Part IV: Pioneering C-V2X in Japan
Another Chapter in The FRSX Saga. Remember this is not financial advice and this article is purely speculation
Welcome back to another Smartrick’s Pick report! As most of you know I’ve been detailing the business activities of Foresight Auto LTD. (FRSX) for over a month. I’ve been investigating possible suspects found in FRSX press releases with their ongoing business relationships as they continue to grow its customer base for its LiDAR and AI autonomous technology. Today’s report could be a big one.
Today’s update will include:
FRSX earning report
Updates on previous reports
New Press Release and findings
Previous Reports:
Cracked the Code?
The Second Act
Chapter 3: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
Foresight Announces Second Quarter 2020 Financial Results
Foresight Auto LTD announced its Q2 earnings report on August 20th, the company posted Q2 Non-GAAP EPS of -$0.02; GAAP EPS of -$0.02 beats by $0.09. Which I would say is a positive ER for a company still in late-stage development of its main product the Quadsight camera and its nice to see that COVID-19 did not affect them as bad as other companies in this sector.
Foresight: Eye-Net Mobile and Global Japanese Technology Company to Start Pilot Project
On August 21st Foresight Autonomous announced it will start a pilot program to test FRSX’s Eye-Net Protect program with a multi-billion dollar global Japanese technology company. Eye-Net Protect is a cellular-based V2X (vehicle to everything) accident prevention solution and will be integrated into the unnamed companies IoT (internet of things) platform.
Before I breakdown the press release I need to explain a few things
What is an IoT Platform?
Internet of things is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction
In layman’s terms, IoT solutions are smart products such as an Amazon Alexa, Apple Watch, or smart lock. IoT devices are basically smart devices that have support for the internet or are able to interact with the other devices over the internet and grant remote access to a user for managing the device as per their need.
What are V2X solutions
Vehicle-to-Everything technologies have been designed to innovate safety and efficiency through interactions of smart transportation technologies such as IoT. V2X uses LTE and 5G technology, to communicate between vehicles and other devices, reducing congestion and pollution while enhancing travel efficiency.
Examples of V2X Solutions
Platooning
Cooperative Driving
Queue Warnings
Collision Avoidance
Hazard Warnings
Autonomous Driving
Road Tolls
Great article explaining the benefits of V2X
What is C-V2X technology?
Cellular-V2X technology is the newest development in V2X communication being developed by many large corporations worldwide. C-V2X in the next step in bringing autonomous vehicles to SAE Level 4 autonomy and beyond. C-V2X is superior to the current DSRC technology currently used in existing V2X solutions. C-V2X is now possible due to 5G superior speeds and connections.
*FRSX has the only C-V2X market-ready product worldwide ready for commercial deployment.*
What is MaaS technology?
Mobile as a Service (MaaS) is a new concept of mobility that the integration of various forms of transport services into a single mobility service accessible on demand. Maas Expo will be the business platform where service developers (MaaS operators and automobile manufacturers, etc.), autonomies, and transportation companies visit to find partners. Examples of MaaS are Uber, Transit app, and City Mapper. MaaS technology has been compared as the ‘Netflix of transportation‘ and many municipalities have begun pilots to include Whim app in Finland, Transport for Greater Manchester in the UK, and UbiGo in Gothenburg & Stockholm. Many predict MaaS technology to revolutionize transportation in urban areas.
What are Eye-net Mobile V2X solutions?
FRSX describes Eye-Net Protect as a mobile client or mobile software development kit, or SDK, providing real-time pre-collision alerts to vulnerable road users and vehicles by using smartphones, relying on existing cellular networks. This is the core development of Eye-Net Mobile. Eye-Net Protect’s unique features and capabilities include:
Operates under all weather conditions
Designed for minimal system resources consumption
Runs as a background process on iOS and android mobile phones
Requires no special certification
Compatible with android-based car infotainment systems
According to the company’s latest 10-Q, FRSX’s Eye-Net Mobile is ready for commercial deployment, and to FRSX’s knowledge, they have the only V2X solution on the market at this stage in development.
Eye-Net Mobile ongoing deals
In March 2020, Eye-Net Mobile signed an agreement with NoTraffic Ltd. NoTraffic developed an Autonomous Traffic Management Platform to enables cities to intelligently implement their traffic laws and policies in order to maximize traffic flow.
According to the agreement, the companies will collaborate to develop and optimize the technological abilities of Eye-Net Mobile’s V2X accident prevention solution and NoTraffic’s intelligent traffic management solution to municipalities in North America. The terms of the condition will be agreed upon in the near future per FRSX’s lastest 10-Q.
