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Ford and Bug Labs Shipping OpenXC Beta Kits

Posted by Soulskill on from the hack-my-ride dept.

MojoKid writes "OpenXC is an open source connectivity platform developed in tandem by Ford and open source hardware maker Bug Labs. Announced this fall, the platform is designed to allow developers the ability to use Android- and Arduino-based modules to interact with a vehicle's in-car tech, such as vehicle sensors and GPS units. The OpenXC website succinctly describes the platform as 'an API to your car.' Ford announced that OpenXC beta test kits are now shipping to developers worldwide, including U.S. institutions such as MIT and Standford as well as India's HCL Technologies."

58 comments

  1. While it's moving? by TheGoodNamesWereGone · · Score: 2

    At the same time (I don't have the news link handy) I think I read that there's a push to make the automakers ensure their snazzy tech gadgets aren't enabled while the car is moving. Presumably to keep peoples' eyes on the road instead of a screen. I'm not sure what to think about that.

    1. Re:While it's moving? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, at least that would rule out driving by speaking to Sari and the potential for a crash caused by a misunderstanding of what was spoken.

    2. Re:While it's moving? by gbjbaanb · · Score: 2

      The new Jaguars have solved this problem with a screen that shows different stuff depending if you're the driver or passenger - so the driver sees a satnav screen, the passenger gets to watch TV (or whatever). I doubt it works if the screen is a touchscreen, but it's one idea to stop stupid crashing the weapon he's driving.

      Mind you, there is some stuff that's good to see while moving (after all we have satnavs), like SMS messages popping up in a big font - which would stop stupid from pulling out his phone to read the incoming text. That would probably be a good thing.

    3. Re:While it's moving? by mrmeval · · Score: 1

      If I inadvertently kill anyone I'd prefer to have to WATCH it, I owe them that much and I would deserve the immediate terror and the lasting emotional pain.

      I do not like the every changing blinking lights while driving whether inside the car or outside. I accept traffic lights. I will take analog displays even if driven digitally. I want a clock. I want simple buttons to select at most 10 channels on my radio. I'll accept the bizarre voice of any GPS rather than a screen I have to look at. I despise getting a phone call in the car but I have an app that won't even ring the phone unless it's someone I have to answer or they have a code. If it's so damned important that someone has to text me and get past filters then my phone can read it to me. I can then stop and respond or just say " text fuck off" to send the "you're a douche nozzle" text.

      Also kill animated billboards dead, they should be held civilly liable for any accident where the drivers could even glimpse a pixel of the billboard. The same for the dancing morons at the side of the road, if they're working for a company the company takes the liability. Free speech is for people.

      --
      I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
    4. Re:While it's moving? by gbjbaanb · · Score: 1

      and pretty girls too !

      http://www.youclaim.co.uk/car/car-accident-claim-and-underwear-adverts.htm

    5. Re:While it's moving? by mrmeval · · Score: 1

      Don't sCare thE horSes or their riders! ;)

      Yea that filter works so well.

      --
      I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
  2. It's all find and good by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Funny

    until my car is infected with a worm that takes over GPS navigation and directs me to a pr0n store.

    and it's the wrong one

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    1. Re:It's all find and good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      People are already stealing them with onstar hacks. Great news, your insurance doesnt cover this if they find it was compromised via onstar.

    2. Re:It's all find and good by sethstorm · · Score: 1

      Perhaps your spouse is trying to tell you something.

      --
      Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
    3. Re:It's all find and good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      Not really. Right now it's a one-way data comm device - the OpenXC box sits on the vehicle CAN bus, picks out some info (gear, engine speed, vehicle speed, windshield wipers, etc...) and forwards it over USB bulk transfers formatted as JSON. Writes don't do anything that I know. The available API requires an android phone with USB-host support.

    4. Re:It's all find and good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If it's just JSON, what's the "Android and Arduino modules" bit for? Just popular marketing fluff?

    5. Re:It's all find and good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      10 minutes with libusb gets you the JSON. For the arduino I believe USB is removed and it's just serial data. Another hour with a JSON library gets you formatted data. Easy enough.

  3. How about getting rid of the Eurotrash first? by sethstorm · · Score: -1

    Given that Ford's newer platforms look more like the Eurotrash seen elsewhere in the world - as opposed to US sized and powered platforms such as Panther/Exxx vans - it is a distraction. What they bring to the table looks like something you'd see used as a part of a carbomb.

