CES 2013 Preview: Vancouver Startup moj.io Is Doing Amazing Stuff With Cars

As we prepare to bring you continuous round the clock team coverage of CES 2013, we got a chance to do a pre-show interview with a Vancouver startup called moj.io that’s connecting cars diagnostic, internal computers with the cloud and an app store. They are taking the up to 25gb of data that can be generated by a car every hour, and connecting it wirelessly first to the cloud and then to your smartphone.

Combined with info from moj.io‘s GPS and accelerometer, moj.io provides a connected car experience that can be accessed via your smart phone from anywhere, anytime. With moj.io, you can now locate your car on a map, track its movements and speed, govern how far and fast it is being driven(by your teenage son or employee), lock/unlock your car doors just by the presence of your phone, intelligently stop incoming texts and calls when your car is in Drive, be notified instantly when your car is being tampered with or towed, and a whole lot more.

moj.io also offers access to diagnostic information as well. The company provides an SDK so developers can write apps that will give users/drivers the ultimate connected car experience. Cars will be able to tell their owner and even the local service center when they need to be serviced and what needs to be fixed, all the while keeping a log on your smartphone. With the SDK the sky is the limit when it comes to what can be created for the connected car experience.

REV Technologies, the company behind moj.io has been building electric vehicles for the U.S. army.

“At REV, we were building electric vehicles for the US Army, (decoding entire car computers) and making it possible for them to control the direction and flow of electricity of these electric vehicles to use them as generators for their army bases. We did this wirelessly using SIM card-enabled hot sticks and were always seeking the simplest way to do this with OEM-produced electric vehicles like the Nissan Leaf. Eventually we realized that by going in through the OBD port, we were basically piping in the internet. It was a small step from there to imagining an entire ecosystem of apps, car-related companies and drivers of any kind of car interacting on an open platform.” Rev Technologies CEO Jay Giraud told nibletz in an interview.

Check out the rest of the interview below:

What is moj.io?
In any car after 1995, there is a computer generating standardized data that can be interpreted via the standard OnBoard Diagnostic (OBD) port found under the dashboard. Mechanics use this port to connect OBD readers to diagnose cars. There can be as much as 25 GB of data produced every hour in a single car, with info coming from any of the 20,000 standard codes, or hundreds of other actuators and sensors onboard the car.
moj.io is a brand new kind of device that internet connects your car’s computer to the world’s first appstore for cars. Combined with info from moj.io’s GPS and accelerometer, moj.io provides a connected car experience that can be accessed via your smart phone from anywhere, anytime. With moj.io, you can now locate your car on a map, track its movements and speed, govern how far and fast it is being driven(by your teenage son or employee), lock/unlock your car doors just by the presence of your phone, intelligently stop incoming texts and calls when your car is in Drive, be notified instantly when your car is being tampered with or towed, and a whole lot more.
moj.io also provides an SDK, meaning developers can now write apps that use any of the available information from your car to help create the world’s best connected car experience. In all cases, personal information is regarded with absolute privacy, to the extent where in the moj.io app, you have a screen that lists what features, services or apps you’ve downloaded that are accessing your personal data. The ability to turn off or restrict their access is always just a click away.
Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?
Jay Giraud, CEO
Current
  1. moj.io
Previous
  1. Founder and CEO of REV Technologies,
  2. Carter Honda / Carter Motorsports,
  3. Athena Apparel Inc dba Gauge Clothing
Narayan Sainaney, CTO
Richard Woodruff, VP Business Development
Where are you based?
moj.io is based in Vancouver BC
What’s the startup scene/culture like where you’re based?
Vancouver is a vibrant community of startups, with lots of meetups and hangouts happening around Gastown every month. Companies like GetAround, EA Games, Sierra Wireless, HootSuite and PayByPhone are all Vancouver startups. A small group of angels are quite active in the scene.
How did you come up with the name?
It was the only name that met the following criteria:
Not trademarked, Available on twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., Less than 8 letters, Didn’t mean anything in 60 languages, Available as a .anything on the internet, This took us months!!
What problem does moj.io solve?
We are solving the dichotomy of car ownership. People love their cars, but I would argue that almost nobody likes:
commuting paying for parking,remembering to get their car serviced,being inconvenienced by waiting for it to be diagnosed,being towed, insuring it (costly), navigating while driving, lending it to others, depreciation
moj.io will completely transform the driver’s experience of everything they don’t like about owning a car.
It takes automakers 5 years to develop a new car, so a 2012 car has 2007 software embedded in it, with no possibility for being upgraded. So there is a huge separation between the experience we’ve become accustomed to with our cameras, cell phones and internet products, and the experience we have with our cars.
Ultimately, moj.io solves the problem of society benefitting from connected cars without having to wait for the world to produce and sell enough internet-connected new cars, and wait for carmakers to agree on standards, protocols, etc. There are already nearly 300 million cars on the roads today that are not internet connected. Meanwhile new connected cars only makes up about 0.5% of today’s new cars sold, and they’re all sold on closed platforms that are not able to be accessed by 3rd party developers or any other companies wishing to connect with those drivers (like insurance companies, parking companies, VOIP companies aka Skype, music streaming companies, emergency assistance aka 911, etc.)
moj.io makes it possible for almost everybody with a cell phone and a car to become fully connected with their cars, and maybe more importantly, to have their car become fully connected with its surroundings, including parking meters, traffic lights, toll booths, their homes, cameras, other cars, etc. moj.ioautomates many of the tasks required by drivers, making driving relaxing and fun again.
What’s your secret sauce?
I can say that it centers around how we abstract away the differences in data communications across a wide range of car makes, models and years, to make it very simple for any developer to write an app that will simply work, no matter what kind of car you own. We are also working on data transfer optimization and many automated functions that will dramatically simplify the driver’s experience.
Are you bootstrapped or funded?
We’re funded by angel investors and are nearing the time for a Series A raise.
What is your goto market strategy?
We’re working with insurance companies, parking companies, roadside assistance providers, cellular providers, dealer networks and many other automotive-related companies where connecting drivers adds value to their business. We’ll be selling moj.io online as well as working through partner channels to bring the device to market.
What’s one challenge you’ve overcome in the startup process?
Thanks to our launch on Indiegogo, in a matter of only 30 days, we’ve been contacted by literally dozens of the largest companies in the automotive space, many of whom we are now in business discussions with. We’ve circumvented months of cold calling and traditional biz dev time and are now connected to key decision makers who can help scale the open platform to their customer bases very quickly.
Who are some of your mentors and business role models?
Early on, I was very fortunate to be contacted by Dr. Andy Grove when I launched REV Technologies, who I spent some time with discussing the ins and outs of entrepreneurship. Presently, I like to closely role model Richard Branson and Elon Musk.
What’s next for Mojio?
CES 2013!
Where can people find out more?
At www.getmojio.com and by adding /getmojio to any major social media channel.

Startups from across the country and around the world will be at this startup conference in February!

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