Cubic Telecom, an Irish company which provides connectivity for autonomous vehicles as well as other machine to machine communication, has announced a series C funding round of $47 million (£36.6m), with Qualcomm and Audi among the companies investing. The two companies were previous investors in Cubic – whose total funding now stands at $88m – with new investors Valid Soluciones Tecnologicas SAU and Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) also taking part in the round. Cubic already works with Audi across its entire product line, having previously trialled its technology giving uninterrupted data connectivity across extensive geographies in 2016 on its Q7, Q5 and A4 ranges. The company’s network offers 4G LTE voice and data services through partnering with more than 30 mobile operators in at least 180 countries. Among Cubic’s customers, aside from Audi and Qualcomm, are Volkswagen and Porsche on the automotive side, and HP, Lenovo and Panasonic on the tech side. “Qualcomm and Audi have both been early investors and steadfast supporters in our vision, and their most recent investment, in partnership with new partners Valid and ISIF, will fuel our continued growth and market expansion,” said Barry Napier, chairman and CEO of Cubic Telecom in a statement. “Without exception, our customers are committed to providing an intelligent connectivity experience to their end users, and today’s announcement will help Cubic continue to deliver on that promise.” Elsewhere, a new report from analyst firm Gartner argues that more than half (55%) of the more than 1,500 respondents to a US and German-centric survey will not consider riding in a fully autonomous vehicle. 71% of those polled said they would consider riding in a partially autonomous vehicle. “Fear of autonomous vehicles getting confused by unexpected situations, safety concerns around equipment and system failures, and vehicle and system security are top concerns around using fully autonomous vehicles,” said Gartner research director Mike Ramsey.

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