Partners sign Memorandum of Understanding to share data for enabling safe, fluid and emission-reduced traffic flow

The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and HERE Technologies, a global leader in mapping and location services, plan to share traffic-relevant data. The joint goal of the cooperation is to enhance traffic safety and reduce noise and pollutant emissions by improving traffic flows. For this, the partners aim to cooperate in various areas and to start joint projects. Today, both parties have signed an according Memorandum of Understanding in Hamburg.

As part of the partnership Hamburg will provide HERE with access to up-to-date, non-personal data related to public transit, construction sites, major events and parking availability. HERE will integrate this data into the HERE Reality Index(TM), its vast database of location-based information. Based on this data both partners can jointly or separately develop services and provide information to transport users, helping them to take the best decisions and enabling Hamburg to improve its traffic management. In addition, both partners plan to co-operate on enabling automated driving in urban environments. For this HERE can provide HD Live Map, its highly-advanced map that supports autonomous driving.

Frank Horch, Senator for Economy, Transport and und Innovation, said: “The partnership supports our goal to transform Hamburg into a model city for modern mobility – this will make traffic for citizens more efficient, comfortable and environmentally friendly. We want to offer companies that aim to develop intelligent solutions in our city a good test field. At the same time, we will prioritize the protection of personal data in all matters.”

Leon van de Pas, SVP Internet of Things at HERE Technologies, said: “Our advanced location technology and precise digital maps have enormous potential to make mobility more efficient, safer and sustainable for people. Through partnerships with forward-thinking cities like Hamburg, we look forward to demonstrating the positive impact of HERE’s technology on urban life.”

On March 15, 2017, Hamburg submitted the German application to host the ITS World Congress 2021 (ITS – “Intelligent Transport Systems”) to the European ITS organization ERTICO. Hamburg, which has a population of 1.8 million, plans to organize the congress – the world’s largest gathering dedicated to exploring the transportation of the future – together with Germany’s Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure. The application has strong backing beyond the city’s borders, with commitment to support from businesses as well as science and industry associations. The decision on which city is to host congress in 2021 will be announced at the upcoming ITS World Congress in Montreal, Canada, this October.

• Hamburg and HERE to partner on intelligent mobility.

The sale of nearly 100 percent of PTV Planung Transport Verkehr AG (PTV AG), Karlsruhe, to Porsche Automobil Holding SE (Porsche SE), Stuttgart, announced in June, has now been completed.  PTV AG is a leading provider of software for traffic planning and management as well as transport logistics. The transaction was subject to a condition precedent and was closed in early September 2017. The aggregate investment amounts to more than 300 million euro.

Porsche SE intends to continue to operate the business as an independent company. PTV Group’s current financial year (31 March) will be changed to accord with the calendar year.

Vincent Kobesen, CEO of PTV, is pleased to confirm the closing of PTV AG’s acquisition by Porsche SE. “We have thus clearly organized the ownership structure with a view towards the future. This allows us to further expand our market position as the leading provider of software solutions for planning and optimization of traffic and transport logistics throughout the world.”

Further information on both companies can be found on Porsche SE’s homepage at www.porsche-se.com and on the PTV Group’s homepage at www.ptvgroup.com.

PTV is currently presenting its range of products and solutions at the NEW MOBILITY WORLD at the 67th International IAA Cars Motorshow in hall 3.1, stand no. B27.

• Porsche completes take-over of PTV.

Alexander Dobrindt, Germany’s Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, and Young Tae Kim, Secretary-General of the International Transport Forum (ITF), signed an agreement on German government funding for the ITF Annual Summit on Thursday, 14 September, in the margins of the Frankfurt Motor Show.

Under the agreement, the German government will contribute EUR 1.2 Million to the cost of holding the Summit. The event will continue to be held in Leipzig, which was recently reselected as the Summit venue as a result of a regularly held competitive tender. The city in eastern Germany has hosted the Summit since 2008, when it was first held.

