Increasing Scalability Without Sacrificing Privacy
For third-party developers, car data is crucial — but so too is anonymity. Failure to maintain a certain level of data privacy risks not only damaging consumer confidence, but can have legal ramifications as well. Violating regulations like GDPR or CCPA can have severe consequences, and authentication capabilities play a major role in properly securing data.
“It always starts with authentication,” says Itay Flikier, Otonomo engineering team leader. “The first thing we need to make sure when we let a person share their data is to make sure that we are able to authenticate a driver with his or her own car.”
Otonomo initially built an in-house identity solution, but as the company started to grow very quickly, adding new partners, they decided to outsource identity and focus engineering efforts on their core platform capabilities in house.
“Our in-house solution was good for the beginning when we just started,” said Flikier. “But as business took off we decided that partnering was a better strategy as we needed to focus on the core data platform functionality. We added so many new partners that required integrating with multiple authentication providers and addressing a critical mass of requests.”
Having invested in both companies, Bessemer Venture Partners suggested that Otonomo try Auth0.
“Because we’re dealing with drivers’ personal information, which is very, very, very sensitive, we have to ensure that we have all the right methods in place,” adds Raanan. “In terms of authentication, we found [Auth0’s] solution meets the highest standards. This gave us confidence that we found the right partner.”
“Because we’re dealing with drivers’ personal information, which is very, very, very sensitive, we have to ensure that we have all the right methods in place. In terms of authentication, we found [Auth0’s] solution meets the highest standards. This gave us confidence that we found the right partner.”

Tomer RaananVP of Engineering