By Mike Freeman, The San Diego Union-Tribune
The connected car is no longer a novelty.
Some 3.9 million vehicles will be sold this year in the U.S. with embedded cellular radios that allows motorists to link to the Internet for navigation, emergency response and other services, says industry research firm Strategy Analytics.
Between 2011 and 2015, about 15 million domestic cars have been sold with cellular radios as automakers tout mobile technology almost as much as horsepower and gas mileage to lure buyers.
So what's next?
At the fifth annual Telematics West Coast conference in San Diego this week, a handful of startups showcased new technology that might help usher in the connected car future — with self-driving cars and improved safety as key themes.
As the connected-car market matures, automakers and their top suppliers are seeking out startups more often to spot trends and innovate faster. New auto-focused venture capital funds are popping up, including $100 million at Intel Capital and $85 million from General Motors, says the Autotech Council, an industry trade group.
Eighteen car makers now have offices in Silicon Valley, up from four in 2007, said Liz Kerton, executive director of the Autotech Council.
Here is a look at the startups featured by the Autotech Council at Telematics West Coast.
Drivemode
Distracted driving is cited as the cause for 1.6 million accidents annually, even though 48 states have passed laws forbidding texting while driving.
For H.K. Ueda, co-founder of San Jose-based Drivemode, that's evidence of motorists continuing to punch the tiny buttons on their smartphones while on the road.
Drivemode has built a smartphone app designed to make smartphone use safer on the road. It essentially mimics the in-car touchscreens in many of today's new vehicle dashboards, with big icons, automated message replies, one-swipe controls and voice commands.
"It's an automotive grade interface for the phone that allows you to control key apps, starting with music, calling, navigation and messaging," said Ueda, who previously managed the Model S launch for Tesla. "It is delivered through a no-look user interface designed from the ground up for driving."
The company launched the app this summer for Android phones and has more than 300,000 downloads to date, said Ueda.
Drivemode targets older-model vehicles worldwide that don't have embedded mobile radios or built-in systems for syncing the car's dash controls with the smartphone. For these motorists, Drivemode "could make your current car a really affordable, personalized, always up-to-date connected car with your smartphone as the centerpiece," said Ueda.
5D Robotics
Based in Carlsbad, 5D Robotics has developed peer-to-peer wireless technology and navigation software for the military that pinpoints a vehicle's location much more accurately than GPS — down to about 2 centimeters.
It's mainly used on about two dozen military robots that search for landmines or IEDs. But 5D Robotics believes precise, real-time location is going to be critical technology for self-driving cars.
"If you want to know a car is in the left-hand turn lane, GPS is not going to be good enough to do that," said co-founder David Bruemmer. "So we want to use peer-to-peer positioning to change the way we think about autonomous driving and change the way we think about telematics."
In a recent demonstration at a United Rental lot, 5D Robotics used its technology to load scissor lifts onto trucks autonomously — no drivers required. The company has raised "several million" in venture capital, said Bruemmer, and is working to reduce the size and cost of its technology.
Strobe
Self-driving cars are not ready for prime time in part because a key sensor technology, LIDAR, is too bulky and expensive.
LIDAR, which stands for light detection and ranging, uses light to create a 3-D image of a vehicle's surroundings. Today, it's about the size of a KFC chicken bucket and costs from $20,000 to $80,000.
Tapping technology spun out of Cal-Tech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena-based Strobe wants to put LIDAR capabilities on a computer chip that would cost around $100, said Chief Executive Julie Schoenfeld.
"Any attempts so far to reduce the cost have also reduced the performance," she said. "What Strobe intends to do is change the architecture. Strobe has licensed the technology for a type of laser that allows you to reduce the size while increasing the performance."
The company has raised about $600,000 in debt financing so far and is looking for additional capital, she said.
Syndicated Maps
The Hermosa Beach company provides crowdsourced maps on its website for all kinds of things — cellular dead zones, solar panel installations and Wi-Fi hot spots.
Two of its maps involve driving -- PhotoEnforced.com, which charts locations of red lights, speeding and HOV lane cameras, and Badintersections.com, which shows crossings with high accident rates.
CEO Jeff Cohn said the company wants to be a real-time data provider, not an app developer. It is just beginning to explore the auto industry for possible expansion.
"The opportunity that I see is as a warning system," he said. "This intersection is prone to bike accidents, for example. So it provides something that alters the driver."
©2015 The San Diego Union-Tribune Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
