Dash’s Smart Driving App – A “Fitbit For Cars” – Arrives On Android

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Dash, a Techstars New York-backed startup that wants to be like a Fitbit for your car, has now launched. The product includes a combination of a hardware device and smartphone application which offers real-time feedback on your driving, trip logs, access to vehicle diagnostics (that pesky “check engine” light, and who can fix it!), a map showing where the cheapest gas is nearby, and even social features.

Like several of the “connected car” products on the market, Dash’s hardware involves an OBD device you can purchase from either within the Dash mobile application or the Dash homepage. The Dash software will also work with any Bluetooth-enabled OBD device, if you happen to already have one, or you can choose from two types of devices Dash’s homepage points to: generic devices found on Amazon for $10 and up, or a premium OBD LINK LX which is a steeper $69.

dash_appThe Dash software works with either type of device, the company says. But the premium hardware offers a better build quality, power management capabilities, and connection reliability, among other things.

Once installed, the device connects via Bluetooth with your Android smartphone to communicate with the Dash app.

The app offers you a variety of helpful tools, both when you’re on the road and when you’re off. The app’s design is well done, too – very modern and clean, which is still somewhat of a surprise on Android, though that’s increasingly less of a case these days as developers begin to treat the platform with the respect its larger marketshare has earned.

As noted above, Dash offers a variety of “connected car” features, including the ability to track your trips, watch your gas consumption, find nearby gas prices, detect crashes and alert emergency services, understand the warning messages your car’s computer throws and even locate a reliable mechanic who can resolve the problem. Mechanics are ranked by proximity and star ratings, explains Dash co-founder and CEO Jamyn Edis.

Edis and Brian Langel both previously worked at HBO before starting Dash, where Edis was VP of R&D, which included tech strategy for HBO GO, and other skunkworks projects using augmented reality, video search, smart TV apps, Nike Fuel-like hardware for HBO Sports and more. Before that, he spent a decade at Accenture, working on large-scale technology projects and strategy for a variety of clients, including Sprint, British Telecom, Fox Interactive, MySpace, Warner Music, PlayStation and many more.

Meanwhile, Langel, now Dash CTO, had previously built the backend architecture for HBO GO, and worked on HBO Sports. He has also worked for Union Pacific Railroads and McGraw Hill.

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For a long time, the two had been looking to work on a project together around the idea of smart, connected devices. And when the company was founded back in June 2012, the landscape for connected car was fairly barren. 

Today, that’s not necessarily the case.

“What’s different and fresh about our approach here is that we’re tackling cars as a platform – one that we think is really under-leveraged as a consumer technology,” explains Edis. Plus, he adds, “we’re technologists. We love data and we think we can improve our lives by using data, whether that’s physical fitness with Jawbone, or whether that’s home and HVAC using Nest.”

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With Dash, the improvement also includes a focus around safety and overall smarter driving. In the case of the former, while the app is in “in transit” mode, it will actively warn you through auditory alerts when something goes wrong (e.g warning you that you were breaking too hard, or other bad behaviors). But instead of just being an annoying robot “backseat driver,” Dash gamifies the experience, pitting you against friends or other nearby in a competition to earn the better “drive score.”

Meanwhile, similar to Prius, the app will inform you while driving of your fuel economy, allowing you to make adjustments in response.

Edis says that all this is just the beginning, too. The company is working on a bevy of other features, including targeted promotions that are based on your driving, location and other non-personally identifiable features, an iOS application, and partnerships around its developer API which would see Dash able to communicate with other smart devices, like those which Edis calls “trigger services” or other smart home platforms.

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The seven-person New York-based company has raised an undisclosed seven-figure round of seed funding from Techstars, VCs (with car manufacturers as LPs), and angels including Foursquare co-founder and CEO Dennis Crowley, Makerbot co-founder and CEO Bre Pettis, Dave Morin, and others.

Dash now competes with a number of ODB apps and similar services in an ever-crowded market, including YC-backed Automatic (whose “Link” dongle is a bit pricier at $99.95), Carvoyant, CarMD, Torque, Car Doctor, and many others.

