Irish company, Cubic Telecom raises $40m to advance driverless cars technology
Irish global connectivity platform provider, Cubic Telecom has raised $40m to advance driverless cars technology.
The new funding will allow the mobile tech company to expand its value to $200m
Cubic Telecom was started in Dublin five years ago. The chief executive, Barry Napier, said that the company is developing network and software systems that can allow cars to communicate reliably with networks.
The new and innovative Irish technology is seen as crucial to the safe operation of autonomous vehicles as it can ensure that their connection to the network is constant.
As part of Cubic Telecom’s funding drive, they have raised $37.1m in funding from the giant car manufacturer Audi as well as the computer chip manufacturer Qualcomm and Sierra Wireless, amongst other tech companies.
The company is again entering into a new funding round in the next few weeks, which will double the figure they have raised so far. The added funding will allow the Irish company to expand. Barry Napier said at a recent event
"I've raised just shy of $40m so far and I'll announce another $40m in the next three weeks,"
The company announced plans last year to double its workforce in Sandyford, Dublin to 140. Its client base includes some of the biggest names in the technology, auto and telecommunications sectors, including Microsoft, Qualcomm, Vodafone, AT&T, Volkswagen and Audi.
With the Cubic technology, car manufacturers do not have to rely on many different mobile networks for connectivity.
"The big challenge for us was to get into the auto-manufacturing market," said Napier. "They are metal press companies that are 100 or 120 years old.
"You've a kid from Dublin, walking in with a load of techies, saying, 'We can solve all of your issues'. So we've had a massive challenge."
Back in 2014, Cubic completed a huge deal with Elon Musk and the Tesla Motor Company, which saw its system being used in all the 7,500 Tesla vehicles sold in China.
Cubic Telecom has also carried out as much as 150,000km of cross-border testing with car manufacturers, Volkswagen and Audi but the company has predicted though, that it would be a decade before autonomous vehicles were widely available.
In saying that, it is possible that ride share companies like Uber, GoCar or MyTaxi could be using them within five to seven years, depending on government regulation.
(As always, if you or a family member are considering buying a used car, don’t buy until you run a car check report with MyVehicle.ie where you will find out the true history of the vehicle.)
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