Automotive News - November 6, 2017 - Supplement - S12

Top startups
jump-start auto
industry's drive
into the future
Mighty AI: Making sense of all that raw data coming from autos.

hen Caradoc Ehrenhalt bought his
first electric vehicle, he found that the
dealership couldn't provide a lot of
advice about how to install a charger at his home.
"I knew if I had that problem, others would as
well," Ehrenhalt says.
The company he created in response, EV Safe
Charge, now is one of the Top Ten Automotive
Startups for 2017 that will be honored at
AutoMobility LA. The 10 finalists were selected
by a panel of judges from a pool of nearly 300
applicants. The grand prize winner will be
announced during AutoMobility LA.
The Top Ten competition is sponsored by
Magna International.
"Our work with startups helps us stay at
the forefront of emerging technologies and
potentially validate them for automotive
applications," says Swamy Kotagiri, Magna's
chief technology officer. "We see great
opportunity to form mutually beneficial
relationships with inventors and entrepreneurs
to help bring ideas to
market."
Ehrenhalt brought his
idea to market as EV Safe
Charge, which provides
concierge-style services
Caradoc Ehrenhalt
to owners and operators
of electric vehicles: installing, maintaining and
updating EV chargers. The company installs
chargers for residential use and for commercial
uses, such as school bus fleets, office buildings
and auto dealerships.
"There's a natural excitement about EVs now,"

PAGE 12

says Ehrenhalt, CEO of EV Safe Charge. "More
automakers are going electric. More countries
are banning internal combustion engines and
working to reduce emissions. All that is really
bringing a lot of interest to the market."
Whether it's electric vehicles, autonomous
driving or other ride-sharing services, the
future of mobility is attracting entrepreneurs,
some of whom have switched gears to join the
transportation industry.
The team behind one of the other 2017
Top Ten Startups, Mighty AI, was working on
intelligent crowdsourcing and then artificial
intelligence. "As we worked with companies in
this space, we discovered the demand in the
auto industry and realized it was one of the most
advanced industries in terms of applying AI,"
says Angela Cherry, director of public relations
and communications for Mighty AI. "We went
all in on autonomous vehicles."
Mighty AI uses a network of 300,000 people
around the world who help the company
analyze, label and annotate images for use by
self-driving systems.
"This is a race to solve the greatest technology
challenge of our generation," Cherry says. "But
one of the biggest blockers is making sense of
the mountain of raw data-everything these
companies are collecting from vehicle sensors."
A typical vehicle might gather 40 terabytes of
raw data every day. "We help companies make
sense of that," Cherry says.
Mighty AI says it works with traditional originalequipment manufacturers and Tier 1 suppliers as
well as other startups and software companies.

EV Safe Charge: Someone has to install,
maintain chargers.

"THE REALITY IS THAT
WE NEED EACH OTHER,"
CHERRY SAYS. "THE
TRADITIONAL AUTOMAKERS
HAVE THE EXPERIENCE TO
BUILD HARDWARE THAT'S
SAFE AND CAN PASS
REGULATIONS; THEY ALSO
HAVE THE HEARTS AND
MINDS-CONSUMERS
TRUST THE PRODUCTS THEY
ARE BUILDING."

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News - November 6, 2017 - Supplement