DETROIT, Dec. 6, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — The North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) announced today that through its strategic partnership with Techstars Mobility, 57 startups from around the world will participate and showcase their mobility technologies as part of AutoMobili-D.

“Building on the success of the inaugural launch of AutoMobili-D in 2017, the startup zone has expanded for 2018 and will feature a nearly 40 percent increase in startups participating from around the world that are highlighting innovations that touch on every aspect of mobility,” said Ryan LaFontaine, 2018 NAIAS Chairman. “Collectively these startups have raised more than $157 million in venture capital funding.”

Key startup highlights:

• 79 percent are first-time exhibitors at AutoMobili-D
• Startups are coming from 11 countries – a 120 percent increase in international participants from 2017
• Nearly 90 percent have existing relationships with automotive and tech companies
• These startups employ 755 individuals worldwide

“Detroit is transforming from the Motor City to the Mobility City,” said Ted Serbinski, Managing Director, Techstars Mobility. “Anchoring this transformation is AutoMobili-D, which is bringing mobility startups from around the world to Detroit. This event has emerged as a crucial connector of mobility startups to automotive and mobility companies, suppliers and related organizations. These connections align with Techstars Mobility’s mission of connecting mobility startups to these established corporations.”

Startups focused on a wide range of topics:

• Autonomy
• Connected Car
• Electrification
• Fleet Management
• Hardware / Sensors
• Logistics
• Manufacturing
• Mapping / Journey Planning / Multi-Modal
• Personal Mobility / Last Mile Vehicles
• Security
• Services / On Demand / Ride Sharing
• Smart City & Infrastructure

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is the Presenting Sponsor of the Techstars Mobility Startup Community.

Full list of participating startups:

