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Verizon Retrofits Vintage Legacy Vehicles With Smart Features
An anonymous reader writes: Verizon have released an after-market system called Hum that can bring 'smart' features to 150 million existing cars of various vintages going as far back as 1999. The system consists of an on-board diagnostic (OBD) reader plugged into the vehicle's OBD port and a Bluetooth-enabled device clipped to the visor. It's the presence of the ODB port that limits the maximum age of the car to 1996. Hum comes with an app, and enables features such as automatic accident reporting, roadside assistance services and the tracking of stolen cars. The service will cost $14.99 per month via subscription.
"as far back as 1999"
Thats not vintage
A vintage car is one made between 1919 and 1930.
1918 and earlier then its a veteran
1931 to WWII and its post-vintage
Vehicles made in the latter half of the twentieth century may be considered 'classic' but certainly not vintage.
You can buy a cheap ELM327 module that plugs into your OBD2 port. It can connect to your Android over Bluetooth, and then run the Torque Pro app. Very cheap, and a one time price, and gives you a lot of functionality that Verizon wants to gouge you for. It may not have some of the extra frills. But with these devices internet connected, what could possibly go wrong? Didn't somebody just demonstrate a hack of internet connected Jeeps?