Who are the startups upgrading the auto industry?

The auto industry has seen a flurry of startups and private investment enter the market in the past five years, as cars become more connected, electric, and autonomous.

Startups range from one man units to large teams, with some valuations exceeding $1 billion. But who are the startups? In a CB Insights report (infographic below), the venture capital database firm attempts to “unbundle” the automobile and show what these startups are working on.

Automation takes up the lion’s share of TV and news coverage, but as you can see in the infographic, there is plenty of other parts of the automobile that are seeing startup interest.

While most of the startups have received less than $50 million in funding, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t valuable. Cruise Automation, which sold to General Motors for $1 billion, only raised $15 million and its valuation pre-acquisition was $90 million.

Plenty of the startups are essentially trying to zone in on the auto issue, instead of building services that rival Android or Google Maps.

Take PathSense, a 10-person navigation startup based in Palo Alto, California. The team has released four SDKs, three for Android, one for iOS, which attempt to improve accuracy, speed, and lower battery drain when using GPS or geolocation tools on mobile.

PathSense, in a way, appears to be marketing itself to Google or Apple. It has tech and talent, two things the giants are in need of, especially for their own autonomous projects.

Auto aftermarket also an opportunity

But while everyone may be waiting for a fully autonomous car, the huge existing auto fleet presents an opportunity as well. Aftermarket autonomous features will be big as well.

“I think the broader perspective is that American’s can’t afford new cars and the automotive industry itself relies on the upsell of new features as an enticement for people to buy,” says Andy Karuza, CEO of Fensens, a wireless parking sensor and app. “Now, the new features are becoming more accessible and affordable through technology, allowing consumers to bypass having to get the new car all together. This will likely be a larger trend with IoT technology. ”

We have written a few articles on nuTonomy, a MIT spinoff that entered Singapore earlier this year. The startup, which is building an autonomous shuttle system, recently received approval from Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) to expand its autonomous trial in more zones.

nuTonomy’s goal is to provide its shuttle service to the entire city state of Singapore, possibly entering into other markets during that time. People will be able, in the future, to call for the shuttle in the same way we book Uber’s today—minus the driver.

As startups dive into these different sectors, it is possible they will find new methods that improve platforms and products outside of the automobile. Cybersecurity firms may create encryption that surpasses current end-to-end encryption on mobile messaging services, mapping and navigation firms have already proved their worth, as shown by the upgrades PathSense has made to Android and iOS navigation in its short lifespan.

Delphi joins crowded autonomous taxi run in Singapore

Joining self-driving startup nuTonomy’s Singaporean efforts, automotive supplier Delphi announced on Sunday that is has been awarded a contract by Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) to create an experimental pilot program for an autonomous taxi service.

The program provides three routes for people to choose, all located in a Queenstown subzone called one-North. Delphi will outfit six Audi SQ5 cars with the autonomous tech to drive people.

All cars will have a safety driver that can take over control of the car. Delphi expects by 2019 the safety driver will no longer be necessary, and by 2022 it wants the program to be fully operational.

It will also pick the people that drive in the autonomous vehicles to start, though the company does want the opportunity to drive everyday commuters in the near future.

Delphi believes the pilot program will provide the company with lots of data on the autonomous vehicle system, and hopefully improve the view people in Singapore have of self-driving cars.

Even though Singapore is the first, Delphi has reportedly in discussions with other cities in Europe and North America. It makes note of this in the announcement video (below). San Francisco and London are two possible locations, both have lower regulations than most cities for self-driving vehicles.

Delphi is not the first company to test autonomous vehicles in Singapore, in fact, it is a few months behind MIT spinoff nuTonomy. The startup arrived in Singapore in early 2016, in one-North where Delphi are starting to test cars, but recently signed an agreement with the LTA to expand its autonomous taxi pilot program.

Surprisingly, Google, Tesla, and Uber have not made large investments into Singapore. That’s despite the country’s rather relaxed regulations on self-driving and tech-focused government,

Delphi joins crowded autonomous taxi run in Singapore

Joining self-driving startup nuTonomy’s Singaporean efforts, automotive supplier Delphi announced on Sunday that is has been awarded a contract by Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) to create an experimental pilot program for an autonomous taxi service.

The program provides three routes for people to choose, all located in a Queenstown subzone called one-North. Delphi will outfit six Audi SQ5 cars with the autonomous tech to drive people.

All cars will have a safety driver that can take over control of the car. Delphi expects by 2019 the safety driver will no longer be necessary, and by 2022 it wants the program to be fully operational.

It will also pick the people that drive in the autonomous vehicles to start, though the company does want the opportunity to drive everyday commuters in the near future.

Delphi believes the pilot program will provide the company with lots of data on the autonomous vehicle system, and hopefully improve the view people in Singapore have of self-driving cars.

Even though Singapore is the first, Delphi has reportedly in discussions with other cities in Europe and North America. It makes note of this in the announcement video (below). San Francisco and London are two possible locations, both have lower regulations than most cities for self-driving vehicles.