“Germany has been hosting the world’s leading transport policy event for a decade now. Hand in hand with Germany and our other member country partners, the ITF has developed the Leipzig Summit into a global brand, a must-attend occasion and the world’s premier transport policy event“, said Secretary-General Kim.

“I am very pleased that the government of Germany will continue their support over the next three years. Renewing this valuable partnership will allow us to further develop the Summit and enable the event to continue to innovate, grow and continue to attract participants from around the globe“, Kim added.

The Summit is the world’s largest gathering of transport ministers. Organised by the International Transport Forum at the OECD, it is attended by CEOs, heads of International Organisations and academics and has been called the “Davos of Transport”.

The 2018 Summit on “Transport Safety and Security” will take place from 23 to 25 May 2018 at the Conference Centre Leipzig (CCL) in Leipzig, Germany.

• ITF stays in Leipzig for its summit in 2018.

After a pivot and months of speculation about the future of car valet and concierge startup Luxe, the company has finally found a home. Today, automaker Volvo Cars announced that it is acquiring the startup’s platform, technology, key staff and other assets, which it will use to put some fuel into its own digital services strategy.

The terms of the acquisition are not being disclosed, but we are trying to find out. The startup, according to Pitchbook, had previously been valued around at least $140 million post-money in its last round of funding, which came from Hertz in 2016 (on a $110 million pre-money valuation, according to our report). One source close to the deal tells us that the terms here were closely guarded, and that the assumption at this point is that it was ‘pennies on the dollar’ based on the last valuation.

Luxe’s service had allowed drivers to drop off their car at any point in a city where services are offered, whereupon a professional valet would find a parking spot for the vehicle, and refuel and clean the car if requested.

As part of the acquisition, Luxe’s CEO and co-founder Curtis Lee is becoming VP of digital for Volvo Cars. “The entire team is coming over including Craig (Martin, co-founder of Luxe),” Lee wrote in an email to TechCrunch. “Craig will be continue to lead our engineering team.”

The move comes at a time when automakers around the world are investing into and buying assets of car-focused tech startups to help propel them into the next generation of car ownership, and cars themselves. Other developments have included sizeable investments in transportation-on-demand startups, acquisitions of self-driving technology and consortiums of car makers cobbling together to buy large mapping and navigation providers.

Volvo — originally a Swedish car maker, before getting acquired by Ford in 1999, and then subsequently by Geely Holding in 2010 — itself has also been a notable player in this evolution: the company in July announced that all of its cars will either electric or hybrid by 2019. A month later, in August, the first rumors began to surface noting that Volvo was interested in buying Luxe.

Volvo already has an operation in Silicon Valley, and Luxe’s team will join that group, the company said.

“Our vision is a future in which technology simplifies life so you never have to stop at a petrol station, go to a car wash or even take your car in for service ever again. The acquisition of Luxe is a step towards realising that ambition. I look forward to working closely with the highly talented team at Luxe who created its advanced technology from the ground up,” said Atif Rafiq, Chief Digital Officer at Volvo Cars, in a statement.

Volvo’s vehicles address various segments in the car-making business — from delivery trucks through to high-end luxury vehicles, and this acquisition sounds like it’s firmly to help develop services for the latter. It plans to offer pick-up and drop-off services; and it will be using the tech for other services, too. “The technology behind Luxe provides the company with advanced algorithms in the areas of routing, logistics planning and arrival time prediction,” the company said.

“As more and more of our cars are connected, the availability of digital services becomes a critical part of the process of selecting a new car. Simplification of experience and placing control directly into the hands of the consumer is what today’s technologies enable, and what defines our vision in the digital space,” said Mr Rafiq.

For Luxe, this is a final destination after months of question marks about the four-year-old company, which is operational across some (but not all) major cities in the U.S., including San Francisco, New York and Chicago. The company had raised over $75 million in funding, with backers including Hertz, GV and Foundation Capital, as well as a lot of individual investors.

https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/08/volvo-acquires-car-valet-startup-luxe-to-boost-its-digital-services-business/?utm_medium=TCnewsletter

• Volvo acquires car valet startup Luxe.