Seems interesting. I bought a Hybrid Hyundai Sonata, which is a much different beast than a Prius, drives almost like a normal car. I like the idea of route logging and all that stuff. I don't like that it docks you for driving over 70 mph. Here in TX the 2 lane farm-to-market road I drive to work is 70 mph, and the main highway by my house is 75 mph, so I drive over 70 mph very often.
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Hands-On with the 'Automatic' Connected Driving Assistant System
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The hangup with previous ODB dongles for iOS was that you either had to jailbreak your device (because Apple wouldn't approve apps that used Bluetooth to connect to these devices) or the dongle used an awkward special-purpose WiFi network, meaning you had to disconnect from your other networks to communicate with the thing. Has Apple loosened up or did they figure out a workaround?
The other complaints about these devices is that, unless they include batteries and/or on/off switches, they're draining the car's battery every second they're connected while parked. Yes, that parasitic current draw DOES add up.
The other complaints about these devices is that, unless they include batteries and/or on/off switches, they're draining the car's battery every second they're connected while parked. Yes, that parasitic current draw DOES add up.
See my earlier post: the Automatic Link uses Bluetooth and the app requires Location Services to be turned on in order for it to "wake up" properly.
Not sure about the battery thing. I do know that the Link is only on when the car is on, so I'm pretty sure it turns off.
My Prius already gives me basically all this info. Just not quite broken down as much but I really don't want to get into that much. I just want it to give me the basics. It would be interesting to put it in my wife's Honda civic though and compare our cars.
I do like the "Hands On" review. More Macrumors!
I do like the "Hands On" review. More Macrumors!
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Is the OBDII port always hot, or is it switched with the ignition? I was under the impression it''s switched, since the Ultra-Gauge in my FJ automatically turns off when I turn the car off. Plus I think it'd take a long time for that little bit of draw to drain your battery to the point where your car won't start.
A truegeek would see right past the fancy Score here. This is literally useless.
My current OBD2 wifi controller which connects to Enginelink on my iPhone, actually checks the MAF sensor and the throttle Sensors and give you a MUCH more accurate reading for everything this does.
My current OBD2 wifi controller which connects to Enginelink on my iPhone, actually checks the MAF sensor and the throttle Sensors and give you a MUCH more accurate reading for everything this does.
Do you know why Automatic uses Location Services to create a geofence when you aren't driving? Is it so it knows when you are far away from your car? I don't get what it's doing at that point? I see why a geofence is useful if you want Reminders to tell you to get milk when you leave work, but I'm not sure what Automatic is doing with it.Beta Tester here.
So the article pretty much sums up how this aims to save you money: by making you drive slower.
In short, if you tend to drive in the passing lane for the majority of your commute, like I do (or used to), the little device's benefits become immediately apparent. I'm getting a full quarter tank more than I was before.
The software works very well- or it used to up until two updates ago at the start of August that has rendered my app useless. As for the device itself, it works regardless of whether you're connected or not, and the beeps are pretty unobtrusive, so I've still been able to benefit from the fuel savings. The parking location feature is nice as well.
My largest gripe with the Automatic is that it requires Location Services to be turned on at all times. I hope they find a workaround for this (they do explain the reasoning for this on their forums), because it does cause a significant battery drain even while you are not driving. The cure for this is to simply disable the Location Services for Automatic when not driving in the Settings -> Privacy menu.
All in all, I'm glad I have this device. It's not for everyone, but for me not having to fill up twice a week two times has already caused the Automatic to pay for itself. Very satisfied.
Inconsistent
I've actually had one of these for about a week and just yanked it out of my car last night. The problem is its just way too inconsistent to be of any use. It randomly decides that any acceleration between 2 - 3.5k RPM is a hard acceleration and sometimes anything other than the softest stop is a hard brake. It also doesn't recognize grades, even though its linked to a smartphone with its own accelerometer and gyroscope, leading to additional false positives on hills, of which there are many in San Francisco.
If the only way to get a good score on this thing is to drive slower than my mother, than everyone should save themselves the $70, at least until they push some updates so it works in the real world.
I've actually had one of these for about a week and just yanked it out of my car last night. The problem is its just way too inconsistent to be of any use. It randomly decides that any acceleration between 2 - 3.5k RPM is a hard acceleration and sometimes anything other than the softest stop is a hard brake. It also doesn't recognize grades, even though its linked to a smartphone with its own accelerometer and gyroscope, leading to additional false positives on hills, of which there are many in San Francisco.
If the only way to get a good score on this thing is to drive slower than my mother, than everyone should save themselves the $70, at least until they push some updates so it works in the real world.
^^This. First thing that came to my mind is dang now I cant get this cool accessory because the government will know I am always going over 70mph...