Bottom Line:
FRSX’s Eye Net Mobile is a V2X solution ready for commercial deployment to a large audience that can be easily integrated as an add-on service to existing applications with an existing substantial user base or used as a stand-alone service.
Now that I’ve explained a few things about this press release back to the message
Who are the suspects for this Pilot Program?
If we look at the press release the criteria for this company is
The company is a Multi-Billion Dollar Japanese technology company
The IoT platform already has millions of users
The integration will be in the SDK (front end) of the app
About Japan Navigation
The Denso MapCode system was developed in 1997 by Denso Corporation for easy identification of any location in Japan by Japanese navigation systems. Car navigation systems are unable to identify locations for which addresses or telephone numbers are not available or house numbers, like in Japan, are not sequential. The Denso MapCode system enables accurate pinpointing by number, predetermined according to latitude and longitude
The use of MapCodes is free to end-users but corporations wanting to commercialize it will need to sign a contract with Denso and pay a fee. In Japan, car navigation system suppliers such as Denso itself Kenwood, Fujitsu, Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, and Alpine Electronics have adopted the system and Toyota, Honda, Nissan, BMW, General Motors, Jaguar, and Land Rover have introduced it in their vehicles
Bottom Line
Japan doesn’t operate on the standard address we use in America so navigation apps like Google Maps and Apple maps aren’t the standard like they are in the US and other parts of the world. Primary Japanese citizens use their in-car navigation systems for GPS.
The Suspects
So first I identified all the billion-dollar companies in Japan (LINK)
Next, I isolated the tech companies and I got 20 companies then I filtered for companies that have driving apps per the Google Play Store and App store per Similar Web after hours of looking through different apps I compiled the following list.
Toyota TC Smartphone Navigation
KDDI au Car Navi
Softbank Yahoo Maps Japan
NTT Docomo DriveNet
*note I listed Toyota as they are much more than just auto manufacture but I do not think they are the company listed in the message.
KDDI Corp
KDDI the second-largest cell phone service provider in Japan has been developing C V2X solutions since 2017 beginning its trials in San Diego California. KDDI's major shareholders include Kyocera, Toyota, and multiple large Japanese banks. KDDI holds active partnerships with Nokia, AT&T, Ford, and Qualcomm Technologies in the development of this product and has started testing in Japan as of 2018. KDDI also backs Japanese autonomous driving company Tier IV and their C-V2X program Autoware
Tier IV
Tier IV founded in 2015 in Japan develops software called Autoware which is a complete open-source software stack for autonomous driving technology. that is pre-installed into vehicles. The company has teamed up with Yahama motors to test its technology in Taiwan with its partners ADLINK Technology Inc. (ADLINK), a global leader in edge computing, and the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), a world-leading applied technology R&D institution based in Taiwan. The company uses Aisan Technology’s high-definition 3D maps, KDDI’s connected services in its efforts to launch an autonomous taxi service in Japan.
Verdict:
KDDI a multi-billion dollar has the platform in navigation system au KDDI Car Navi but it looks like they already have a partner in Tier IV developing C-V2X technology for an autonomous AI taxi service
SoftBank Corporation
Softbank Group Corp. is a global Japanese tech conglomerate who owns a stake in many technology, energy, and financial companies. It also runs the Vision Fund the world’s largest tech-focused venture capital fund with over $100 billion in capital.
Subsidiary Softbank Mobile is the 3rd largest cell phone provider in Japan and has been actively involved in multiple C-V2X testing operations. Most recently, Softbank tested a number of vehicles as dubbing it the ‘worlds first trial’ of non-standalone 5G connected cars. (Standalone 5G is using actual 5G signal vs Non-Standalone using LTE) This testing was joint testing with Nokia, Honda, and KDDI, the testing was conducted on one of Honda’s test tracks in Hokkaido, Japan.
Softbank has also partnered with Honda, Subaru, UBER, self-driving delivery startup Nuro, and GM (which they invested 2.25 billion in a JV). Many news agencies to include CNN have dubbed SoftBank the number #1 investors in the autonomous vehicle market.
Yahoo Japan
Softbank is the owner of Yahoo Japan that operates a free mapping app on both Google Play and the IOS app store. However, Yahoo Japan is expected to merge with the popular app Line in October this year. The new company will be known as Z holdings and will be 50/50 split between Softbank and Korean company Naver. SoftBank and Naver hope that they will better position search portal Yahoo Japan, Line’s messaging app to compete against rivals from the United States and China.
The most interesting partnership Softbank holds is with Toyota and there JV in Monet Technologies which started testing Toyota’s e-Palette in South East Asia in 2019.
