The Intel Mobileye autonomous garage in Jerusalem is the home for testing of the first cars in a 100-vehicle fleet. Image: Intel Corporation
This week in IoT, Intel-owned Mobileye celebrated the signing of a deal that will see it provide self-driving technology to 8m vehicles.
If you haven’t had your fill of stories relating to the internet of things (IoT) this week, then you’ll want to check out the series of features included in Siliconrepublic.com’s Automation Week.
Here are just a few that might pique your interest:
- From NB-IoT to LoRaWAN: Will there be one standard to rule them all?
- Realising the future and full potential of connected IoT devices with AI
- IPv6 and IoT security: What should you know?
- Take a peek inside some of the world’s largest automated factories
Mobileye makes major break into the auto industry
Israel-based Mobileye has put pen to paper in a deal that will see its self-driving technology put into 8m cars for a currently unknown European auto manufacturer.
According to Reuters, this makes it one of the largest deals yet for the company. Expectations are that the technology will start being placed in cars from 2021, in what is already a highly competitive space as different providers aim to have their technology as the go-to for self-driving cars.
No doubt the biggest winner of the deal is Intel, which, having bought the company for $15.3bn last year, is now seeing instant rewards given that Mobileye is believed to already corner 70pc of the market for driver assistance systems in existing vehicles.
When it is introduced in cars, the technology will work with Intel’s EyeQ5 chip, designed to cater for self-driving cars across a number of partly autonomous models from the car manufacturer.
Meanwhile, Mobileye is continuing to work on the development of Level 4 autonomous technology – one lower than full automation – with Ford on its Fusion hybrids, which will include 12 small cameras installed to monitor surroundings.
Smart home automation market to skyrocket
Smart home automation is expected to be a lot more than just an Amazon Echo in your sitting room, with Juniper Research expecting the market to skyrocket in the coming years.
According to the report, increasing smart security adoption will drive home automation and monitoring revenues from an estimated $12bn in 2018 to more than $45bn by 2023, representing a growth of more than 260pc.
This is being driven in no small part by smart security manufacturers such as Nest, Hive and Netgear as well as through Amazon’s recent acquisition of Ring.
The research also found that the smart home concept represents a significant opportunity for insurers to boost their appeal to consumers. Juniper estimates that, during 2018, around 65m new home insurance policies will leverage smart home technologies.
Research author Nick Maynard said of the findings: “The smart home makes the biggest impact upon customers when it is seamless. By offering services across ecosystems, vendors are broadening their markets, allowing vendors to compete on features rather than compatibility.”
What does the future hold for IoT?
A survey conducted by research group CSG has asked 2,000 consumers where IoT is currently being used the most in their home, and where it is likely to expand into in the future.
Some of the key insights showed that wearables continue to be a presence on the IoT market, with technology such as fitness trackers and smartwatches being owned by 45pc of respondents.
Providing similar findings to the recent Juniper research, this survey also showed that consumers are eager to snap up home assistants, with 23pc of respondents saying they use one of these devices, and 36pc interested in testing out connected home applications.
“With the coming roll-out of 5G connectivity, the age of IoT is beginning to unfold,” said Ken Kennedy, president of technology and product at CSG.
“This survey shows that consumers are ready to embrace connected devices and use IoT technology to make their daily lives easier. As the IoT market continues to grow, we will see applications become part of daily life in the home, office environments and tomorrow’s cities.”
Child monitoring service launches on South Korean NB-IoT network
South Korean telecoms provider KT is aiming to get plenty of use out of its NB-IoT network by announcing a child monitoring service capable of tracking location anywhere across the country.
According to ZDNet, the service uses Samsung’s Connect Tag (launched last year), which comes equipped with a GPS and Wi-Fi tag and would be placed in a child’s bag.
Speaking of the move, KT said that by its nature, NB-IoT uses very little amounts of power, so the tags won’t need to have their batteries replaced for a long time.
“We will continue [to] launch IoT services that leverage our price-competitive NB-IoT network,” a KT spokesperson said.
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