Video Of The Week: The Internet Of Moving Things

Here’s a short TV news report on our portfolio company Veniam and their technology that powers an “Internet of moving things.”

#mobile

Comments (Archived):

  1. JimHirshfield

    Very cool! This is what you were saying about WiFi on the subway… Everywhere!

  2. Ro Gupta

    Joao and co may also want to look more closely at V2V for autonomy. May finally be getting the top-down mandate to make it a reality http://www.cbsnews.com/news

  3. William Mougayar

    The long term impact of this is that it will push back the role of the telcos to make them become more of a backend to the Internet access infrastructure, therefore decreasing their grips on us.

    1. awaldstein

      interesting–how will we become less tied to them if they own the pipes?

      1. William Mougayar

        They could become backend wholesalers to a new breed of providers that are closer to the consumers, like Veniam in this case.Same for banks, potentially. I can do more interesting things with my PayPal, Bitcoin and ApplePay accounts, yet, they are connected to my bank account in the back-end.

        1. awaldstein

          Got it thanks.

        2. PhilipSugar

          I have no love for telco’s, but they have spent a ton of money on infrastructure. They don’t need to try and stretch and make money on content, but I think between wifi, cell phones, and the internet the grip has been loosened.

          1. William Mougayar

            Maybe this has worked better in some countries, but it seems that telco rates in Canada and the US are still way more expensive than in many other parts of the world, sadly. Dunno…if Internet/communications is a utility, it should have commodity like pricing not unlike oil maybe.

          2. PhilipSugar

            Oil now or a year ago? I find cable TV rates obnoxious but as Erik points out a ton of that is for bundled content. I’d love my cell phone rate to be lower, but it isn’t that bad, if I paid for the value??? I would pay 10x higher. Verizon, finally has gotten roaming under control. $2 a day for Canada, unlimited voice and text, data at some number I don’t have to worry about, because I am not streaming video.

          3. William Mougayar

            My US roaming is now $5 per day and $10 for Europe. But I could but a local SIM in Europe for $20 & 5GB. They get us on convenience.

      2. LE

        I can see this as extremely difficult but remotely possible. One other impediment is the devices themselves though.

    2. kenberger

      yes that’s the theory… and it has been the theory since 2002 or so when services of this ilk started coming out in force. The market hasn’t been kind to most of them so far, hence I agree with you re “long term” impact. And I believe there’s plenty to suggest that maybe the time is now, so I remain bullish.(My VC consulting experience began in 2000, with helping a few VC firms look at a bunch of wireless broadband offerings.)

      1. William Mougayar

        I agree it’s been a slow ramp-up. Where is the UBER of disruption for telcos?

  4. William Mougayar

    So, it’s like the Internet and Moving Things are dating. When they get married, Everything is invited.

  5. JLM

    .Very interesting application in cars which do not have WiFi access.For the last year or so, you have been able to buy a car which is WiFi connected. I am told it has not been lighting the world on fire but it is also very early.ATT charges $10/month to allow your car to be part of their system — if you already have an ATT account. This is new cars.My son just bought a Tahoe which has this plus a charging system which requires you simply to put your smartphone on a specific square. No wires or chargers.This system would enable a used/older car to have the same capability. Not sure it is a huge game changer but to the extent that it is a marketing advantage in a new car (and it may only be a marketing rather than practical advantage), this will level the playing field.For some “dumb” info things like containers, the RFID tech is already embedded and has been for years. Hard to see how this tech releases their stranglehold.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

    1. William Mougayar

      I wouldn’t underestimate the data transmission potential of these new devices that could offer an order of magnitude improvement on RFID which are dumb bits more or less. It was hinted at in the video. Then we’ll have a situation like this:

      1. JLM

        .Of course, I did make that very point, didn’t I?In the container business, it is more than enough right now to know where the container is currently located. In the refrigerated container business, they already have a system to monitor the temperature and send an alert to the truck driver — doesn’t work if on a ship because the container may not be accessible.The first imperative for container info management was garden variety theft. Where is the damn container? RFID tech provided the info and still does but then this is a low hurdle.Things like this will have a potential long term impact on auto insurance which today is priced based on age profile data. Soon, they will be able to use this kind of data to grade your personal driving. Time of day, distance, speed, application of brakes, etc.They will be able to create a personal risk profile and my insurance cost will plummet.JLMwww.themusingsoftheibigredc…