MONET Technologies (SoftBank/Toyota)
Monet Technologies was formed in 2019 by Toyota Motors and Japanese tech venture capital firm Softbank aimed at providing Mobile as a service (MaaS) to Japan.
What does MONET technologies do?
MONET stated in the second half of 2020, MONET plans to roll out autonomous mobility-as-a-service businesses using e-Palette, Toyota’s dedicated battery electric vehicle for mobility services that can be used for various purposes, including mobility, logistics, and sales.
(the same e-Palettes that I link FRSX Quadsight camera sale to in The Second Act)
List of MONET ongoing Test Pilots of MaaS technology
Current Shareholders in MONET Technologies
SoftBank Corp.: 35.2%
Toyota Motor Corporation: 34.8%
Hino Motors Corporation: 10.0%
Honda Motor Co., Ltd.: 10.0%
Isuzu Motors Corporation: 2.0%
Suzuki Motor Corporation: 2.0%
SUBARU Corporation: 2.0%
Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd. Company: 2.0%
Mazda Motor Corporation: 2.0%
Verdict:
Softbank is one of the largest investors in the autonomous vehicle market seems focused on launching MONET’s Maas platform with Toyota. The service is still not up and operating and the company’s navigation platform powered by Yahoo Japan doesn’t seem to the priority for Softbank as it is involved with many other operations.
Winner: NTT DoCoMo
NTT Docomo subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (32.6% owned by Japan Government) is one of Japan’s largest communications providers and a top 3 leader in IoT technologies globally could be the possible suspect in this press release. NTT has been testing different C-V2X technology since 2017 and has worked with Continental, Ericsson, Nissan, OKI, and Qualcomm in efforts to develop their own C-V2X technology. Testing has primarily been in San Diego using Ford cars and Qualcomm’s 9150 solutions to facilitate direct communication. In 2018 NTT DoCoMo started testing its C-V2X technology in Japan but only on test tracks as Toyota is the only company authorized to test on live roads by the Japanese Government.
*That law was set to change in 2020 to allow all manufacturers the right to test in Japan.
Docomo DriveNet
This Smartphone app is basically a mobile version of the Carrozzeria Nav system which is very common amongst cars in Japan. (comes standard on many Toyota and Mitsubishi models) In 2013 NTT and Pioneer formed a financial partnership in the automobile electronics market to “further strengthening the relationship with DOCOMO, with which Pioneer already has a business alliance in such field as “Docomo Drive Net,” Pioneer will work to promptly establish a new business model in which various devices such as smartphones, in-vehicle equipment, and tablet PCs are connected seamlessly.“ (Pioneer News Release 2013)
HERE Technologies
Earlier this year NTT and Mitsubishi announced a joint acquisition of the Dutch mapping company HERE Technologies. HERE was recently awarded Counterpoint Research’s top location & mapping platform for the 3rd time in a row (beating out Google Maps) Following the transaction HERE appointed two additional board members from NTT and Mitsubishi as the company plans on accelerating its work in the Asian Markets.
NTT Technical Journal Vol 21
In this issue of the NTT publication (published in April 2020), the company talks in great lengths about the ongoing industry of connected vehicles, C-V2X capabilities, and their plans for a MaaS platform. They talked about its testing with Qualcomm and others however I found this to quite interesting.
Smartrick Takeaway: NTT is still looking for a partner in C-V2X
Test Pilot #2 Dash Cams
Foresight: Eye-Net Mobile to Begin Pilot Project with Second Japanese Multinational Company
Just one 1 week after the announcement of the first test pilot we get another multi-billion dollar tech company test piloting FRSX’s Eye-Net Mobile Protect for its advanced dash cameras in which they sell hundreds of thousands of.
Same deal as last time, here is the list of Japanese companies that make dash cameras and are mulit-billion dollar companies
Panasonic C-V2X platform Cirrus (dash camera aren’t a major sector of business)
JVC Kenwood (No C-V2X partner & only advanced feature is park assist)
Pioneer
Pioneer
Pioneer makes the most sense here if NTT Docomo is behind the first test pilot agreement. Pioneer powers NTT’s DriveNet mobile app with its navigation system services, the two companies also are stakeholders in HERE technologies. Pioneer also makes a lot of dash cameras.
This screengrab was from a 2019 article from the Automotive world which talks about Pioneers advanced dash cameras.
The Final Word:
NTT and Pioneer seem to fit the mold of these two test pilots both companies have fit the characteristics and have the capabilities to utilize FRSX’s Eye-Net Mobile software. If the first test pilot is NTT they would have to give the software to Pioneer as their app is powered by them so it would make sense of why Pioneer is also testing them its advanced dash cameras
Either way, a successful test pilot by FRSX would be huge for their business going forward, I guess we will have to wait and see.