30 per mile. In the long run, Uber CEO says, prices will fall so low that the per-mile cost of travel, even for long trips in rural areas, will be cheaper in a driverless Uber than in a private car.” The Uber taxis will be from Volvo, and it comes with no surprise as the main company that tested Ottos' technology was....Volvo.
