LAS VEGAS—San Francisco-based Point One Navigation’s Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) corrections technology was used by all autonomous racecars in the Indy Autonomous Challenge (IAC). The race, part of CES 2024, which was won by TUM Autonomous Motorsport from the Technical University of Munich.
While some industry observers question the utility of autonomous racing, Point One Navigation CEO Aaron Nathan believes that the races are a good proving ground to test technology in that environment. “The challenges faced by cars exceeding 180 mph are categorically different—the penalties for failure are much higher. The fact that latency is not there is not tolerable,” he said. “You see production companies struggle with these issues as they go to scale.”
Point One has seen its GPS solutions placed into 75,000 cars, Nathan said. “We are also expanding into other forms of mobility from Level 4 vehicles and motorcycles,” he said. “Consumer robotics like lawnmowers have been a growth sector for us. Traditional GIS service, land surveying, photogrammetry for drones and delivery vehicles have also been a growth area.
Nathan said the company plans to announce a nationwide L-band service in the second quarter. “Unlike our competitors, it will be a full continental U.S. rollout with 3-5 centimeters in horizontal accuracy,” he said.
