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Verizon Invests in Self-Driving-Car Software Startup

Telecommunications giant Verizon Communications Inc. has invested an unspecified amount in Renovo Motors Inc., a California startup that’s developing software for self-driving vehicles.

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Telecommunications giant Verizon Communications Inc. has invested an unspecified amount in Renovo Motors Inc., a California startup that’s developing software for self-driving vehicles.

Verizon was part of Renovo’s second-round of funding that raised $10 million to bring total investment in the company to $14.5 million. Founded in 2010, Renovo introduced a prototype electric supercar in 2014 and tested a retrofitted self-driving DeLorean sports car a year later.

Verizon was one of the early players in connected vehicle systems when it teamed with General Motors Co. on the carmaker’s OnStar communications system in the 1990s. After that partnership ended in 2014, Verizon launched a new telematics platform with Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz Cars unit.

Autonomous vehicles and connected fleets are a major opportunity for Verizon. Self-driving cars are expected to generate as much as 4 terabytes of data every 90 minutes, which The Wall Street Journal notes equals the internet use of 3,000 people over three years.

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