    How about 6 & 8 cylinder vehicles that don't require tuning or exotics, at affordable price points? Yes, that means bringing back behemoths like the Crown Vic while ripping the turbochargers out of every single car and truck outside of the high end. It doesn't matter that the interface is open when it is connected to a shitty 4-banger that makes the thing look like a golfcart with satnav.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
    1. Re:How about getting rid of the Eurotrash first? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The outside shape is unimportant and noting more than decoration, so changing that has noting to do with the engine or electronics. Simpler may be better for many things but not at any cost, substantially decreasing fuel efficiency when petrol prices are going up because they might look "European" on the inside is monumentality stupid. I do hope that you are trolling, the alternative does not speak highly for your intelligence.

    2. Re:How about getting rid of the Eurotrash first? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Given that Ford's newer platforms look more like the Eurotrash seen elsewhere in the world - as opposed to US sized and powered platforms such as Panther/Exxx vans - it is a distraction. What they bring to the table looks like something you'd see used as a part of a carbomb.

      How about 6 & 8 cylinder vehicles that don't require tuning or exotics, at affordable price points? Yes, that means bringing back behemoths like the Crown Vic while ripping the turbochargers out of every single car and truck outside of the high end. It doesn't matter that the interface is open when it is connected to a shitty 4-banger that makes the thing look like a golfcart with satnav.

      How about you yanks start driving cars with less impact on the environment and oil consumption?

    3. Re:How about getting rid of the Eurotrash first? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It is funny that Ford was the first to start with what you call Eurotrash, and they were the only one who didn't go crying for a bailout. Maybe your opinion of what we should have for transportation is just that, your own. Yeah it is great for you but you've obviously never tried to park at my work. I have a Ford Focus and it is a tight fit.

    4. Re:How about getting rid of the Eurotrash first? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Alan Mulally and his advisors, or some random guy on Slashdot. As a Ford shareholder, I'm torn. Just torn I tell you. Who should I go with?

    5. Re:How about getting rid of the Eurotrash first? by sethstorm · · Score: -1, Troll

      I'm just calling out Ford for becoming an un-American manufacturer. The outside shape is very much like a bland saltine cracker, with the engine following suit by being some poky I-4 meant for some Third World country. To distract people from this unholy combination, Ford decides to slap on tons of interior electronics. Even the larger cars can be made fuel efficient, affordable, and provide the American engine growl under the hood that you won't get with some European golfcart.

      Fuel efficiency is hardly an argument to make when one has to cut corners and put distractions in where one cut too close with golfcart designs like Ford's. Keep the design for US cars to US standards, not to some backwater that drags down the US.

      Chrysler on the other hand, Gets It. GM does as well, aside from their Buick division.

      --
      Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
    6. Re:How about getting rid of the Eurotrash first? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      If you don't like forced induction then you, sir, are no gearhead.
      I'll take a turbo four over a NA six, as well as a turbo six over a NA eight any day. Today's turbo systems give nice fat torque curves and decent fuel economy. Turbo systems from the '80s really did suck, they were poorly integrated and lagged badly. I love my turbo 2.4l 240sx that I put together. It has 270hp/300tq at the wheels, gets 30+mpg highway and runs 13.5 at the drag strip while passing stock emissions testing. It has been my daily driver for a decade with no mod related issues.

    7. Re:How about getting rid of the Eurotrash first? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ford did go crying four a bailout, they needed GM and Chrysler to remain solvent or their common suppliers would go out of business.

      You might also want to look into why Ford was in less of a threatened position. It wasn't because their sales were any better, it was because they had floated a bunch of loans before the economic crunch that destroyed financial liquidity for everybody. It could even be argued that they put the other Big 2 in bad straights be sucking up all the free cash.

      Not going to fret about the car issues, me, I only like their exterior colors, but I hate the interiors. Since it is really easy to paint the exterior compared to stripping out the insides, they lose out.

    8. Re:How about getting rid of the Eurotrash first? by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 1

      Why limit your sense of entitlement? I want a gold-plated maserati with a blowjob dispenser, for what I have in my pocket right now....looks like about 70 cents. I can compromise on the gold plating as long as the blowjob dispenser is turbocharged. And someone oughta repeal the Clean Air act too! It's my right as a consumer to do whatever I want! If that means those spotted owls get a coating of tar to go with their feathers, well then they shoulda been a consumer instead.

      --
      Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
    9. Re:How about getting rid of the Eurotrash first? by sethstorm · · Score: 1

      Not going to fret about the car issues, me, I only like their exterior colors, but I hate the interiors. Since it is really easy to paint the exterior compared to stripping out the insides, they lose out.