Delphi is not the first company to test autonomous vehicles in Singapore, in fact, it is a few months behind MIT spinoff nuTonomy. The startup arrived in Singapore in early 2016, in one-North where Delphi are starting to test cars, but recently signed an agreement with the LTA to expand its autonomous taxi pilot program.

Surprisingly, Google, Tesla, and Uber have not made large investments into Singapore. That’s despite the country’s rather relaxed regulations on self-driving and tech-focused government.

A Zoox cab ride looks pretty cool Posted on June 1, 2016

Imagine you’re getting ready to leave a busy restaurant after a long night out with friends. You’ve had a few too many and decide to call for a ride rather than to drive yourself. You pull out your smartphone and with a few taps a car is sent your way. When your car arrives, it looks like something out of a supercar magazine. Opening the passenger-side door, you discover that the vehicle that just pulled up is totally empty. Not just the passenger seat, but the driver’s seat as well.

This is the vision behind Zoox, a little-known Silicon Valley-based startup that is currently seeking a bumper round of funding that would value it at $1 billion before it has even picked up its first passenger.

So what makes Zoox so appealing to investors? For one, the popularity of ride sharing services like Uber and Lyft certainly helps. The one drawback to these services has long been local and state regulations over them. Ordinances were quickly introduced and passed in the spirit of defending Taxi services, as well as to ensure that drivers receive background checks that safeguard passengers from hitching a ride with someone that could have bad intentions.

Zoox takes the driver part of that concept away by creating an entirely autonomous fleet of cars that will drive to, pick up, and drop off passengers where they want to go.

Creating a disruptive startup in the heavily-regulated auto industry is tough. Zoox has a concept vehicle that would make it not only a transportation company, but its unique vehicle concept means that it has to design and build a vehicle that passes regulatory controls to make it street legal.

The concept was originally unveiled two years ago as an ambitious design that was really not expected to see the light of day at a time when autonomous vehicles were still in their early infancy. The design featured a four-seat configuration with no steering wheel or manual controls. Seats were arranged so they faced each other, enabling passengers to have a more natural conversation while the vehicle takes them to their destination.

Zoox not the only ones at the cab stand

This ambitious undertaking requires a lot of funding. Unlike other autonomous vehicle projects, Zoox’s doesn’t borrow from already-existing designs. Google was able to test its self-driving technologies on existing vehicles that were converted.

Another challenge for Zoox is competing in a market that includes top vehicle manufacturers and major brands like Tesla, BMW, Google, and potentially even Apple. Uber has made headlines as it uses the profits it’s making off its human-powered ride sharing service to purchase autonomous vehicles that may one day replace its drivers on the roadway.

Here’s one advantage Zoox already has in its corner. It is currently one of twelve companies that are licensed to operate autonomous vehicles in the state of California. Of those companies, Zoox stands apart as being a non-household name. There is another in the list, Cruise Automation, but it was purchased by General Motors this past March.

Indeed, Zoox has an uphill climb ahead of it, but if it can secure the $252 million it’s asking for in this funding round, it will be hard to ignore – even in the land of auto giants.

NuTonomy partners with Singapore on self-driving taxi fleet

Driverless startup NuTonomy might be the first company with a fleet of self-driving taxis on the roads, if the city of Singapore approves of a pilot program to be launched later this year.

NuTonomy started at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and has been working for three years to create a fully autonomous vehicle. The firm raised $3.6 million in seed funding three months ago, and will use the money to launch its “One North” pilot program, if Singapore approves. The program would be based in downtown Singapore,according to IEEE Spectrum, and branch out as NuTonomy adds more taxis.

See Also: Car sales boom to go bust with self-driving cars?

MIT has already worked with Singapore on self-driving projects, giving it an edge over other competitors like Google, Tesla, and Uber, which are all looking to build self-driving fleets in the near future.

NuTonomy will supposedly reach “level four” in the self-driving deployment, if it manages to get approval from Singapore. Google and Tesla are currently at “level three”; having a human inside the car in-case the self-driving functionality fails.

“This could make car-sharing something that is almost as convenient as having your own private car, but with the accessibility and cost of public transit,” Emilio Frazzoli, nuTonomy chief technology officer and MIT professor of aeronautics, said to MIT News.

Singapore not only battleground in self-driving supremacy

NuTonomy isn’t just working on self-driving taxis for Singapore though. It has a partnership with Jaguar and Land Rover to build autonomous systems. This makes it one of the big players in the self-driving landscape, but despite the surge in success, the 25-man team is still the underdog in the race against its larger competitors.

Analysts suggest we won’t see self-driving cars adopted by regulators until at least 2017, and even then we’ll see some sort of human-control to ensure if the self-driving system fails there’s a safety backup. The NuTonomy pilot program might be a test case for regulators and self-driving firms alike, to see if the cars are more safe and efficient without a human inside.