Lance Ulanoff2013-03-28 00:25:41 UTCFord is taking what may be the first step in creating a new, cohesive, multi-screen, contextually aware experience between smartphones and cars. The automaker announced this week at the New York International Auto Show, the Ford Personalized Fuel-Efficiency App Challenge, an app-development contest that will let developers tap into Ford’s OpenXC API and give them direct access to data collected by Ford cars.
The contest, which launches this summer, is narrowly focused on using that data to create apps that help improve and/or track fuel efficiency. According to Facebook’s Global Head of Automotive Doug Frisbie, that matters more to consumers than the car's price by a factor of 10. Ford also settled on fuel efficiency because its executives believe there may be more accurate ways of finding real-world MPG ratings via a combination of crowdsourcing and real-time car data.
Frisbie and Google’s Director of Global Mobile Sales and Product Strategy Brendon Kraham, however, joined Ford EVP of Global Marketing, Sales and Service, Jim Farley, Jr., on stage (and in a panel discussion following the keynote) to talk about the broader possibilities.
Farley said consumers still take a step back when they move from using their phones to getting into their cars. Google’s Kraham said there’s a “disconnect in the auto space.” If, for example, you perform a search on your smartphone, that information is lost when you get in the car, said Kraham. You may even be required to perform that same search again on the vehicle’s dashboard system.
The vision is to have all of those screens finally work together, and there is good reason to do this.
The vision is to have all of those screens finally work together, and there is good reason to do this.
Farley identified mobile phones as one of the major trends that “will change our industry forever” (others include the demographic changes of Hispanics, women and millenials), and reminded the auto show keynote audience that one in six people in the world now owns a smartphone. Those devices are transforming their lives. According to one data point Farley presented, "82% of U.S. and European consumers believe there is a mobile app they can’t go a day without."
Your car — the original mobile, social device — already knows a lot about your driving experience. It's a rolling computer filled with hundreds of sensors that measure speed, location, tire pressure, if your door is ajar, and every part of engine performance. Yet, sometimes it seems to know so little about you. In fact, your phone probably knows a lot more.
Auto manufacturers such as Ford have sought to bridge the gap between the cars we sit in and the phones in our pockets with platforms like Sync, Bluetooth connectivity, hands-free voice control and in-car apps. Yet it’s not yet a cohesive experience.
“It’s time for the car to be a social device. Not to be isolated,” said Farley.
In this trial, developers will gain access to roughly 20 in-car data points. The data arrives in a highly digestible JSON (JavaScript Object language), that developers can choose to use any way they want. So while it’s called an app challenge, they could use it to power and access external hardware such as a hood-mounted solar array.
I saw a brief demo where Ford technicians used the data to drive an Android tablet-based dashboard that included location, fuel mileage, brake use (and its impact on fuel mileage), speed and more.
Developers have two options for developing an app. One is to buy a hardware kit from Ford (I saw a prototype). The key component is the “vehicle interface.” It plugs into the car’s data port and communicates with your mobile device via Bluetooth. A Ford representative told me there are many devices that can plug in and read that data, but none (beyond this one) that can deliver data to developers. As of now, Ford couldn't say when the kit would be available, or offer much detail on pricing. “Free” is under consideration.
The other option is to use Ford’s emulator data, which is already freely available on the company's website. It's not real-time, but can provide a variety of scenarios programmers can develop against.
The best fuel efficiency apps could win prizes totaling $50,000 from Ford.
While this contest is just a first step, there’s broader value for Ford’s customers in this “democratization of data.”
“What we recognize is that if we lower those barriers to innovation, we can get outside help,” said K. Venkatesh Prasad, Senior Leader Open Innovation at Ford.
Putting this data in the hands of outside developers will clearly lead to ideas beyond fuel efficiency, leading into areas where the increasing amounts of in-car technology has led to greater concerns over driver distractibility.
Smartphones are such a big part of our lives (Ford’s Farley recounted an anecdote that said the average stolen wallet is replaced in two days, while the average stolen phone is replaced in one), that the integration of our digital life into cars is almost a given. But, “the most important part for Ford is to enable that to happen safely,” said Farley.
Ford executives added, though, that their open architecture means it's possible that someone will eventually be working on a distracted-driving app.
There’s also the chance that further integration of the cellphone experience, in a far more seamless way, could lead to lower driver distraction. Google’s Kraham said seamless interactivity — more predictive interaction within the car so you never have to use the phone — could make a difference.
The group did acknowledge that a more contextually aware car could introduce privacy concerns, but Ford’s Farley said everything will be opt-in. “It won’t work if it’s annoying. It won’t work if it’s creepy.”
What do you think? Are you ready for developers to tap into all that in-car data? Let us know in the comments below.
Photo by Mashable
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