      Compared to GM, they look quite spartan for an equivalent tier of car. Chrysler has a bit of the same issue, but at least they give you a V6 under the hood for less money than their competitors. That, and the European influence stays in the Fiat brand unlike GM or Ford.

      If things get bad enough with GM, I'll end up going with Chrysler. Less global exposure is an asset when you make cars for the US market.

      Putting in OpenXC just looks like windowdressing. All you get is a box that sits on the CANBUS network, and no real way to do anything more than sanctioned reads.

      --
      Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
    10. Re:How about getting rid of the Eurotrash first? by sethstorm · · Score: 1

      I'm actually trying to be reasonable with what Detroit has produced for the masses. You on the other hand, are not.

      Confusing that with entitlement to a poorly made European luxury car is not even close to what I'm talking about here.

      --
      Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
    11. Re:How about getting rid of the Eurotrash first? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because it's a waste to chase 300 million people to make ridiculously tiny changes when you could just get one or two large freight ships to switch to cleaner gas, and have an equivalent effect. Then we could all just be left alone.

      So instead of trying to make us more like you, why don't you worry about where real environmental problems exist. We're not you, and don't want to be.

    12. Re:How about getting rid of the Eurotrash first? by The+Dancing+Panda · · Score: 3, Insightful

      From what I've read, you want Detroit to produce a car that has a big engine and high fuel consumption. Doing that was a large part of why they needed to get bailed out in the first place. Gas is 3.50 a gallon and rising. That's not something people that are buying cars can afford anymore. You're getting power and economy. I'm not quite sure why you're complaining, exactly. I had an 8 Cylinder Taurus SHO, and now I have a 4 cylinder VW GTI. It is faster and gets better gas mileage. Why would you want to go backwards?

    13. Re:How about getting rid of the Eurotrash first? by jo_ham · · Score: 1

      Not to mention the build quality (as in the design of the car, not a reflection of the labour force building it).

      Ford was one of the first to realise that they couldn't just phone in the overall design any more when selling in European markets, so they put work into better transmission, suspension, engines, ride quality, the basic interior features etc and it really paid off for them - they have several class-leading, great value vehicles available in Europe and have for many years.

      They also joined up with other manufacturers to collaborate on major developments (mainly in high efficiency, gasoline-a-like diesel engines).

      So yes, there are going to be low-IQ morons like the OP who feel emasculated while driving a 4 cylinder vehicle with better performance, efficiency, emissions, weight and quality compared to the "patriotic American" 6 and 8 cylinder dinosaur lumps that make him feel like a real man - maybe that's why it took Ford so long to move their winning formula back to the USA after finding it worked so well in Europe, but it seems they're finally doing it.

      Ford is doing well over here, and it't not because they're building designs right out of the 70s where more numbers of cylinders = better! manly! rar!

    14. Re:How about getting rid of the Eurotrash first? by sethstorm · · Score: 1

      By going to that VW GTI, you gave up a lot of room and two cylinders. If you get rid of the environmental regulations, that gas would be a lot cheaper.

      I'd have no problem if it meant that I could have my US-sized behemoth and you have your turbocharged golfcart.

      --
      Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
  4. MS sync + ford? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I thought ford was all about Microsoft. They used to run ads all the time about MS Sync. Many parts of syncmyride.com crash in chrome with .NET errors.

  5. It doesn't stop the few. by sethstorm · · Score: 0

    Environmentalism only stops the many from getting the car they truly want.

    What's with all those high-powered cars that are sitting in UK/European garages that rot, because their owner wasn't rich enough for their power?

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
  6. So they were the first to hate Americans. by sethstorm · · Score: -1, Troll

    Yes, those cars are Eurotrash, especially given that they look and function much like the junk you see across Europe - and the rest of the 4-banger-and-satnav-world. Trying to diminish my argument does nothing when the evidence is out there to see - Ford makes Eurotrash, and all you have to argue about is the wording.

    I have a pre-bailout, ~2 ton, no-turbo, 6-cylinder Aurora tyvm. I make no apologies as to its American-sized fuel consumption, nor do I support any tax increases or fees to make it harder to drive what I, a US citizen amongst many with a similar preference, truly want. At least Chrysler and GM are willing to make cars for the citizens that want US sized power that is affordable to all, without having to raid the depreciated luxury tier.

