Connected Car Devices
Find and compare Wifi and Bluetooth driving assistance systems. OBD 2 adapters to track and monitor driving and car diagnostics remotely from your Android or iOS device.
A new class of devices are being developed that capture your cars computer sensor data using your vehicles on-board diagnostic port (OBD II is available on cars built from 1996 on) and adds a layer of additional features on top.
These devices turn this information into a resource to help easily understand a check-engine light, adjust your insurance rate based on how/when you actually drive, and create added safety features through tracking and emergency response services.
The following Channel Guide will help you:
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Get device and their app reviews. Determine if the adapter/dongle can work with your car model and your Android or iOS phone.
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Filter based on monthly pricing, or by feature (theft tracking, api access, insurance or parental monitoring, etc).
11/01/2019
Featured
Device spotlight
Bluedriver Professional OBD2 Tool
Highlights
- Trusted by mechanics and developed by Professional Engineers in North America
- Smog Ready Check
- Advanced test results (like misfire counts) for On-Board Diagnostic System Monitors.
Consumer
OBD monitoring devices currently on the market
Automatic
Highlights
- App Marketplace
- OBD-II Port and Bluetooth Connectivity
- Collision Detection using built-in accelerometer
CarLock
Highlights
- The CarLock Cloud will inform your emergency contacts via SMS if you had an accident. - Add backup SMS or call notifications (SIM card included)
- Export your trips data to your computer with CSV or XLS export
- CarLock actively monitors the health of your vehicle and alerts you in advance if your car battery is running dangerously low or is experiencing high battery drain.
Dash Car
Highlights
- Integrates with IFTTT
- Take pole position on the leaderboard, win rewards and share road trips
- Dash works with preferred OBD devices, starting as low as $10. Provides automated VIN decoding, multi-car support and push alerts.
Verizon Hum
Highlights
- Includes Bluetooth speaker clips to your visor. It gives you one-button access to emergency help, plus safe, hands-free talking
- Sutomatic crash detection and roadside assistance
- Mechanics Hotline
Vinli
Highlights
- Vinli turns your car into a rolling WiFi hotspot
- 4G LTE, Wifi, and Bluetooth Connectivity
- Standalone GPS and app store
Vyncs Link
Highlights
- No monthly fees, no contract
- 3G wireless connection nationwide in US over AT&T and T-Mobile
- Zone notifications, trip history, driving score, roadside assistance optional, and an optional remote lock/unlock accessory
Comparison Articles:
NYTimes: Picking Your Car’s Computerized Brain - 11/19/2014 Winner: Automatic
Additional OBD2 Dongle Options
- Cravenspeed: $45
- Kiwi 3 $99 - Bluetooth - no monthly
- OBDLink LX $49.95 Bluetooth
- OBDLink MX $79.95 Wifi
- CellAssist $59.95
- SplitSecnd (Pre-order)
- Delphi $99 - $199 (Hotspot)
- DanLaw -- Enterprise side
- AutoPi ($112-$295 Raspberry pi based, pre-order)
Standalone Apps
Another option is to pair a cheaper $11-$20 standalone Bluetooth or Wifi dongle from Amazon and then pair it with one of the following Apps.
Itunes
| Name | Reviews | Price |
|---|---|---|
| DashCommand | 4.5/5 (48 Reviews) | $9.99 |
| Engine Link | 3.5 (14 Reviews) | $5.99 |
| iOBD2 | 2.5/5 (204 Reviews) | Free |
Android / Google Play
| Name | Reviews | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Torque Pro | 4.5/5 (44,000 Reviews) | $4.95 |
| Torque Light | 4/5 (20,000 Reviews) | Free |
| Car Gauge Pro | 3.5/5 (439 Reviews) | $8.95 |
| OBDLink | 4/5 (5000 Reviews) | Free |
Consumer: Insurance Focused
Help cut your current insurance costs down, or pay for only how much you drive.
METROMILE
Metromile’s pay-per-mile insurance offering saves low-mileage drivers a ton of money. All pay-per-mile insurance customers receive the Metromile...
TRAVELERS INTELLIDRIVE
"As an IntelliDrive customer, you can save money if you are a low mileage driver. Getting started takes minutes and your first benefit starts as...
PROGRESSIVE SNAPSHOT
"This little device turns your safe driving into savings. It just makes sense—insurance should be based partly on how you actually drive, rather...
LIBERTY MUTUAL RIGHTTRACK
"Connect, drive and save with RightTrack from Liberty Mutual Insurance."
App Based:
Insurance Side Software
- Amodo - "Our Driver Suite – Driver Copilot, enables all stakeholders in the automotive ecosystem to better understand how their products and services are being used, thus enabling better cross-sell and up-sell opportunities for businesses and optimized car ownership for drivers."
Fleet Management
Enterprise fleet tracking products and services to provide access, track location and improve operational efficiency.
WATSON IOT AUTOMOTIVE
Deliver new service models to your customers by developing, manufacturing and maintaining connected cars
LOCALMOTION - BY ZIPCAR
"Share vehicles effortlessly, increase fleet utilization, and streamline operations with Local Motion’s keyless access and web-based motor pool...
CLOUD YOUR CAR
"Cloud Your Car provides the tracking hardware with built-in GSM connectivity, cloud data processing platform and a set of online tools for...
FLEET GENIUS
"Full featured fleet management with fleet maintenance software, fleet tracking and driver safety monitoring."
