Introducing rideOS, the technology platform for next-generation mobility

Our mission is to accelerate the safe, global roll-out of next-generation transport by bringing millions of self-driving vehicles to the world safely.

rideOS started off with deep reflection — what are the critical pieces of technology that need to be invented to accelerate the safe, global deployment of self-driving vehicles? At the moment, numerous companies are focused on building the sensors, maps, and software to bring one self-driving vehicle car on the road. However, what will happen when there are multiple providers of on-demand services, powered by self-driving and human driven vehicles? When fleets of self-driving vehicles, drones, aerial vehicles, and delivery bots are ubiquitous, how can we ensure they communicate, and work together safely and efficiently?

At rideOS, we’ve built the beginnings of a platform that synthesizes, manages, and distributes safety-critical data and routes for any and every type of transport.

We’re thrilled to come out of stealth today and share a couple of announcements:

• We’ve received $9 million in Series A funding from Sequoia Capital, Graph Ventures, and SV Angel.
• We’re announcing our first major partnership with Autonomic, a Ford subsidiary architecting its Transportation Mobility Cloud.

We’re getting closer to a future in which getting wherever we want to go, cheaply, reliably, and safely, with just the push of a button, is the norm. The rise and spread of shared and on-demand mobility as well as the development of self-driving and electric vehicles have begun a transformation of the transportation industry. But bringing disparate fleets of self-driving and human driven vehicles to market will inevitably lead to marketplace confusion, routing difficulties, and safety problems.

This has the potential to push the global roll-out of technology that will save millions of lives much further into the future. This insight led to the formation of rideOS — with the goal of developing an agnostic, horizontal coordinating layer focused on safety and efficiency. Similar to an air traffic control system for ground transportation, we’ve built tech which can pass safety-critical incident data from one vertical service operator to another, through a routing service, real-time. We’ve built rideOS to work in cooperation with OEMs, ride-hailing companies, and governments, because we believe that it will take numerous companies, working together, to bring this system to market.

Our technology

rideOS’ technology enables operators of on-demand transportation to run their fleets, safely and efficiently. Our platform also provides additional services including ETAs, supply positioning, single-rider trips, multi-rider trips, and dashboards for visualizing fleets and monitoring key metrics.

Traditional routing engines for human drivers need to be re-architected for self-driving vehicles, which need to be routed according to their unique technological capabilities and constraints. An unprotected left turn on complex city streets during rush hour is difficult for humans, and it will take a long time before self-driving vehicles can execute this maneuver more safely than a human driver can. Our routing engine can be customized given the technology capabilities of self driving vehicles, to find efficient, self-driving friendly routes. And, if no AV-friendly routes are available, our system can help our partners dispatch a human driver on the most efficient and safe route for humans.

The immediate, accurate distribution of information on traffic, road conditions, etc. to every vehicle in a given area makes the entire mobility system safer and more efficient. Through rideOS technology, a vehicle receives routes that have been calculated based on the critical data of every other vehicle operating in that geography, avoiding accidents, traffic, construction, and other real-world obstacles that make driving difficult and dangerous.

Our first investor and partner

When we met Mike Vernal of Sequoia, things immediately started to click. He knew that the self-driving car industry was missing an integral software layer. It’s a privilege to work with Mike and the Sequoia team, and to be Sequoia’s first investment in the US self-driving technology space.

One partnership that we’re very excited about is Autonomic, a company owned by Ford that connects vehicles to the cloud. Autonomic is a key player in this market, and their technology and infrastructure complement ours perfectly. Through Autonomic’s Transportation Mobility Cloud, human-driven and self-driven vehicles can receive our routes, fleet operators can receive our dispatch recommendations and access our dashboard, and riders can receive our ETAs.

We believe automakers, transportation system operators and technology companies need to work hand in hand to prepare for the future of self-driving technology.

Our team

Chris and I met four years ago, where we worked together to develop Uber’s strategy for its mapping efforts, and also jump-start its self driving vehicle division. With support and encouragement from our loving wives, we decided to pursue our dream of starting a company, together. Shortly afterwards, Bill Chen, who formerly headed up autopilot maps at Tesla, also joined us, and immediately helped us flesh out our vision.

Our team continues to grow, and consists of industry veterans from companies including Apple, Dropcam, Google, Liveramp, Microsoft, Tesla, Thousand Eyes, and Uber. It’s been an absolute blessing and privilege to pursue our mission together with such talented individuals.

We couldn’t be more eager to share this news with everyone, and we’re so thankful for the support we’ve received already as we take the next big step for this industry.

Cheers,

Chris & Justin