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Autonomous and connected technologies shaping the future of the auto industry

Auto Tech

Toyota and BMW-backed May Mobility develops self-driving technology pitched toward autonomous shuttle services for public transportation. Its proprietary multi-policy decision-making (MPDM) autonomous driving technology comes with a suite of sensors including LiDAR, radar, and cameras to create a 360-degree view of surroundings <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/17125">(third-generation system released in March 2023) </a>. The technology can be integrated into multiple platforms such as buses or cars.As of February 2024, May Mobility had active autonomous shuttle services deployed in cities in Michigan, Minnesota, Texas, <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/17972">Arizona,</a> and <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21984">California</a>. The company claimed to have completed 350,000+ autonomous rides as of October 2023 (includes now inactive deployments in geographies including Hiroshima [Japan] and Indiana). May Mobility was yet to commence commercial operations as of January 2024, and these rides were offered free of charge to customers, with costs being borne by partnering companies. The company began driverless operations in Arizona <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/25063">in December 2023.</a>However, <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/26710">in February 2024, </a>May Mobility announced layoffs of roughly 13% of its workforce (about 40 employees), to focus on its main business objectives.Key customers and partnershipsMay Mobility has product development partnerships with companies as Toyota to retrofit its tech into Toyota’s vehicles (January 2022; <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/26500">announced plans </a>to launch robotaxi services in Odaiba, Japan by mid 2024); Bridgestone Americas for tire technology (March 2022); and Aeva for LiDAR sensors <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/23631">(November 2023). </a>The company also has partnerships with wheelchair-accessible van manufacturer BraunAbility to modify its fleet of Toyota Sienna vehicles to include wheelchair access (April 2022); SoftBank to obtain 5G network services for deployments in Japan (June 2022); Stantec, a design and engineering company, to develop autonomous micro-transit solutions <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/17349">(March 2023); </a>mobility service provider, Moovit to integrate its urban mobility app and on-demand reservation and routing software <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/17698">(April 2023) </a>; and shared mobility solutions provider Liftango to create demand-responsive autonomous microtransit solutions <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/23073">(October 2023).</a>The company has partnered with cities and authorities (e.g., <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/31213">Southwest Transit Commission,</a> <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/30371">City of Detroit Office of Mobility Innovation and the Michigan Mobility Collaborative,</a> City of Arlington, City of Grand Rapids, The Indiana Economic Development Corporation, <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21984">Contra Costa Transportation Authority),</a> universities (e.g., University of Texas, Arlington), transit tech companies (e.g., <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/17972">Via</a>), and nonprofits (e.g., Toyota Mobility Foundation, Energy Systems Network) for its active and past deployments. As announced <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/23570">in November 2023,</a> NTT will have <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/23510">exclusive rights</a> to sell May Mobility's self-driving system in Japan. The companies will also work with Toyota for autonomous vehicle testing in Japan.Funding and financials<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/23570">In November 2023, </a>raised USD 105 million in a Series D round led by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) Group, with participation from Toyota Ventures among others. The company intended to utilize the funds to commercialize its technology and to expand its autonomous transit services in the US, Canada, and Japan. It also intended to upscale operations and aim for profitability. Previously, <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/17976">in April 2023 </a>, May Mobility received USD 3 million in funding from the Michigan state authorities to expand its headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan and add 300 new jobs.

Foundation Models

Tokyo-based Sakana AI develops nature-inspired foundation models. Sakana AI's technology is based on collective intelligence and character-level training, aiming to build more adaptive and resource-efficient AI systems. The company adopts this technique by developing numerous smaller AI models that collaborate, much like a swarm, to deliver complex results. This is reflected in the name “Sakana,” which means “fish” in Japanese, reflecting the company's focus on collective intelligence in systems found in nature such as schools of fish and beehives.In March 2024, the <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/27831">company released three AI models </a>EvoLLM-JP, EvoVLM-JP, and EvoSDXL-JP, developed using a "model merging" technique, which combines existing AI models to form a new one. These comprise Japanese LLM, which is capable of math reasoning, and a Japanese vision language model (VLM). Two of these models are open-sourced and available on platforms like Hugging Face and GitHub.In August 2024, Sakana AI <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/32617">launched 'The AI Scientist', </a>a system for fully automatic scientific discovery to enable Large Language Models (LLMs) to perform independent research.Key customers and partnershipsThe company has formed an R&amp;D partnership with Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), working on AI constellations—an architecture that connects numerous small AI models to work together as an intelligent collective. This collaboration aims to address the high computational demands of large AI models by distributing the workload across specialized, lightweight models.In September 2024, Sakana AI<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/33263"> partnered with NVIDIA</a> to focus on research collaboration utilizing NVIDIA's GPU technologies, early access to NVIDIA-supported data centers in Japan, and developing Japan's AI community.Key competitors: None comparable (Sakana AI is the only company in our coverage to focus on collective smaller models to deliver complex results.)

Sakana AI is an research company focused on creating innovative foundation models inspired by nature. The organization emphasizes evolution and collective intelligence in its AI development processes.

May Mobility specializes in autonomous vehicle technology development and deployment. The company's technology studies the city's traffic and commuter flow, identifying bottlenecks and gaps in the current public transit schema to design the optimal routes for communities. The company also offers a fleet operation service and provides daily transit by deploying autonomous shuttles to reduce human error in driving, reduce pollution, and create greater economic benefit for communities and riders, enabling public transportation systems to create a safer, greener, more efficient environment.

Quantenna specializes in providing Wi-Fi solutions. Founded in 2006, Quantenna has demonstrated its leadership in Wi-Fi technologies with many industry firsts in the market. Quantenna continues to innovate with the mission to perfect Wi-Fi by establishing benchmarks for speed, range, efficiency, and reliability. Quantenna takes a multidimensional approach, from silicon, a system to software for Wi-Fi networks, and provides solutions for OEMs and service providers worldwide.

The NTT Group has a leading global security capability which is delivered by three operating companies: Dimension Data, NTT Com Security, and Solutionary along with the NTT Innovation Institute, Inc. (NTTi³). Together, they deliver security consulting services, cloud-based and managed security, threat intelligence, security integration and risk management solutions to more than 7,000 clients globally.

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