Last week we announced the new Remote Chauffeur Platform.
Many of you asked about the technology behind this announcement. After all, Ottopia already led the market on key technology domains like network resiliency and latency.
Keep reading to learn what’s new.
Our platform includes the following technologies across 5 main domains. We have developed all of these technologies from scratch, designed from the ground up for the real-time challenges of remote driving:
To enable the Remote Chauffeur Platform, we made major technological breakthroughs in Adaptive Streaming, Network Optimization, and User Experience.
Our system already enabled a low-latency, highly reliable streaming connection between the vehicle and the remote driver station. In addition to the specific new technologies, we made a series of algorithmic improvements to enable these low-latency, high-reliability benefits with only two modems and no special deals with telecom carriers. Competing systems require 5G, special telecom carrier deals, many modems, or some combination.
By operating robustly with only two modems, Ottopia enables you to minimize your costs in mass production: smaller hardware footprint, lower cost, lower power requirements, and smaller architectural changes. For the premium OEMs who plan to launch the Remote Chauffeur Platform, this capability also enables easier aesthetic and functional design.
Improved Network Resiliency
With our new patented RTNP™ (Real Time Network Prediction) AI model, we can reduce packet loss by over 30%, thus expanding the operating environment in which you can operate. This new technology predicts degradations in network latency and throughput, and enables the system to adjust packet distribution and optimize the level of forward error correction (FEC) according to expected conditions. By training the model on data from over 20 cities around the world, we built a robust prediction model. The key innovation here is that the prediction system works in real time, enabling our system to dynamically adapt.
Throughput Reduction
With our new real-time super-resolution technology, you now send less data to get the same high quality, low latency video streams. The improvement can be as much as 50%, depending on your configuration. Our real-time design limits the latency addition for super-resolution to <10ms - a 90% reduction from the best super-resolution technologies we have seen elsewhere. Super-resolution enables us to reduce latency elsewhere in the pipeline because we are sending less data, so the overall impact is a reduction in both latency and throughput.
User Experience: Consumer
As part of the Remote Chauffeur Platform, we announced our consumer app to order and manage remote driving. This app can be either white-labeled or deliver headless functionality integrated into your app. This app enables you to spin up an end-to-end consumer pilot in just a few weeks.
User Experience: Remote Driver
We have improved the remote driving station in several ways.
Before we even get to the driving experience, let’s discuss integration time: the new SDK enables easier and faster deployment of custom functionality. The new SDK enables quick integration of:
- Indications from the vehicle
- Custom vehicle telemetry
- Remote driving session management
- Custom web interfaces
- UI customizations
Additionally, we conducted extensive usability testing to improve the driver interface. The new interface provides context to the remote driver, such as priority, kind of mission, kind of car, and navigation interface.
The driving station includes a new video layout that enables the driver to always keep eyes on the road. This interface includes a real-time rendering of the vehicle trajectory and adapts to the driving task (e.g. reverse vs. turning vs. driving straight), easing the driving task.
The new interface also provides all warnings and indications that the driver would see in the vehicle, as well as all those that are specific to remote driving.
What's In It For Me?
The Remote Chauffeur Platform is designed to help carmakers quickly get up and running with a remote driving pilot. From there, you can iterate quickly and soon launch a breakthrough customer experience that differentiates your brand and generates recurring service revenues.
Intrigued? Write to us at info@ottopia.tech to discuss how we can start working together.