        1. William Mougayar

          This already exists in Canada. There’s an App called Ajusto that does that.https://www.desjardins.com/…But you’ll have to move to Canada to get it 😉

          1. JLM

            .Yet one more merger justification. Let’s get to work on this in 2016.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

        2. LE

          Soon, they will be able to use this kind of data to grade your personal driving. Time of day, distance, speed, application of brakes, etc.As a matter of fact a few days ago I read this in the print WSJ [1]Early company surveys of people’s interest in usage-based insurance revealed that about 40% of people had a viewpoint that was some variation on “No way in hell.”http://www.wsj.com/articles…[1] One of the advantages to reading print you end up seeing things you might not see online as just a headline. I have actually also had a business benefit (which I can quantify) from reading the print edition of papers.

          1. William Mougayar

            well, those people are the ones whose insurance might go up as a result of that, but for the other 60% (include me there), I won’t mind that.take my data, please… 🙂

          2. LE

            Except that what will happen is they will offer you a discount and then predictably raise that amount as the money that they save goes right to the bottom line. They are insurance companies and it’s not easy to change your insurance company (if you have multiple products with one company). [1] As just a few examples of similar behavior:1) Fedex/UPS still have fuel surcharges (WSJ):http://www.wsj.com/articles…2) Many airlines aren’t charging less even though fuel prices have dropped:http://news.nationalgeograp…[1] That friction is what allows them to predictably raise rates. My homeowners and business insurance go up every year. Ditto for auto. Difficulty and FUD in switching is what allows them to do this.

          3. LE

            Actually you just gave me an idea. What if Veniam was able to strike a deal with insurance companies to provide data to them in the following way I describe below.Similar to what is now done by repo companies [1] Veniam puts together a network of drivers with cameras installed that grab license plates and records info obtained from license plate scanning and is able to compute driving speed (easy to do) and possibly erratic driving behavior. Nothing that the driver of the vehicle (being tracked) can do about it (unless new laws are written) and there is no tie to where the data came from just raw data provided “you were going 75 on I95 in a 55 mph zone”. Massive data collection, legal no expectation of privacy. Easy to have a revenue model where the person operating the vehicle gets something for participating.[1] Cameras that roam parking lots that grab license plates giving info and allowing quick and easy repossession of vehicleshttp://abc7.com/news/repo-i…

          4. Richard

            most state laws provide protection from this based on a) the denial of the right to confront and cross-examine adversarial witnesses, b) the presumption that the registered owner of the vehicle is guilty, regardless of who was actually driving, thereby destroying the presumption of innocence, c) an unverified chain of control of the alleged evidence, and d) the lack of scientific reliability of each and every device to warrant unquestioned acceptance into evidence.

        3. jason wright

          the era of the self driving car is close.to actually drive a car may quite soon be a high insurance cost activity. i expect states (nation and federal) to ban such reckless behaviour within a few short years.

          1. JLM

            .Depends on what the meaning of “close” is. [Imagine a Clintonian voice saying that with a dark sound track in the background. Play along.]Ford believes they have the tech in place to do it tomorrow. They have said as much.When the gov’t finally decides to allow some pilot project, it will be like the FAA approving a new little jet — get a head of lettuce and 10 years, pardner, cause this is going to be a long trip.There is nothing particularly reckless about the notion of driving though there are clearly reckless drivers. They should ban reckless drivers right now. Theoretically, that is the law. Now.Sometimes, I like to spice things up with a little bet. Perhaps we might fashion a small wager?JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          2. JLM

            .”…a few short years…”Five years or “…a few short years…”?Let’s split the difference 2 1/2 years? For $1,000?JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          3. jason wright

            If you watched the DLD 2016 BMW presentation by Dieter May earlier today i doubt that you would want to place a bet on those terms. i decline.