• 1.21GigaWatts — Petach Tikva, Israel — Transforming traffic from liquid dynamics to switching packets. Our Autonomous Traffic Controller tracks vehicles based on their RF footprint, builds a dynamic map, delivers alert signals to vehicles’ own radar in the PHY domain & like air traffic control, coordinate AVs through complex scenarios
• Acerta — Waterloo, Ontario, Canada — Acerta is a platform that uses machine learning to detect malfunctions and predict failures in real time for vehicles coming off the assembly line or being driven. The platform is offered as a cloud service.
• Advano — New Orleans, LA, United States — Advano is a designed materials company that produces a drop-in silicon-based additive that is scalable, and cycle-stable with novel architectures that improve the energy density (33% in full-cell) and lower capacity cost (< $100/kWh) of lithium-ion batteries.
• AEye — Pleasanton, CA, United States — AEye develops advanced vision hardware, software and algorithms that act as the eyes and visual cortex of autonomous vehicles
• Afreecar — Rochester Hills, MI, United States — Afreecar LLC, in partnership with MIT Media Lab, is developing a solar powered mobility hub to provide electricity, transportation and communications to underserved communities around the world. The vehicle will be made from local materials and reuse e-waste, such as EV batteries.
• AirspaceX — Detroit, MI, United States — Developing a multi-mission electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for on-demand passenger mobility and logistics solutions; helping people and companies avoid traffic to save time and money.
• Alchemy — Waterloo, ON, Canada — Alchemy is constructing the next generation of windshields for autonomous vehicles.
• Apollo — Portland, OR, United States — Apollo is the voice of the self-driving vehicle.
• Caaresys — Tel Aviv, Israel — Caaresys developed a contactless passenger monitoring system which makes car aware of the passengers. We measure passengers’ Vital signs (Heart rate and respiration rate) and cabin occupancy status using RF Technology
• CARFIT — Paris, France — CARFIT leverages car vibrations with AI to anticipate maintenance needs
• Carma Car — Detroit, MI, United States — All-inclusive, month-to-month subscription for a vehicle you keep at home.
• Carmera — New York, NY, United States — CARMERA provides real-time 3D maps and navigation-critical data for autonomous vehicles, as well as 3D scene reconstruction and street analytics data for built environment uses.
• CarServ — Austin, TX, United States — CarServ is a B2B2C SaaS solution for the automotive repair industry. Our focus is providing a path to predictable revenue for repair facilities as well as a consistent, high-quality experience for customers; all based on better data and insight around the repair process.
• Classic Automotive Innovations — Portland, OR, United States — CAI brings cutting-edge innovation to the global classic car community to help keep them drivable and reliable. We focus on R&D and production-grade proof of concepts. Classic Connect™ will be our entry into the V2X space.
• Connecthings — Paris, France — Awarded world best solution for “Mobility & Sustainability” at SCEWC 2016, Connecthings turns city transit’s passive infrastructure into contextually-aware talking asset through citizen-centric technologies, that automatically inform riders of options by public or private transports.
• CryptoWatt — Chicago, IL, United States — The solution that unites charging stations into a global roaming network
• Derq — Dubai, United Arab Emirates — MIT spin-off developing AI-based V2X software applications for connected and autonomous vehicles to eliminate road accidents and save lives
• Drive Smart — Madrid, Spain —Value proposition is built around a personal “Driving Reputation Index” every driver can obtain by using the app. As TrypAdvisor does rating hotels, DriveSmart’s index is becoming a standard recognized by the new collaborative mobility industry, adding an element of trust in their transactions.
• Drive Spotter — Omaha, NE, United States — Drive Spotter provides location awareness to companies and individuals
• Drive Time Metrics — Jamestown, RI, United States — In-vehicle media analytics and monetization. More audio listening in vehicles than anywhere else, yet no data on what is heard – Media needs this intelligence. DTM solution provides a holistic in-vehicle listening analytics for media and a new revenue stream and customer insights for automotive
• EcoG — Munich, Germany — We provide the monetization engine for electric vehicle (EV) charging. With our IoT Operating System & an open API-Layer we bring the app economy onto the charger & turn the time to charge into extra revenue. EcoG bridges the gap between user, vehicle and infrastructure enabling seamless charging.
• Ecoservice — Vancouver, Canada — Enterprise SaaS – Shared mobility platform & Service company. Station-based, free-floating carshare, Ride-hail, P2P, autonomous fleets.
• Excelfore — Fremont, CA, United States — Excelfore is pioneering the next generation connected vehicle platform
• GoKid — New York, NY, United States — Award-winning and venture backed, GoKid is the complete carpool solution for schools, teams, and active families. Our mobile-first technology platform makes carpool setup easy and convenient—allowing parents to share driving responsibilities with other families they know and trust.
• Gridwise — Pittsburgh, PA, United States — A mobile platform for rideshare drivers which increases their earnings 20% by leveraging data analytics and community to help them better understand when and where to drive.
• HAAS Alert — Chicago, IL, United States — The HAAS Alert Safety Cloud connects motorists, connected and autonomous vehicles to a smart in-road network that delivers real-time data feeds of emergency vehicles en route and on-scene.
• idatase — Frankfurt, Germany — idatase GmbH offers professional services targeting projects in the fields of energy, utilities, aviation and transportation. We are bringing NetLume based analytics to multi-billion dollar companies on city wide scales and even beyond.
• Inventev — Detroit, MI, United States — An up-fit manufacturer for electrified commercial trucks with emphasis on zero emission mobility, idle-free work sites and mobile power generation; plus a Detroit-based advisory and service company for mobility enterprises seeking auto-industry linkage, urban proof-of-concept testing or research.
• Invision AI — Toronto, Canada, Canada — Invision AI enables you to recognize objects in any data feed directly on low-power processors. We are a hardware agnostic solution that removed the need for cloud computing or special hardware.
• iSee — Cambridge, MA, United States — ISEE is a fast-growing AI startup spun out from MIT, developing and testing the autonomous driving system using a novel approach to artificial intelligence.
• LISNR — Cincinnati, OH, United States — LISNR® is the new standard for device connectivity using sound. As the leading, global provider of data-over-audio technology, LISNR®’s proprietary near-ultrasonic protocol is being used across the connected world to power over 100 million devices and counting.
• Make My Day — Tel Aviv, Israel — Smart driving assistant for planning your drive, your day and optimizing your route and errands running using AI and decision making algorithm.
• May Mobility — Ann Arbor, MI, United States — May Mobility is a driverless transportation company focused on services for places like central business districts, enterprise campuses and mixed-use developments.
• Mighty AI — Seattle, WA, United States — Mighty AI delivers training data to companies that build computer vision models for autonomous vehicles. We combine our annotation software, consulting and managed services, proprietary machine learning, and global community of pre-qualified annotators on one platform to guarantee quality.
• Mystro — San Francisco, CA, United States — Mystro is the only app that allows on-demand drivers to safely switch between multiple platforms such as Uber and Lyft by automating the evaluation and accepting of trips.
• NERVteh — Ljubljana, Slovenia — NERVteh is a high-tech company specialized in simulation technologies. Our primary service are driver skills evaluation and specialized driver training, with main focus on critical situations.
• Pablito — Los Angeles, United States — Pablito is a ride-sharing startup focused on the Hispanic community within the United States
• Parkbob — Vienna, Austria — 1. Digital street parking rules & restrictions, covering 100 cities EOY18 2. Real-time information on available parking spots 3. Data science based parking information that helps drivers to take better decisions, e.g. current searchtime, parking options, predicted availability.
• Parkofon — Alexandria, VA, United States — Parkofon offers a fully automated parking payment and control system that can be easily integrated into the vehicle on-board electronic system. Paired with a mobile app, it guides drivers to parking spots and notifies them of the hourly limit, rate, and expiration time.
• PathSense — Cardiff, CA, United States — A better location stack for iOS and Android. More accurate geofencing with no more false positives. 6x faster activity recognition with half the battery drain. Radically improved GPS accuracy in cities with tall buildings, tunnels, etc. Integrate in minutes.
• PayBySky — London, ON, Canada — PayBySky provides the world’s first fully autonomous parking payment system. No coins. No cards. No phones. Just park, and walk away. PayBySky knows when you arrive. We know when you leave and we pay for your parking. Fleet managers love the cost savings. Retail consumers love the convenience.
• Pitstop — Toronto, Canada — Pitstop predicts vehicle failures before they happen
• PolySync — Portland, OR, United States —Enabling technologies for autonomous vehicle technology.
• Populus.ai — San Francisco, CA, United States — Populus.ai is a data and analytics platform to optimize the deployment of mobility services. Founded by MIT PhDs with a decade of experience in transportation, we are building a platform that facilitates the coordination between cities and the private sector for safer, more efficient streets.
• renewz — Montreal, Canada — Solar Power Carports and canopies for homes, with or without EV chargers.
• SEEVA Technologies — Seattle, WA, United States — SEEVA Technologies designs visibility systems for mobility. Their technologies quickly clean windshields, cameras, LIDAR and other sensors to help vehicles see.
• Shuttle Planet — Wokingham, United Kingdom — Passenger transportation marketplace. Scheduled and on-demand passenger transportation.
• SoftBit Technologies — Los Angeles, CA, United States — Provides a full technology platform for ride-share & other on-demand businesses, comprising of native mobile apps, web technologies, machine learning algorithms and others.
• Spatial.ai — Cincinnati, OH, United States —Power vehicles to answer questions only a local would know.
• Spectalite — Detroit, MI, United States — Spectalite engineers nature to need. Spectalite, a women owned Advanced Engineering and Material Manufacturer, makes light weight, cost effective, strong and durable, eco-friendly and sustainable plastics and composites, by incorporating bamboo.
• Stroma Vision — Istanbul, Turkey — Vision based interface which tracks driver behavior to decrease accidents.
• Vartega — Golden, CO, United States — Vartega creates low-cost recycled carbon fiber to enable mobility solutions such as battery technology, connectivity, and autonomy. Vartega’s carbon fiber is used specifically for vehicle lightweighting to improve fuel economy, increase electric vehicle range, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• VeloMetro Mobility — Vancouver, BC, Canada — If you live, work or play in the city and want flexible personal transportation without the usual torment of urban travel, our Veemo sharing service frees you from traffic congestion, the need to have a driver’s licence, inactivity, exposure to the elements, and the cost of operating a car.
• Vugo — Minneapolis, MN, United States — Passenger Infotainment and mobility marketplace
• Wheeli — New York, NY, United States — Wheeli is the carpooling app for college students. Think of it as the Airbnb for the empty car seats on the road.
• Wise Systems — Cambridge, MA, United States — Wise Systems provides route optimization software to help companies deliver goods and services when they are needed most. Our software combines scheduling, dynamic routing, and machine learning to empower some of the world’s largest companies to improve service without sacrificing efficiency.
• XBoard — Ithaca, NY, United States — XBoard is a sports tech company on a mission to infuse cutting-edge technologies into extreme sports. Our first product is a fully trickable electric skateboard that drives our vision to use extreme sports as a validation point to develop truly reliable electric mobility for the future.