The Dash app is live on Google Play here.

AT&T Brings Global LTE Connectivity to the Car

AT&T Brings Global LTE Connectivity to the Car

AT&T is joining the connected car fray with AT&T Drive. Announced today at CES, it gives automakers a global data platform for things like voice-controlled apps and in-car entertainment, similar to plans by Google and Apple.

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AT&T opens latest Foundry facility in Atlanta, focusing on the connected car, home automation and emerging devices

AT&T opens latest Foundry facility in Atlanta, focusing on the connected car, home automation and emerging devices

If you haven’t been paying attention, here’s the skinny: US carriers are doing everything they can to expand their horizons, and in the case of Verizon and AT&T, this sense of urgency has led to the creation of numerous innovation labs. In a nutshell, these facilities serve as incubation centers for startups and well-positioned outfits alike that are looking to add cellular connectivity to whatever it is they’re hawking.

AT&T’s latest facility — its fourth in total — will open its doors later today, with the Atlanta-based Foundry focusing on innovation in the connected car and emerging devices sectors. Moreover, it’ll be used to further AT&T’s own U-verse and Digital Life platforms, though specifics of what exactly engineers will be toiling on remain under wraps. For an idea of what all goes down at places like this, have a look at a tour we took through one of Verizon’s Innovation Centers right here; we’re hoping to get a similar look at AT&T’s lairs when time allows.

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Toyota’s Smart Insect concept EV packs Kinect motion sensor, voice recognition (video)

Toyota's Smart Insect concept EV packs Kinect motion sensor, voice recognition video

Toyota is showing off its new Smart Insect prototype at the company’s CEATEC booth. The fully electric car charges via a standard 100-volt AC outlet, and it’s decked out with gull-wing doors and motion detection courtesy of Microsoft’s Kinect. The on-board motion sensors allow the car to recognize its owner based on face and body shape, and it predicts the owner’s behavior by analyzing movement and determining when to open the door, for example. (It also allows for the front and rear displays to show a welcome message when the owner approaches the car.) There’s also voice recognition for opening the car door and other functions, with a speaker on the hood of the car and dashboard-mounted “dialogue monitors” on the front and back.

The tech carries through to the Insect’s interior, which sports a wireless charging pad, a dash-mounted monitor that connects to the driver’s handset and a button for dialing up Toyota’s virtual agent. As a connected car, the Insect naturally ties in with entertainment and navigation services (in this case, via Toyota’s Smart Center). There’s also integration with a home energy management system, which allows the owner to adjust air conditioning and lock the front door via a smartphone app. As this is a proof of concept — and one we couldn’t test out, at that — it’s unclear how well these features work, and it’s unlikely that we’ll ever see the prototype make it to market. Still, it’s fun to dream, and you can do that by tuning into our hands-on video just past the break.

Continue reading Toyota’s Smart Insect concept EV packs Kinect motion sensor, voice recognition (video)

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Toyota’s Smart Insect concept EV packs Kinect motion sensor, voice recognition (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 05:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft job posting hints at Connected Car strategy: Azure, Kinect and WP8

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Redmond seems to have more grandiose ideas for Connected Car than it’s let on before, judging from a recent help wanted ad on its site. Reading more like PR for its car-based plans, the job notice waxes poetically about using “the full power of the Microsoft ecosystem” in an upcoming auto platform with tech such as Kinect, Azure, Windows 8 and Windows Phone. Those products would use face-tracking, speech and gestures to learn your driving habits and safely guide or entertain you on the road, according to the software engineer listing. It also hints that everything would be tied together using Azure’s cloud platform, so that your favorite music or shortcuts would follow you around, even if you’re not piloting your own rig. All that makes its original Connected Car plans from 2009 seem a bit laughable — check the original video for yourself after the break.

Continue reading Microsoft job posting hints at Connected Car strategy: Azure, Kinect and WP8

Microsoft job posting hints at Connected Car strategy: Azure, Kinect and WP8 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jun 2012 12:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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