ZUBIE BUSINESS
Low-cost fleet tracking, made simple. Zubie includes always-connected cellular service, so you can stay connected to your fleet from anywhere.
Additional
Software & Platforms
- Watson IoT Automotive: Deliver new service models to your customers by developing, manufacturing and maintaining connected cars
- Venium - "Veniam turns vehicles into WiFi hotspots. We build and operate city-scale vehicular networks that expand wireless coverage and collect terabytes of urban data.'"
- Carvoyant - "Provides easy access to connected car data via our API. The API IS our product. You build what you need to help your clients with our tools. Carvoyant takes months off the time to go to market for connected car development and continues to support the data needs of your application."
- Weather Cloud
A Boulder based company looking to improve road condition safety and traffic routing using a cloud service and data gathered from sensors installed on a vehicle's license plates. - OpenXC Platform "OpenXC™ is a combination of open source hardware and software that lets you extend your vehicle with custom applications and pluggable modules."
- Open Car Project "A platform to connect your car to the internet. Your car will connect without any help of other devices such as smartphones. The data will be available online, where you get smart analytics. The device and data will be open and accessible, so an ecosystem for smart car applications will grow."
- CargoAI - "Cargo is seeking awesome automotive applications and the developers who create them to help realize the connected car."
- otonomo - Autonomous cars use otonomo to connect to digital infrastructures and exchange data in real time with other connected and autonomous cars.
Alliances
- Ford Sync
- Open Automotive Alliance
"The OAA is a global alliance of technology and auto industry leaders committed to bringing the Android platform to cars starting in 2014." - GENIVI
"A non-profit industry alliance committed to driving the broad adoption of an In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) open-source development platform."
DIY & Open Source
- Freematics Vehicle Data Logger V4 -
ATmega328p main controller, 100% compatible with Arduino UNO. Self-popping microSD slot on SPI, BLE module (TI CC2540) with optional ESP8266 Wifi module, externl GPS receiver - SparkFun: Getting Started with OBD-II
- Video: How to Put a Computer in Your Car with the Raspberry Pi - 10/23/2014
Projects
- mHUD - An Ionic 2 Mobile heads-up display This app turns your phone in to a heads-up display for your car. It displays your current speed, rpm, and the road speed limit.
- Ryan C. Gordon ("icculus") - OBD GPS Logger
Additional Resources
Have a car older than 1996 without an OBDii port?
You can convert an older vehicle with an OBD1 to work with new OBD2 devices using an adapter like this one sold on Amazon for $15
Background Articles
- Arvato - The Future of the Car: arvato Helps Make the ‘Connected Car’ a Reality
- Wall St Journal - The Internet-Connected Car
- Bosch - Connected cars: what’s in store
- BBC - 'Every new car' connected to web by 2014
- Forbes - 10 Obstacles For Connected Cars
- Wards Auto - Experts Examine Auto Telematics' Pitfalls, Potential
- Forbes - Silicon Valley vs. Detroit: The Battle For The Car Of The Future
- WSJ - Connected Cars Fueling Up to Take a Drive in Europe
- Economist - How’s my driving? Gizmos that track driving habits are changing the face of car insurance
- Jeff Kramer - The Quantified Car: Progressive Snapshot
Security Focused:
- Dude, How Secure Is My Connected Car? - eSecurity Planet
Resources
- Slideshow - Connected Vehicles--Automotive: From Building Cars to Selling Personal Travel Time Well-Spent
- Report: New services enabled by the connected car SMART 2010/0065 (PDF)
- Organization: Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) Initiative
- Organization: Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC)
- Research: Cooperative Vehicle-Infrastructure Systems (CVIS)
- Automative as a Microcosm of IoT (PDF form)
Sensor Types
The average American automobile include around 60 sensors (most of which are accessible from its on-board OBD II port.)
- Road Condition Sensor
- Magnetic Sensor
- Vehicle Distance Sensor
- Forward Obstacle Sensor
- Blind Spot Monitoring Camera
- Drive Recorder
- Air Pressure Sensor
- Steering Angle Sensor
- Electronic Control Throttle
- Vehicle Speed, Acceleration Sensor
- Collision Detection Sensor
- GPS Sensor
Additional Products
Now that we have covered the OBD2 device category. What about other Bluetooth car products?
Roush Active Exhaust: Wi-Fi Exhaust System
Part of the vision of the Internet of Things is that it will usher in a world where every object around us is, to some extent, programmable. So far lightbulbs are the poster child for this concept, with brightness settings, strobing patterns, and millions of colors selectable through smartphone apps. A similar power of control over our surroundings is developing in other products, including some where you might not expect it — like car engines.
Roush, a company known for its high-performance vehicles and after-market parts, is now selling a $1700 Active Exhaust system that gives drivers control over the sound of a Mustang’s engine. By opening or closing exhaust vents, the system can “tune” the engine from a quiet purr to a throaty roar. Car owners can choose from several preset modes, or create their own custom tunings, by attaching a Wi-Fi dongle to the vehicle’s diagnostic port and connecting to the Active Exhaust system with a smartphone app.
Ultimately, this is just one of many ways that the IoT is allowing individuals to personalize their immediate environment. How these technologies will interact with community standards remains to be seen (or, as the case may be, heard).
Check out the video below to hear for yourself how Roush’s Active Exhaust changes the sound of a car engine in real time.
