Otto Motors Releases Otto Industrial API

Otto Motors is proud to officially release the Otto Industrial API, solving one of the major hurdles in manufacturing today: achieving a fully connected and optimized smart factory. The Industrial API addresses the challenge of machine-to-machine communication and full industrial automation by simplifying the process of connecting equipment and programmable logic controllers (PLCs) to Otto.

 “Otto Motors is really setting the bar high for system accessibility and ease of integration in their market. This new API allows Ignition to seamlessly access the data as OPC tags and integrate them with our built-in components and scripting,” said Don Pearson, chief strategy officer, inductive automation. “We are excited to see how this API can remove connectivity barriers that have prevented some people from utilizing self-driving vehicles in the past.”

As a collaborating company with Inductive Automation, Otto Motors integrated Ignition software as part of the Industrial API architecture. Ignition is a software platform with a feature set that include the translation of different protocols to the ones needed to speak to PLCs within manufacturing environments; therefore, contributing to a closed loop automation system.

“The industry has long struggled with the challenge of connecting industrial machines built by different companies,” explains Simon Drexler, director of product, Otto Motors. “Pieces of equipment from the same company generally communicate easily with each other but creating a connection that enables data to be exchanged across products from different vendors can be complicated, costly, and time consuming - and sometimes impossible. This problem is, at best, a barrier to attaining the benefits of a smart factory that many companies aspire to. At worst, it’s a severe limitation on productivity.”

Available now, the Otto Industrial API connects self-driving vehicles to existing automation systems and processes, providing faster integration of Otto with robust and standardized integrations with industry-standard software and protocols.