Renovo Develops Robocar-Cloud OS

　　Ever heard of Renovo? If you’re in the know, of course you have. Renovo is a Campbell, Calif.-based startup, still in a stealth mode, devising a common platform on which numerous service apps can be developed for fleets of highly automated vehicles.

　　The startup’s formidable goal is to design an operating system — or more accurately, abstraction layers between automated vehicles and the cloud — that developers can tap to write a variety of “automated mobility on demand” apps for automated vehicles, presumably across the board.

　　In a recent phone interview with EE Times, Chris Heiser, Renovo CEO and co-founder, told us, “Think about how Android (based on Linux kernel) allowed app developers to leverage the platform and to bring disruptions to the smartphone market.” Renovo wants to do the same for the auto market.

　　From walled garden to open ecosystem

　　Heiser noted, “Many automakers like Ford or GM are putting a robot in a car that will be owned by humans.” In his opinion, that [building a Level 4 car] is an easier problem to solve.

　　In contrast, Renovo isn’t developing an OS for a robot inside the car, but instead, “We are developing a platform from which a variety of services can be launched.”

　　As with many automotive startups in Silicon Valley, Renovo has not detailed its technology. Nor has it publicly demonstrated it. Yet, there is a mounting evidence that the company is getting traction from a few big guns.

　　Two strategic investors Renovo has picked up thus far are Samsung, whose big automotive ambitions led to its acquisition of Harman, and Verizon, a cellular network giant with one of the largest telematics and fleet management practices in the world.

　　Separately, when Delphi and BlackBerry announced last month their partnership on a software operating system for self-driving cars, the companies said that Delphi’s turnkey self-driving system — called CSLP — is using BlackBerry QNX as an operating system. Delphi said, at that time, that other partners on the CSLP platform include Intel’s Mobileye and Silicon Valley startup Renovo.

　　Delphi has not elaborated on its relationship with Renovo. However, as Delphi positions itself as a leading Tier One offering a turnkey self-driving vehicle platform to automakers yet to develop their own self-driving systems, it’s not hard to imagine an opportunity for Renovo to piggyback Delphi and help those carmakers with self-driving service architecture.

　　Phil Magney, founder and principal advisor for Vision Systems Intelligence (VSI), believes that Renovo has “a pretty compelling solution that helps bridge some of the gaps in the cloud eco-system.” He added, “The biggest and most ambitious of them is the openness that will take mobility services from a walled garden to an open eco-system.”

　　Fleets of highly automated vehicles as a service

　　First, let’s clarify Renovo’s thinking, as it develops its technology and business model.

　　Renovo is a firm believer in “automated vehicles as a service.” Heiser predicts “a massive shift” in the way people use cars in cities, as cost per miles driven by fleets of automated vehicles inevitably go down.

　　Similarly, automakers’ revenue will be much less driven by unit sales. Miles driven per vehicle will be increasingly important. In this circumstance, cities and the automotive industry will initially need a whole bunch of robocars. But missing from this formula, in Renovo’s view, is a service infrastructure, or ecosystem, in which robocars are the integral element.

　　Software stacks are necessary for highly automated vehicles to do things like steering, navigation, deciding on where to go, EV charging, pulling over, identifying construction sites on roads, and a lot more.

　　Services that will require such software stacks include fleet management, security, “tele-operation,” data collection and other smart city-related applications.

　　‘Netflix’ of vehicle automation

　　Asked the pressing issues Renovo is trying to solve, Magney said, “Primarily, Renovo provides linkage between fleets of highly automated vehicles and the cloud in terms of how the data from the both sides are being used and monetized.”

　　Obviously, a data giant like Google already has the upper hand on the service platform model Renovo is pursuing. Google owns the cloud, and its Waymo leads in the development of highly-automated vehicles.

　　But that doesn’t mean it’s game-over for the rest of the automotive industry, in Heiser’s view, because Waymo thus far is building an ecosystem of its own.

　　As more U.S. cities allow autonomous car tests on their streets, carmakers face “tremendous pressure,” said Heiser. Besides testing their own vehicles in each city, carmakers need to figure out their own service architecture for fleets of automated vehicles.

　　Will Ford, GM and other automakers opt for building their separate ecosystems for fleets of AVs as a service, or opt to join a common platform that enables a variety of services including their own?

　　Renovo is betting its future on the latter.

　　Magney believes Renovo’s desire is to “enable the ‘Netflix’ of vehicle automation.” He explained, “Renovo’s automated vehicle platform has the capacity to enable lots of third party services and business models that monetize through data/services coming into and out of the vehicles.”

　　Unlocking the value of sensors

　　During the interview, Renovo’s Heiser noted that an iPhone contains more than two dozen sensors. More important, he noted, “There are already 2 million apps that are taking advantage of data collected by those embedded sensors.”

　　Renovo wonders why it can’t do the same for highly automated vehicles. “If there is a clearly defined abstraction layer, we can unlock the value of those sensors already inside the vehicle,” said Heiser.

　　Heiser’s reference to “abstraction layers,” however, appears to include even a safety critical layer at vehicle level so that certain applications can talk to actuators and sensors. Renovo’s goal is to build a platform that is hardware- and vehicle-agnostic.

　　A big question, however, is whether carmakers will ever allow such a layer to be abstracted.

　　Magney said, “I don’t think consumer vehicle manufacturers would be ready to sign on to this concept just yet. However, companies building fleets would favor this approach if the Renovo model starts seeing some traction.”

　　Calling it “a chicken and egg problem,” Magney observed, “There’s a reason why Renovo would want to target fleet operators first and foremost — Renovo seems to want to shake up the transportation ecosystem by putting operators and services at the top of the food chain!”

　　As Magney sees it, “One critical element of the Renovo model is tele-operation where the service provider has the capacity to take over control of the vehicle.”

　　He said, “It is hard to imagine a highly automated world without this capability.” But he acknowledged that getting access vehicle control raises lots of questions about the safety and security of transportation fleets.

　　Partnership with Argus

　　Inevitably, when a company talks about remote operations of highly automated vehicles, it must be ready for questions about security.

　　To that end, Renovo last month announced a partnership with Argus Cyber Security to incorporate Argus’ patented Intrusion Detection and Prevention System technology into Renovo’s automated mobility operating system.

　　The two companies said the partnership will cover future cooperation to integrate advanced, multi-layered cybersecurity solutions with Renovo’s proposed platform for automated mobility on-demand services.

　　Competitions

　　Renovo appears ready to release more details about its technology and business models. Gaps in the cloud ecosystem for highly automated vehicles will become a big story, and the window for Renovo to tell its stories “will begin to close,” said Magney, as big tech companies start announcing their own solutions.

　　Magney believes Renovo will face “challenges from the tech heavyweights like Baidu or Google.” Those companies are “really good at device management,” and “both are working on their autonomous vehicle projects.”

　　And let’s not forget the standard soon emerging from a consortium of carmakers and Tier Ones like Autosar (AUTOmotive Open System Architecture).

　　Magney pointed out, “You also have Adaptive Autosar which defines the technical requirements and services layer necessary to modify or alter to the runtime components of the AV software stack.” He explained, “The Autosar layer is deeper and concerns itself with defining the ECU interfaces and the structure of how ECUs communicate.” Magney believes Adaptive Autosar is complimentary to Renovo’s project.

　　He summed up: “Renovo model starts to define the structure of connecting fleets to cloud assets and create a platform that lays the groundwork for advanced automation.” He called it a “very shrewd move,” on the part of the startup, because “nobody, in my opinion, has really defined how this will shape up.”