About Techstars
Techstars helps entrepreneurs succeed. Through the Techstars Worldwide Entrepreneur Network, founders connect with other entrepreneurs, experts, mentors, alumni, investors, community leaders, and corporations to grow their companies. Techstars operates four divisions: Techstars Startup Programs, Techstars Mentorship-Driven Accelerator Programs, Techstars Corporate Innovation Partnerships, and the Techstars Venture Capital Fund.

Techstars Mobility is a Mentorship-Driven Accelerator Program part of Techstars. Techstars Mobility is the first North American accelerator focused on the future of transportation and mobility. Headquartered in downtown Detroit but investing worldwide in startups, Techstars Mobility has invested in 33 mobility startups since June 2015.
www.techstars.com

About the North American International Auto Show
Now in its 30^th year as an international event, the NAIAS is among the most prestigious auto shows in the world, providing unparalleled access to the automotive products, technologies, people and ideas that matter most – up close and in one place. Administered by executive director Rod Alberts, the NAIAS is one of the largest media events in North America, and the only auto show in the United States to earn an annual distinguished sanction of the Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d’Automobiles, the Paris-based alliance of automotive trade associations and manufacturers from around the world. For more information, visit naias.com.

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2018 NAIAS Dates:
The Gallery – Saturday, January 13, 2018
AutoMobili-D – Sunday-Sunday, January 14-21, 2018
Press Preview – Sunday-Tuesday, January 14-16, 2018
Industry Preview – Wednesday-Thursday, January 17-18, 2018 
Charity Preview – Friday, January 19, 2018
Public Show – Saturday-Sunday, January 20-28, 2018

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SOURCE North American International Auto Show