How Bright Box and Otonomo will use Big Data to advance Connected Cars

Bright Box, a Connected Car company included in Zurich Insurance Group, has recently partnered with Otonomo, an Israeli automotive data services platform company. ITU News caught up with Alex Dimchenko, Chief Strategy Officer of Bright Box, to discuss how the two companies will work together to use data to advance driverless cars and Smart Cities.

How will the solutions created by this partnership make lives better?

Bright Box’s partnership with Otonomo helps automakers from the Bright Box portfolio deliver value to drivers and make use of their connected car data. As part of this collaboration, the Connected Car platform powered by Bright Box, will connect to Otonomo’s data services platform to amplify opportunities for drivers including emergency services, parking location, on-demand fueling apps, predictive maintenance, as well as smart city and other municipal projects.

With real-time and historical automotive data, these services help drivers get to their destinations faster and avoid accidents. More than that, vehicle owners will be provided personalized services, from in-vehicle delivery of merchandise to on-demand fueling to road usage tax payments.

Why is this partnership with Otonomo important to take Bright Box to the next level?

Otonomo hosts a marketplace focused on enabling the development of connected-car applications and services that benefit drivers. This partnership will provide significant opportunities to securely connect millions of vehicles to hundreds of innovative services and applications.

‘This central repository of data opens the door to new uses for the information, and provides more opportunities to help consumers – and even save lives.’ – Alex Dimchenko, Chief Strategy Officer

Bright Box works for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), car importers and dealership groups. Today, its collaboration helps our customers deliver value to their end users. When car owners are satisfied, dealers and car manufacturers are confident in their business. This collaboration presents a wide range of business opportunities for our customers.

How will this partnership make use of Big Data to provide value to drivers?

Each connected car unit from Bright Box generates up to millions of status records. As a result, the company has accumulated over dozens of terabytes of connected-car data from users in different countries, providing a strong data set which takes advantage of the Otonomo platform.

Otonomo is the first neutral automotive data services platform that simply and securely paves the way for the development of new apps and services for drivers, passengers, municipalities and transportation companies. As more cars become connected, there is a need to aggregate and normalize this vast, diverse amount of data and then make it easily accessible.

This central repository of data opens the door to new uses for the information, and provides more opportunities to help consumers – and even save lives. The connected car, with automatic crash detection, can provide first responders with critical information, including the force of the impact, how many people are in the car, if they were wearing seatbelts, if the car rolled over, and if so, how many times.

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All of this can improve the time of response and improve care. In an accident, every second matters, and collaboration with Otonomo helps make this data available instantly.

What are the implications for the development of Smart Cities?

At Remoto (Bright Box’s connected car platform), we’re addressing the challenges of the smart city, by working with car manufacturers, car dealerships, city planners and of course drivers, using our Artificial Intelligence-driven turnkey connected car platform, Bright Box, to offer:

• Location services – car location, journey timelines, finding the nearest or cheapest gas stations
• Driving style services – encouraging safe and efficient driving
• Roadside assistance – automatic help if you have an accident
• Vehicle health checks – diagnostic reports within your app
• Mobile payments – to your dealership

The Remoto box also creates a Wi-Fi hotspot in your car, meaning you’ll always be connected. Because it’s AI-driven, the more you drive, the more data is created and the more personalized and useful your “smart car” will become.

For key insights on trends in connected cars, read the latest edition of the ITU News Magazine:

This is what we’re doing now, but like smart city technology, we’re just getting started. And this collaboration to help us and Otonomo to make the city smarter.

How do your systems meet consumer privacy expectations?

The connected car is a very sensitive environment associated with consumer safety. OEMs, car importers and dealership groups care about their customers and work to improve cybersecurity.

Customers today have high requirements for cybersecurity, and one of the strategic focuses of our company’s practical activity is to counter cyber-threats. Bright Box has taken steps to ensure security and data privacy.

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Our Data Privacy Policy covers all geographical areas where the connected vehicle solution Remoto is available, and it guarantees that all the new personal data protection elements of the [European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation — GDPR] are adhered to and fully assured.

How important are connected-car interoperability standards as Bright Box seeks to expand?

We are interested in a standardized approach that would allow the connected car to interact with new smart technologies in all roads and in homes globally. This is because the inhabitants of future smart cities will demand safer travel. And, in fact, connected car technology is helping create safer travel possible now with:

• V2V (vehicle to vehicle) – V2V is technology enabling connected cars to talk to each other over wireless networks. It is designed to reduce collisions by analysing other cars’ positions 10 times per second, and warning the driver if action needs to be taken.
• V2I (vehicle to infrastructure) – V2I enables connected cars to talk to static objects, such as traffic lights, signs and cameras via wireless networks. It enables a quicker response to accidents, variable speed limits and other safety enhancements.
• V2X (vehicle to everything) – V2X incorporates V2I and V2V, but adds other connected devices, such as smartphones and Internet of Things (IoT) devices.