The global automotive navigation market was valued at US$23.3bn in 2020 and is projected to reach US$34.7bn by 2026, according to ResearchAndMarkets. The demand for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and the increasing adoption of connected cars are the primary factors driving this growth. This is expected to go hand-in-hand with greater demand for advanced navigation solutions—such as 3D mapping and predictive analytics—that can help autonomous vehicles (AVs) navigate complex environments more efficiently and safely.
One company looking to change the sphere of navigation is FocalPoint. Founded in 2015 by Ramsey Faragher, the company’s technology has been designed to address some of the most pressing challenges in modern navigation, such as route optimisation, real-time traffic updates, and personalised recommendations.
Once dubbed “The real-life Q” by Top Gear, Faragher is an expert in global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) positioning. FocalPoint’s innovations have been awarded The Duke of Edinburgh’s Navigation Award for Outstanding Technical Achievement from the Royal Institute of Navigation. Alongside Faragher, Scott Pomerantz is leading efforts to revolutionise the industry. His company, Global Locate, won the race to bring GPS to the mass consumer smartphone market, supplying the first GPS chips to companies like Apple and Samsung, before being acquired by Broadcom for US$250m. Pomerantz was so impressed by Faragher’s innovation, Supercorrelation, that he came out of retirement to become Chief Executive of FocalPoint.
Supercorrelation
Supercorrelation is FocalPoint’s patented, chipset-level software product for mobiles, wearables and vehicles that revolutionises positioning in urban environments. Supercorrelation is designed for the modern system-on-a-chip silicon architecture used by all consumer GNSS receivers and combines sensor fusion, machine learning and signal processing. “FocalPoint has decoded the DNA of the GPS signal,” Pomerantz tells Automotive World.