    It'd be kind of nice if I didn't have some environmentalist from Aspen strongly advocating me to drive some Trabant with satnav while they drive an SUV convoy.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
    1. Re:So they were the first to hate Americans. by Microlith · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Compensating for something, are we?

    2. Re:So they were the first to hate Americans. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Personally, I'm a little surprised he didn't go for the 8-cylinder version.

    3. Re:So they were the first to hate Americans. by jo_ham · · Score: 1

      Wow, I really thought people like you were merely a parody.

      I really can't tell if you're trolling or genuinely really, really stupid, selfish, misinformed and obnoxious.

      Well played sir.

    4. Re:So they were the first to hate Americans. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Availability and worse issues with the 4T80-E transmission (versus the 4T65-E). Either way results in a Michigan-built car that has the US consumer in mind; the only fault is that it is front-wheel drive. That, and the 6cyl has a larger fuel tank capable of taking long trips.

  7. That's nice talk from an AC. by sethstorm · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    You're just an Anonymous Coward, so you are equally likely to not be a shareholder as well.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
  8. Don't replace cylinders with air, it's worse. by sethstorm · · Score: 1

    My position on such devices:
    Forced induction as a supplement to an already high-powered/displacement engine == good.
    Forced induction as a replacement to cylinder count due to overzealous environmental regulations == unholy.

    I'll take a well-powered 6 over a turbo'd 4, a well-powered 8 over turbo'd 6, and look at a turbocharger if I really wanted to improve a well-powered 8. Forced induction might please the folks doing emissions testing, but all it does is cut corners for modern-day cars. These aren't the days of the turbocharged Grand National, where forced induction was applied properly, but where it is used to replace cylinders in a not-so-effective way.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
    1. Re:Don't replace cylinders with air, it's worse. by ackthpt · · Score: 2

      My position on such devices:
      Forced induction as a supplement to an already high-powered/displacement engine == good.
      Forced induction as a replacement to cylinder count due to overzealous environmental regulations == unholy.

      I'll take a well-powered 6 over a turbo'd 4, a well-powered 8 over turbo'd 6, and look at a turbocharger if I really wanted to improve a well-powered 8. Forced induction might please the folks doing emissions testing, but all it does is cut corners for modern-day cars. These aren't the days of the turbocharged Grand National, where forced induction was applied properly, but where it is used to replace cylinders in a not-so-effective way.

      Ugh. Buick Grand National handled like a cow. I had a 1986 T-Bird Turbo, which had 273K on it when I towed it off to the scrap yard (engine still ran and had original turbo, which regularly delivered plenty of HP and torq for California mountain driving) alas, it was done in by Michigan Road Salt, which kills all cars eventually.

      With today's petrol prices I'll take my little 175HP 5cyl 6 speed dub, which delivers 30+ MPH and sticks to the road like glue in those winding, twisting mazes of mountain roads -- all alike. Detroit got it, it took them long enough. Use technology over brute force. There are engines a fraction the displacements of the 1960's (and early 70's) which deliver equivelent power with economy and emissions. Wondered why it took so long to get here. As for style, eh, every generations cars look weird compared to the previous.

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    2. Re:Don't replace cylinders with air, it's worse. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Really? What's magical about 8 cylinders?? Wouldn't you also prefer a well powered 10 over a turbo'd 8, and a well powered 12 over a turbo'd 10, and a well powered 16 over a turbo'd 12??
      But for some reason you would look at turbo if you wanted to improve your well powered NA 8 cylinder.
      And how do you define performance? in general I would think HP/Ton is a good indicator. Well, look at the Lotus Exige; 2000 pounds and 240 horses (in the supercharged version). There might be 1 or 2 American cars that can out accelerate it, but there aren't any that handle as well. Guess what engine is in the Exige?? A Toyota 1.8L 4 cylinder. Oh, and it gets 25MPG. Not Eurotrash. Not underpowered. Not meant for "some Third World country". I'd say American car companies could learn a thing or two from Lotus.

      Just because you prefer muscle car style doesn't mean everyone prefers that. Some people prefer Formula1 styling. Some people prefer rally car styling. Some people just want a car that can hold their family, with moderate comfort, and a few groceries, while getting 40 MPG. And it's nice that all of these items are able to be purchased in the current market.

