stealth AV startup beings Cali testing

Intellectual property

Hi there,

The week the CB Insights patent search engine uncovered a series of grants recently awarded to players across the auto and logistics tech spaces. We took a look at a few notable examples, one being Ford’s patent for a spring-loaded EV charger capable of automatically deploying and folding away as needed.

Like wireless charging and Tesla’s automated “snake” charger, this concept might be a boon for autonomous electric vehicles, which could automatically dock and recharge at such a station without any need for human intervention.

We also surfaced an Uber patent for autonomous vehicle route planning and data transmission, involving a network of broadcast towers as well as vehicle-to-vehicle mesh networks.

Other patents granted include IBM’s concept for in-flight drone package handoffs, and another trove of AV patents going to Google. Check out the full list here.

Hot off the press

Automotive 3D printing continues to gather steam as BMW’s i Ventures arm participated in this week’s financing to Desktop Metal, a 3D metal printing startup. This is BMW’s second startup bet in the space, with the company also investing directly in Carbon (fka Carbon3D) last September.

The field holds obvious promise for automakers, many of whom are already using 3D printing in prototyping and development phases. Other startups are hoping to apply 3D printing tech to create components for road-ready vehicles, such as Local Motors (buses) and Divergent (cars).

Divergent just raised $23M two weeks ago, and has already partnered with PSA to develop metal printing processes for the latter’s production lines.

Have a great rest of the week.

Kerry
@kerrygwu