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Swift Navigation and NVIDIA Partner to Lower Autonomous Vehicle Costs
Swift Navigation said it has partnered with NVIDIA NVDA 0.81%↑ to integrate its high-integrity GNSS positioning technology with the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX platform to help make autonomous driving localization more scalable and cost-effective for automotive makers and developers. The new Starling SAL Plugin for NVIDIA’s DriveWorks software lets users add centimeter-level GNSS accuracy as a “drop-in” component without the heavy reliance on expensive optical sensors.
Swift Navigation said this approach offloads absolute positioning to its precise GNSS solution, simplifying system design and reducing overall costs while supporting robust performance even in challenging conditions. Executives said the integration could accelerate production of safety-critical automated driving systems by providing a reliable, globally referenced positioning stream directly within the DRIVE AGX architecture.
Contact: Swift Navigation, www.swift-nav.com.
Zephr and Rx Networks Team Up to Bring High-Precision GNSS to Android Devices
Zephr.xyz has launched its Zephr Positioning SDK for Android, a software-only solution that delivers sub-meter location accuracy and real-time orientation by fusing built-in sensors and advanced GNSS correction data. Through a strategic collaboration with Rx Networks, the SDK incorporates TruePoint high-precision GNSS corrections to extend reliable, global positioning performance to mass-market devices without specialized hardware. The combined technology aims to support a wide range of applications, from rideshare and delivery services to AR, autonomous systems and location-aware AI, with enhanced accuracy and privacy-first on-device processing. Zephr and Rx Networks said the partnership will enable scalable, precise positioning worldwide and encourage new use cases on commodity Android phones.
Contact: Ali Soliman, Rx Networks, (408) 734-6551, asoliman@rxnetworks.com.
Trimble Brings Centimeter-Level Precision to Lucid Gravity EVs, Solving Urban Navigation Challenges
Trimble TRMB 0.76%↑ has announced that its integrating RTX and ProPoint Go to provide centimeter-level accuracy for navigation and driver assistance in the new Lucid Gravity electric vehicle, making it the first EV to feature a resilient sensor fusion engine that maintains precision in tunnels, parking garages and dense urban areas where standard GPS fails, the company said.
The system fuses satellite data with six-axis inertial sensors to reduce positioning errors from meters to centimeters, enabling unbroken navigation, enhanced hands-free driving confidence, more accurate range estimates, advanced infotainment features and better fleet tracking. The Trimble solution will come standard on new Lucid Gravity vehicles starting at the end of January 2026, with existing vehicles receiving the upgrade via over-the-air software update.
Contact: Trimble, media@trimble.com, www.trimble.com.
TDK Unveils STRIDE Real-Time Positioning Software for Wearables
TDK Corporation’s Trusted Positioning unit has launched STRIDE, a low-power, embedded Pedestrian Dead Reckoning (PDR) software solution that brings continuous indoor and outdoor location tracking to wearables and compact IoT devices without added hardware. The sensor-agnostic STRIDE engine fuses inertial data with GNSS and opportunistic wireless signals to provide seamless positioning across challenging environments, addressing the limitations of traditional GNSS-dependent tracking. STRIDE is designed for integration into smart watches, head-mounted devices, AR glasses, and handhelds, enabling applications from fitness tracking to lone-worker safety monitoring with reduced power and hardware demands.
Contact: Sarah Carmichael, Trusted Positioning, (825) 540-1558,
tpi.info@tdk.com, www.trustedpositioning.tdk.com.
Collins Aerospace Shows Latest Anti-Jam Navigation Tech at Army Test
RTX’s RTX 0.86%↑ Collins Aerospace recently demonstrated its newest compact anti-jam Assured Positioning, Navigation and Timing (APNT) solution at the U.S. Army’s All-Domain Persistent Experiment at White Sands Missile Range, highlighting what the company described as its smallest portable APNT system to date. The ground-based Modular Open Systems Standards card is designed to provide resilient navigation for ground, robotic and autonomous platforms operating in GPS-denied or degraded environments, the company said. During testing, Collins’ APNT system maintained precise navigation despite heavy jamming and spoofing, using fused data from Military-code GPS and onboard sensors.
Contact: RTX, corporatepr@rtx.com.
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Kongsberg Picks Advanced Navigation INS to Boost Protector RS4 Capabilities
KONGSBERG Defence & Aerospace has signed a multi-million dollar agreement with Advanced Navigation to supply more than 50 Boreas D90 fiber-optic gyroscope inertial navigation systems for integration into its Protector RS4 remote weapon system. The strategic-grade INS units are expected to enhance the platform’s targeting precision and maintain stable line-of-sight control in high-threat or GPS-denied environments, the company said.
Advanced Navigation said the Boreas D90 was selected for its performance in challenging conditions and the company’s ability to meet strict delivery schedules.
Contact: Advanced Navigation, 61 2 8880 9000, press@advancednavigation.com.
Niantic Spatial, Vantor Partner on GPS-Independent Air-to-Ground Positioning System
Niantic Spatial and Vantor recently announced a partnership to integrate their visual positioning technologies, enabling precise navigation and coordination for air and ground platforms in GPS-denied environments. The joint solution combines Niantic Spatial’s ground-based Visual Positioning System, which aligns camera feeds against its geospatial model, with Vantor’s aerial Raptor software, which matches sensor feeds to proprietary 3D data, creating a shared real-time coordinate system for drones, vehicles, AR glasses and other assets, the companies say.
Field testing of the integrated system is scheduled for early this year, addressing vulnerabilities like GPS jamming, spoofing and interference, the companies say.
Contact: Niantic Spatial, press@nianticlabs.com.
Aftermarket Car Telematics Subscribers Top 90 Million Worldwide
Global shipments of aftermarket car telematics solutions reached 26.5 million units in 2024 and are projected to grow to 39.3 million units by 2029, according to a new report from Berg Insight. The installed base of active aftermarket car telematics units surpassed 90 million at the end of 2024 and is forecast to reach nearly 137 million worldwide by 2029, driven by applications such as stolen vehicle tracking, remote diagnostics and usage-based insurance, the report said. Berg Insight said aftermarket solutions continue to show strong potential even as embedded connectivity expands in new vehicles, particularly by serving specialized customer groups such as dealerships, workshops and insurers. Demand remains especially strong in regions with high vehicle crime, with active aftermarket stolen vehicle tracking units expected to exceed 103 million globally by 2029.
Contact: Johan Fagerberg, Berg Insight, 46 31 711 30 91, johan.fagerberg@berginsight.com.
People
- Tory Bruno, chief executive of United Launch Alliance, is leaving for another opportunity.
- Stephan Zizala, former u-blox CEO, is rejoining Infineon Technologies as president of the Connected Secure Systems (CSS) division.
- CACI CACI 0.39%↑ appoints Michael Gilday and David Keffer to its board of directors.
- FleetOwl has named Daniel Brink as Chief Revenue Officer. Brink’s hire comes on the heels of FleetOwl’s recent acquisition of SOS Trucking Software.
- Aaron Jarvis has been named vice president, EMEA at Geotab.
- Tom Carlsen has been named head of IoT at Telenor IoT AS.
- Brian Holt has been named head of strategic programs at Arrive.
- Jonn Hicks has been named head of geomatics sales, EMEA at Topcon Positioning Systems.
- The Institute of Navigation named Mathieu Joerger as editor of NAVIGATION: Journal of the Institute of Navigation.
- Kevin Li has been named associate director at Counterpoint Research.
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