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Ford, Bug Labs Want You to Hack Your Car Imagine hacking your car—with the full approval of the carmaker. Ford set the stage for just that Monday, announcing a new aftermarket consumer R&D platform with Bug Labs, known as Ford OpenXC. But it won't be just software. Ford and Bug Labs unveiled a new open-source R&D platform that will enable aftermarket hardware and software modifications, the two companies announced on Monday. A demonstration module showed off in-vehicle fuel consumption. At the TechCrunch Disrupt show in San Francisco, Ford and Bug Labs announced what they referred to as the "BugBase," the interface between the car and third-party hardware and software modules that could be designed by users themselves. Ford's interface will be known as Ford OpenXC. The problem, said K. Venkatesh Prasad, senior technology leader of infotronics at Ford Research, is that most innovations in automobiles are designed for an audience of millions. With the Bug System or the BugBase, aftermarket modifications could be designed for a market of say, four people. The OpenXC development kits will be available later this year. Ford at Disrupt As a demonstration, Ford connected a Ford Fiesta to a prototype Fuel Economy Challenge application (click right for larger image), which connected a small, Bluetooth-powered LED projector that measured fuel consumption and projected the efficiency on the dashboard. Bug Labs' BugSwarm data aggregation and application development platform then could take that data and map it on a mapping application, ranking nearby drivers on their ability to conserve fuel. The automaker also considered an application that could automatically log in a user using Foursquare, Prasad said. "The idea is that you turn the device on share how you're doing with others," said Peter Semmlhack, founder and chief executive of Bug Labs. Prasad said that he got the idea while on a trip in India, where he noticed that few users had the money to buy a car, yet they almost all had feature phones with specialized apps that added functionality. According to Bug Labs, Ford is the first automotive OEM to work with Bug, which has previously developed its own modules for users to develop their own consumer-electronics devices. In a related "hack" at the TechCrunch Hackathon over the weekend, Ford showed off a partnership with Spotify to bring its service to the car as well. For more from Mark, follow him on Twitter @MarkHachman. |