    2. Michael Elling

      “Very interesting application in cars which do not have WiFi access.”Not sure about your wording, but the Veniam system is meant to be a replacement for the expensive 4G/Wifi implementation in your car ($120 extra per year for slightly better performance and ease of use plus the $5-30 per gigabyte consumed depending on how much you actually use). For 10-20% of the population this is affordable. For the other 80-90% it is not.Justification: wifi offload statistics higher than 70% in general.I don’t know the bandwidth throughput but the Veniam wifi/wifi mesh is supposed to be cheaper than a macro cellular network since there are fewer towers, radios, opex and spectrum is free. Probably the cost of the device and then a nominal internet connection/usage fee. Or they bundle it.

  6. kenberger

    wow, Vietnam is an impressive place!

    1. Richard

      Been to the jungles of Vietnam?

  7. Mario Cantin

    Did the founder pitch it to USV initially as the Internet of Moving Things or did that name subsequently emerge over time? This is a new category.

  8. Jeff Robinson

    Very useful – Very smart use of technology.

  9. creative group

    FRED:we enjoyed the simple explanation of the technology the CEO provided which the decision makers in cities and companies can understand.Many times technologists forget they are not just attempting to show other peers they are the smartest person in the room.It is similar to when blog contributors provide an entry followed by I have been a CEO for thirty years somehow thinking just based upon that self promotion the statements and opinions will provide more credence verses the actual substance of the entry. If your not known in the space your in after thirty years don’t expect a pat on the back is following anytime soon.It will take a while for the NY Giants new promotion of Offensive Coordinator to Head Coach Ben McAdoo to have overall impact.GM Reese needs to show us his abilities to draft an offensive and defensive line. Can’t keep a job on drafting one player. (O’Dell Beckham)The factchecking for the Presidential Debates could employ factcheckers until retirement.Anticipating your topic for MLK Day.

  10. Mark Essel

    That’s a helluva an investment. Could be really huge.

  11. LE

    Appears to be a great idea [1] Interesting that the company that produced this (cctv-america) (until I looked into it I thought it was a paid promo piece because of the cheezy name and “cctv”) is pwned by the Chinese government:‘CCTV News’ is a global English language, 24 x 7 news and current affairs channel. It is one of 42 television channels produced and broadcast by China Central Television, the world’s largest broadcaster with a reach of more than 1.2 billion people http://www.cctv-america.com…[1] However starting out the film with having someone place stuff a large box in a vehicle and attach an oversized (reminiscent somewhat of CB radios) antenna detracts from the message that follows.

  12. george

    An exhibit of cognitive technologies, connecting movement and space. The video is a bit chilling to me, science has no misconceptions, its forging new realities.

  13. jason wright

    when will Verizon et al be announced as investors in the next funding round?

  14. LE

    Buy low, sell high.Actually on a serious note I checked the web page and not only is there no pricing there isn’t really a contact page [1] and nothing that would compel someone to “take action” if they are interested in the product/service. So my guess is that they are strictly in outbound alpha selling mode at this time and aren’t looking for inbound inquiries.[1] And the phone numbers are formatted all “foreign company r us” like….

  15. jason wright

    see the 21 Computer. imagine your cell phone with an embedded mining chip. connect, consume bandwidth, pay, disconnect.

  16. Lawrence Brass

    Do you mean the +1? So do you think that being a foreign company could be a bad thing in Silicon Valley? I ask you this because I have learnt that startup founders coming from the StartUp Chile Seed program ( http://www.startupchile.org ) to SV have found sometimes this to be a handicap instead of a benefit, but other factors may have an effect as well.For anyone interested, the submission process for the 16th generation StartUp Chile Seed program starts January 19, ends February 16. That’s about 30K USD reinbursable expenses grant – equity free, for 6 months plus co-working space and other perks. Check the site for more information, could just fit your needs if you are at an early stage.

  17. LE

    No not the +1The way the last 4 digits are formatted.Shows as: 33 49Should be: 3349Additionally info@ is a poor choice and not having it appear under the actual office location “us_sales@” would be a bit better.

  18. Lawrence Brass

    Interesting. That should be a phone number localization problem.