Fleet data, managed as an asset.

The connected-vehicle data asset

Orbis IO ingests vehicle telemetry directly from manufacturer APIs, without dongles, OBD adapters or after-market hardware. The vehicle's own onboard systems generate the data. Orbis reads it at source.

Signals include: odometer, fuel and energy levels, battery state of charge, estimated range, charging status, maintenance intervals, dashboard alerts, location and driver behaviour scores. Every signal carries a timestamp and a source identifier. Nothing is estimated or interpolated from secondary sources.

Data from 30+ manufacturers is normalised into a single canonical data model. A fuel level reading from a Volkswagen and a fuel level reading from a BMW arrive in the same schema, with the same field names, the same units and the same quality indicators. That normalisation is what makes cross-fleet analysis reliable.

Governed at source

Licensing and consent are handled at the point of data origination, not downstream. When a vehicle is connected to Orbis, the connection is authorised by the registered keeper through the manufacturer's own consent mechanism. Orbis does not intercept or copy data outside those authorised channels.

Orbis IO Ltd is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) as a data controller. All vehicle and driver data is processed under UK GDPR, with documented legal bases for each data category. A Data Protection Officer is contactable at dpo@covase.co.uk.

Driver data from DVLA is accessed under a contracted Access to Driver Data (ADD) agreement with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (Contract ref: ECM_16119), made under terms agreed with the Secretary of State for Transport. That agreement requires Orbis to maintain data security standards consistent with HM Government's Security Policy Framework, including 24-hour cyber incident notification obligations to DVLA.

Provenance, lineage and data quality

Every signal ingested by Orbis is traceable to its source manufacturer API, the vehicle VIN, and the timestamp of collection. The ingestion pipeline records the raw signal, the parsed value, the transformation applied and the quality classification.

Data quality is scored at ingestion across four dimensions: freshness (time since last reading), completeness (signals present versus signals expected for this vehicle type), consistency (values within expected ranges) and source authority (manufacturer API versus estimated or manual entry). Quality scores are surfaced in the platform and available in data exports.

The platform operates a tiered data retention architecture. Hot data (0 to 90 days) is retained in primary storage for operational use. Warm data (90 days to one year) is archived with full fidelity. Historical aggregates are maintained beyond one year. All retention periods are documented and configurable per tenant.

UK data residency

Vehicle and driver data processed by Orbis IO is hosted on UK infrastructure. Object storage uses Oracle Cloud Infrastructure within Oracle's UK region. The primary database runs on PostgreSQL 15, hosted on UK-based compute. No vehicle or driver data is transferred to jurisdictions outside the UK and EU without explicit disclosure.

The sole exception is transactional email (driver notifications, compliance alerts), which passes through Microsoft Azure Communication Services under Standard Contractual Clauses and the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. Email content contains no vehicle telemetry.

Orbis IO Ltd is Cyber Essentials certified (ref: 47978369-5322-4adf-8cb0-02915d969d8c), meeting the UK government's baseline standard for cyber security across firewalls, secure configuration, user access control, malware protection and security update management.

Data turned into quantified value

Raw telemetry becomes value through eight applied outputs. Each one replaces an estimate, a spreadsheet or a manual process with a number the vehicle itself provides.

Predictive maintenance. Service intervals, brake fluid change dates and dashboard alerts are surfaced before they become incidents. On one client fleet of 106 vehicles, 42 service events with costs disproportionate to fleet norms were identified from telemetry analysis, representing £681,000 in avoidable spend identified from approximately 6,000 service events.

Contract leakage detection. Actual odometer readings from the vehicle are compared continuously against contracted annual mileage. Vehicles running over contract are flagged before excess mileage charges crystallise at return. Vehicles running significantly under contract are identified for renegotiation or reallocation. On one 106-vehicle fleet, Orbis identified 20 vehicles heading toward over-contract penalties and 68 under-utilised vehicles representing £65,681 in renegotiation opportunity.

SMR price validation. Service, maintenance and repair invoices are validated against actual vehicle odometer data and manufacturer-specified intervals. Charges for work not yet due, or at mileage points the vehicle has not reached, are surfaced automatically.

EV transition planning. For each ICE or hybrid vehicle in a fleet, Orbis models the five-year total cost of ownership of the nearest EV equivalent, using actual contracted mileage, real electricity rates, current BIK rates (confirmed by HMRC through 2030) and live P11D values from around 8,000 vehicle variants. The output is a vehicle-by-vehicle transition roadmap with ROI, not a market average. On a single BMW X3 to iX3 comparison, the BIK advantage over 48 months on a 20,000 mile per year contract was £13,646.

PHEV compliance monitoring. Plug-in hybrid vehicles are connected to Orbis and their battery depletion patterns measured directly from manufacturer data. Actual real-world fuel consumption and the gap against published WLTP figures are reported continuously. On a VW Tiguan eHybrid with a published WLTP figure of 287.2 mpg, Orbis measured 65.1 mpg actual over one month and 721 miles using paired fuel-segment methodology, with the vehicle operated predominantly in light-charging mode during the measured period. That data replaces a modelled assumption in SECR submissions with a measured fact.

Measured figure: 65.1 mpg. Method: paired fuel-segment measurement using manufacturer API fuel-level data correlated with odometer readings. Period: April 2026, 721 miles. Vehicle: VW Tiguan eHybrid PHEV, single vehicle, light-charging operating pattern. WLTP source: manufacturer published figure. This is a single-vehicle measurement, not a fleet average.

Carbon and ESG reporting. Actual fuel consumption from manufacturer data replaces HMRC mileage estimates in Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) submissions. Fleet carbon figures are calculated from measured consumption, not from average emission factors applied to reported mileage. For PHEV fleets, battery depletion patterns are measured directly, not assumed.

Driver compliance automation. Driver licence status from DVLA (via the ADD agreement), MOT records and grey fleet insurance verification are consolidated into a single auditable record, updated continuously. Licence checks, endorsement monitoring and document expiry alerts replace annual spreadsheet cycles with a live compliance state for every driver on every day.

Salary sacrifice administration. For employers operating EV salary sacrifice schemes, Orbis connects to the vehicle from the point of delivery. Odometer data, charging behaviour and real-world range are available from day one. BIK calculations use actual P11D values and confirmed HMRC rates. The data layer beneath the scheme is live from the manufacturer, not estimated from driver submissions.

Independent and unconflicted

Orbis IO is built and operated by Covase Ltd, an independent UK fleet management business. Covase is not owned by, contracted to, or commercially aligned with any vehicle manufacturer, leasing company, telematics hardware vendor or insurer.

The platform's data comes from manufacturer APIs directly. Its outputs are not influenced by any commercial relationship with the vehicle makers whose data it reads. That independence matters for public sector use: the data represents what the vehicle actually reports, not what any party in the supply chain has an interest in it reporting.

For procurement evaluation

Orbis IO is available for evaluation under standard UK public sector procurement processes. The following documentation is available on request:

• ICO registration details
• DVLA ADD contract reference (ECM_16119)
• Cyber Essentials certificate (ref: 47978369-5322-4adf-8cb0-02915d969d8c)
• Data processing agreements (DPA) for all third-party processors
• Data retention and deletion policy
• GDPR Article 30 records of processing activities
• Security policy summary aligned to HMG Security Policy Framework