Ford’s open-source kit brings era of smart car apps

DcData AdminPublic

OpenXC will set the hacker community loose on Ford’s car computer systems – expect a host of apps to improve vehicles’ performance and efficiency

MIRROR, signal, manoeuvre – now set your engine to “supercar”. Car maker Ford has just released OpenXC – an open-source hardware and software toolkit that will let the hacker community play around with the computer systems that run modern cars. While the first apps may add nothing more exciting than internet radio, the open nature of the system should eventually lead to custom apps that give drivers far more control over their car’s performance.

Most cars are now run by computers that control everything from the engine to the incline of the seats but, until now, the driver has used only the data on speed, engine revs and fuel level. OpenXC will “demystify the details” of a car’s software, says K. Venkatesh Prasad of Ford Research and Innovation in Dearborn, Michigan. A driver will be able to download approved apps from a Ford store onto their smartphone that can then communicate with a car’s computer system.

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