    3. Re:Don't replace cylinders with air, it's worse. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I know i may sound out of place, but what is wrong with newer cars. Electric cars are improving every day, and with new superconductor technologies coming out they may even surpass the performance of their fuel based counterparts. And the next thing that bugs me is why there aren't any company's selling hydrogen conversion kits for cars. (And if you think I'm referring to fuel cells then you don't know anything about the power of hydrogen as a fuel. Hydrogen fuel cells are battery's in disguise and should be called such. Hydrogen gas is a highly abundant explosive gas that can be contained safely (if government regulations on some materials are relaxed) then released and used as a combustible fuel. And guess what you can get it from a glass of water, and when burned the output is water.)
      So, why cant be efficient, environmentally friendly and economical?

    4. Re:Don't replace cylinders with air, it's worse. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "And guess what you can get it from a glass of water"

      It's a net loss, so you can't just fill up your car with water, have an electrolysis machine, and run it. So you'll need an entirely infrastructure to deliver and supply hydrogen to vehicles. Propane is much cheaper, just as efficient, and already easily gotten almost anywhere.

  9. The voice of reason by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yours is the only post worth anything in this thread so far.

    Quite frankly it sounds awesome and I want it.

  10. Someone hates American cars. by sethstorm · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    (Score:-1, Troll)

    I'm thinking that someone hates American cars enough to not come up with anything of substance other than modbombing.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
  11. What about fault diagnostics ? by Alain+Williams · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Will they make the engine/... diagnostics available through this API ? Currently they charge the repair garages a lot to have the software to be able to see why that fault light is lighting up on the dashboard. The effect is driving small repair shops & one man bands out of business -- good for Ford since it keeps their expensive dealerships in business.

    I expect not, they would not do anything genuinely useful if it damaged profits.

    1. Re:What about fault diagnostics ? by BiggerIsBetter · · Score: 1

      Is that not already available through OBD2?

      --
      Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
    2. Re:What about fault diagnostics ? by DigiShaman · · Score: 2

      From what I understand, there is the OBD2 standard, and then there proprietary extensions to it that can only be read or interpreted by the dealership for a particular make of car. These extensions are extras and non-critical I believe. But they do provide a tech advantage to help daignose a problem.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    3. Re:What about fault diagnostics ? by sys_mast · · Score: 1

      I think ABS and airbag aren't in the base OBDII code set. I understand they did that on purpose, but wouldn't call those non-critical.

      Very annoying if one of those lights comes on.

      --
      Those who can, do.
  12. Ford ... where to start? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They include MICROSOFT in their vehicles - I can't take anything Ford does tech wise seriously for that reason at least.

  13. I hope they gave some to folks in the US. by sethstorm · · Score: 0

    Part of the brilliance of the OpenXC strategy is that not only is Ford effectively getting free R&D from the open source community, by letting developers in locales far-flung from Detroit have a go with the system, Ford will learn what consumers want and need in a variety of geographic regions.

    Ford would be doing a great disservice by disregarding the desires of those in the US market. Oh, wait, they already are given their un-American car lineup.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
    1. Re:I hope they gave some to folks in the US. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ford would be doing a great disservice by disregarding the desires of those in the US market. Oh, wait, they already are given their un-American car lineup.

      They've been building much better cars in recent years. Part of the reason is they're finally selling vehicles that they sell in Europe, like the Fiesta and the Transit. And the US market is getting the revamped 2013 Fusion (Modeo outside the US) before the rest of the world, for the first time.

    2. Re:I hope they gave some to folks in the US. by sethstorm · · Score: 0

      Part of the reason is they're finally selling vehicles that they sell in Europe, like the Fiesta and the Transit

      Which are part of the problem when they canned the American-sized cars, they're golfcarts compared to their properly sized predecessors. Let me know when I can get a RWD V8 without going to the luxury tier, instead of these golfcarts. Even a large RWD V6 under the same terms would be OK.

      FWD/AWD == harder to maintain due to the transmission being in a very unholy spot - the side of a car.

      The problem could be better solved by reinstating the platforms they killed (Panther, E* vans) and simply allowed people to order from other countries if they wanted a European golfcart. Everyone wins.

      And the US market is getting the revamped 2013 Fusion (Modeo outside the US) before the rest of the world, for the first time.

      Which has no American-sized engine option (read: V6) but looks like a 4-door Aston Martin done in the worst way possible.

      They've been building much better cars in recent years.

      Why yes, they have made plenty of improvements to their behemoth-sized cars. Shame that Ford dropped what made them American, and opted to become a foreign car company with a US name.

      --
      Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
    3. Re:I hope they gave some to folks in the US. by equex · · Score: 1

      Oh, Ford is not recognized as a good car in Europe. In fact, FORD over here has become an acronym for "Fire Ordentlige Reparasjoner Daglig", loosly translated from Norwegian to "Four Serious Repairs Daily".

