Self-Driving Car Only Lanes?

August 17 2020

The auto town is back. Michigan is building a first-in-the-nation connected and autonomous vehicle corridor in the state's southeast corner, the latest bid to ensure the region remains the epicenter of an auto industry moving rapidly into a technology-driven future.

The roadway would stretch from downtown Detroit to Ann Arbor. Along the way, it would connect to such key milestones as the American Center for Mobility in Ypsilanti and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and would parallel parts of Interstate 94 to Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

The project has been 6 years in the making as a project to combat Silicon Valley's encroachment into the car industry. The corridor project is the latest result of that work and will promote accessibility and affordability of mass transit. The AV corridor would be the first in the nation, improving transit access for people who live and work along the route. Automated and connected buses, shuttles, and freight trucks would run in dedicated lanes along the Interstate 94 corridor, linking the University of Michigan to Detroit Metropolitan Airport and the city's downtown.

The project is being led by Cavnue, a subsidiary of Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners, an affiliate of Google parent Alphabet Inc. which builds, owns, operates, and invests in both advanced infrastructure projects and technology companies with innovations that enable and apply to those projects.

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Autonomous Vehicle Companies:

Argo AI is an autonomous driving technology company headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was co-founded in 2016 by Bryan Salesky and Peter Rander, veterans of the Google and Uber automated driving programs.

Waymo LLC is an American autonomous driving technology development company. It is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc, the parent company of Google. Waymo operates a commercial self-driving taxi service in Phoenix, Arizona called "Waymo One"; users in the Phoenix metropolitan area use an app to request a pick-up.

NuTonomy is an MIT spin-off technology startup company that makes software to build self-driving cars and autonomous mobile robots. The company was founded in 2013. In August 2016, it launched its robo-taxi service in Singapore.

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Since last week, PrivCo has added:
4,300 Updated Companies | 197 M&A Deals | 196 Funding Activities

Funding & Deal Highlights:

Mighty Labs, a Salt Lake City, Ut.-based platform for remote and cross-functional teams, raises $4.3M in seed funding. Investors include Slack Fund, GSV Ventures, Origin Ventures, Album VC, Acadian Ventures, and Village Global.

Root AI, a Boston-based startup building produce-picking robots, raises $7.2M in seed funding. Rob May of PJC led the round and was joined by investors including First Round Capital’s Josh Kopelman, Jason Calacanis, and Austin McChord of Outsiders Fund.

Merico, a startup that gives companies deeper insights into their developers’ productivity and code quality, announces that it has raised a $4.1M seed round led by GGV Capital, with participation from Legend Star and previous investor Polychain Capital. The company was originally funded by the open source-centric firm OSS Capital.

Boston-based Reify Health closes a round led by Battery Ventures, with participation from Sierra Ventures and Asset Management Ventures. The company’s software, StudyTeam, is designed to upgrade the computer systems that healthcare staff at clinical trial sites use to run studies, thereby helping to accelerate enrollment and reduce workloads, it said. The company says it plans to use the money to continue expanding the system.

GoPeer, an educational technology company that pairs vetted college students with K-12 students for virtual tutoring lessons, closes a $2M seed round led by angel investor Ed Baker, former VP of Product and Growth at Uber, and prior to that position, Head of International Growth at Facebook. The new financing will power GoPeer's product-driven growth and fuel its innovative platform, prioritizing teaching, accessibility, and analytics.

Health Catalyst, Inc., a leading provider of data and analytics technology and services to healthcare organizations, announces that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Vitalware, LLC, a Yakima, Washington-based provider of revenue workflow optimization and analytics SaaS technology solutions to healthcare organizations.

General aviation avionics OEM Aspen Avionics has been acquired by The AIRO Group. The new owner possesses a fairly deep bench in aerospace, holding a portfolio of companies in a wide range of aerospace segments, including commercial and military, and piloted and remotely-piloted vehicles.

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