MobilityXlab is run in partnership with five other global mobility and connectivity companies: CEVT, Ericsson, Veoneer, Volvo Cars, and Zenuity. Startups from across the world can apply on two occasions each year and are selected to explore future mobility solutions together with the six partners. A total of 11 new startups were chosen to join MobilityXlab this round.
Philip Wockatz
“Some of the startups are very interesting for the Volvo Group,” says Philip Wockatz, Director Open Innovation at the Volvo Group, who represents the Volvo Group in MobilityXlab, together with Joakim Svensson, Director Innovation at the Volvo Group.
“This new batch of startups once again demonstrates what a powerful collaboration hub MobilityXlab is,” says Joakim Svensson. “I’m looking forward to having detailed discussions with several of them.”
MobilityXlab is the place where startups looking for a partner can more easily engage with global mobility and connectivity companies.
GBatteries in Canada has developed a system for ultra-fast charging of li-ion batteries without damaging the batteries or compromising their cycle life. This was demonstrated by the dramatic difference in the charging time for a standard electric scooter, which was reduced from 5 hours to 9 minutes and 32 seconds.
“With more than 40 patents filed and investments from Y Combinator, Plug and Play, and Airbus, GBatteries is an interesting startup in the electrification space with broad IP coverage that uses AI to achieve higher charge rates with longer life and lower heat,” says Joakim Svensson.
Artificial intelligence is a hot topic and its success is heavily dependent on easy yet secure access to data. The Swedish startup CloudBackend provides an Edge Platform as a Service, built for a 5G connected world with a distributed global mesh cloud that moves the application closer to the vehicle, making it easy for automotive manufacturers to data roam seamlessly across the edge all the way to on-premises and on-hardware.
“This seamless data and application roaming across the edge and infrastructures makes it easier to handle data securely,” says Emil Robertson, Business Developer at CloudBackend, “even when products are moving across borders as trucks transporting goods do. Distributed data management and the orchestration of computing and data across clouds, edge infrastructures, and on-premises are key for future mobility”.
The CloudBackend solution is a platform capable of deploying, managing, and scaling servers as well as handling everything from the central coordination of data and issuing identities to the decentralization from the cloud into the edge cloud with a programming model of one cloud.
“They have an edge computing solution that transforms the vehicle into a node of an Edge Platform as a Service, showing potential for reduction of complexity with effects such as lowering CAPEX, OPEX, and TCO with out-of-the-box functionality,” says Tobias Sternvik, Enterprise Architecture at Volvo Group Connected Solutions. “This is an interesting technology solution for us.”
MobilityXlab is a key open innovation initiative of the Volvo Group and represents one way of creating shared value through partnerships. The startups that were invited during this round will stay on for six more months and the startups invited a year ago will move on and become alumni.
More about MobilityXlab
Contacts for startups and partners Volvo Group Connected Solutions Innovation Lab
Open positions at Volvo Group Connected Solutions here
Co-creation at CampX by Volvo Group
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