      --
      Can I light a sig ?
    4. Re:I hope they gave some to folks in the US. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Out here in South Africa, they're known as "First On the Rubbish Dump"

  14. Increasing my Ford's resale value.. by spasm · · Score: 1

    Does this mean I have some hope of replacing the utter garbage currently installed in my wife's Ford (Microsoft Sync, I'm looking at you). The car itself is pretty good, but the phone/music/voice control system is like some sort of retarded throwback to the '90s, and I'm actually genuinely worried it'll reduce the resale value of the car in a few years.

  15. Can I finally implement the de-smellerator? by schwaang · · Score: 1

    My first app would switch to recirculating air whenever I go near one of the local sewage treatment plants or enter a tunnel. (Or any rectangle I can define via a pair of GPS coordinates, and of course the smell map will be a downloadable crowd-sourced database.) Upon exiting the smelly zone the vent mode returns to whatever it was set to prior. Right now I have a subroutine running on base-brain to handle this task which works well for the frequently travelled areas. But if I forget when driving near that feed lot on I-5, I'm stuck with cow-shit air for *miles*.

    So can openxc control things like the air vents? I'm thinking of the Prius which has a recirc button the steering wheel as well as the dash, so it's probably possible to plug into a bus somewhere.

  16. It doesn't do all that much. by Animats · · Score: 1

    It's just a thing that plugs into the OBD-II connector and translates some of the CAN bus signals to JSON over USB. It's read-only (probably a good thing). All you currently get is vehicle speed, powertrain torque, odometer, ignition status, door status, steering wheel position, fuel level, fuel consuption, and latitude/longitude (if available). You don't get any internal engine information, diagnostic codes, or maintenance info.

    Compare the Scantool which plugs into the OBD-II connector and gives you full access to all the engine diagnostic data. They provide documentation on how to decode the bus data directly, and various "user friendly" applications for looking at it.

    1. Re:It doesn't do all that much. by schwaang · · Score: 1

      Since we're already talking about cars, I'll have to resort to a phone analogy.

      The smartphone equivalent is that "all" this does is provide an API for smartphone apps to access GPS location, tilt sensor data, and battery SOC and drain rate. But really that's pretty huge in itself, it's enough to enable search based on location (be that Yelp, Opentable, or just Bing). It's enough to create crowd-sourced traffic maps, and it might even be enough to do Slashdot style moderation of nearby drivers.

      But yeah I'd like the diagnostic info (much of which is going to be model-specific) and even more I'd like to write to the CAN bus to control non-critical stuff. And of course as an app writer I'll want to secretly upload your address book to my servers so I can sell it to information brokers and download targeted advertising. Oops did I say that out loud?

  17. Could you please change your name by temcat · · Score: 1

    I wouldn't trust a company named "Bug Labs" to produce hardware and/or software or my car. That would be kinda asking for it.

  18. So you get cars fit only to be 3rd world carbombs? by sethstorm · · Score: 1

    Haven't driven a 4-cylinder lawnmower engine of a car in my entire life, and intend to keep it that way.

    They also joined up with other manufacturers to collaborate on major developments (mainly in high efficiency, gasoline-a-like diesel engines).

    In short, they found manufacturers that would make golfcart bits.

    So yes, there are going to be low-IQ morons like the OP who feel emasculated while driving a 4 cylinder vehicle with better performance, efficiency, emissions, weight and quality compared to the "patriotic American" 6 and 8 cylinder dinosaur lumps that make him feel like a real man - maybe that's why it took Ford so long to move their winning formula back to the USA after finding it worked so well in Europe, but it seems they're finally doing it.

    Then Ford should do themselves a favor by replacing their American spokesman with some uppity German. Then hand over the designs to all their large/powerful cars(including the Mustang) over to Chrysler, who still seems to give a care about making cars as Detroit intended - affordable power first, environmentalism last. If they're going to go all Euro, why do a half-job?

    It works in Europe because they're used to having golfcart-sized cars(unless you're obscenely rich) and very few straightaways. Overwriting the US lineup with Eurotrash only makes things worse for having blander cars with less power in them.

    Ford is doing well over here, and it's not because they're building designs right out of the 70s where more numbers of cylinders = better! manly! rar!

    What's wrong with affordable muscle instead of reserving 6 & 8 cylinders for the few? Nothing unless you don't like regular people having something powerful under the hood.

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