Second how does the system account for a manual gearbox as opposed to auto? My accelerations in either direction will certainly be more severe than someone with only two pedals on the floor...
This is like the Nest thermostat for your car.
Thing is, this has potential to be really cool with a few huge updates to the app. Right now there's almost no interactivity between you and the Automatic gizmo. It just does what it does, you get a readout, and that's it. It's be really cool to be able to label or categorize trips for different kinds of reporting so you could figure out things like "I spend $x in work commuting this week, $y on running errands, and $z on social activities." You could do this now, it'd just be really manual.
Also, Automatic could be the best thing ever for people who can write off milage if you could tag certain drives as work-related then automagically send a report you could email (or print I guess) to your company for reimbursement. There's lots of cool potential here, but right now it feels very, very version 0.x
This seems like a solution in search of a problem. I don't need to pay $70 to know that I regularly drive like a moron and could save some gas if I drove like my dead grandmother instead.
on thing i use mine for (got it a few weeks ago) is great way to to log milage for meeting clients, the app straight tells how much it costs from point A to point B
This is not innovative in anyway, shape or form.
The only thing new is that now an iPhone will connect to a special BT OBDII dongle.
I have a $20 dongle and an app on my in car tablet (Nexus 7) that does quite a bit more.
It tells me readiness for SMOG based on sensor and drive cycle.
I can read any sensor that is on the CAN bus and in real time no less.
I don't need to connect to a central server to tell that I'm driving fast or whatever.
It might be cool because it has never been on an iPhone, but the same+ has existed in the Android world for several years.
The only thing new is that now an iPhone will connect to a special BT OBDII dongle.
I have a $20 dongle and an app on my in car tablet (Nexus 7) that does quite a bit more.
It tells me readiness for SMOG based on sensor and drive cycle.
I can read any sensor that is on the CAN bus and in real time no less.
I don't need to connect to a central server to tell that I'm driving fast or whatever.
It might be cool because it has never been on an iPhone, but the same+ has existed in the Android world for several years.
Interesting gadget
I like the idea of tracking this kind of information that I can later use/analyze for my own purposes, even if that purpose is mere curiosity.
Fortunately, there are alternatives (for some cars, anyway). My 2012 Civic has a mileage gauge which shows the car's instantaneous MPG while driving (I assume it's based on data from the fuel injection system, but I'm not certain of that.) The car also tracks cumulative MPG via the trip odometer - I use one to measure MPG on a per-tank basis (it auto-resets whenever I fill the tank) and the other to measure individual trips. These two serve me very well for helping me driving in a way that maximizes fuel economy, when I choose to do so, and I don't need to buy any extra hardware or have an app running on my phone.
I like the idea of tracking this kind of information that I can later use/analyze for my own purposes, even if that purpose is mere curiosity.
Fortunately, there are alternatives (for some cars, anyway). My 2012 Civic has a mileage gauge which shows the car's instantaneous MPG while driving (I assume it's based on data from the fuel injection system, but I'm not certain of that.) The car also tracks cumulative MPG via the trip odometer - I use one to measure MPG on a per-tank basis (it auto-resets whenever I fill the tank) and the other to measure individual trips. These two serve me very well for helping me driving in a way that maximizes fuel economy, when I choose to do so, and I don't need to buy any extra hardware or have an app running on my phone.
Assistant?
They need to make the actual driver for those that can't. Like us poor people who can't.
They need to make the actual driver for those that can't. Like us poor people who can't.
I could not agree more, my new BMW and my wife's Denali both do this stuff built in from factory.
Yawn, I just wanna drive my vehicle, I could care less about accelerating to harshly ect...
Total bust
Yawn, I just wanna drive my vehicle, I could care less about accelerating to harshly ect...
Total bust
How to say this politely....
What a piece of...no, that won't work.
Do I give a ...ah...darn if the piece of...er...junk thinks I accelerated too hard? And by whose standards...some dork sitting behind a computer who thinks driving is about going nice and slow (probably in the left lane) in their automatic shift, never-go-over-the-speed-limit, boring piece of...junk...car?
All that other ...ah...stuff (aside from the find your car thing), is useless and silly ca-ca, fit for folks for whom driving is a data gathering chore.
Of course, I'm just speaking for myself, and perhaps a few other people who enjoy driving and have gone to the bother of actually learning how to drive well.
I've been doing this and a lot more for years using a $9 BT OBD-II dongle and a jailbroken iPhone. Forget paying that much for less functionality.
Geek charts always go to 9000, and anything that is off the charts is over 9000.
Same here in Arizona. Many of our roads are 75, and you'll get run over doing anything lower than 80 if you aren't a semi.
Waiting for mine to arrive
As a small business owner who does a lot of driving, I can't wait for mine to show up just so I can have automatic logging of all my miles. No more need to log things for the IRS. And I have had great feedback from the company. I pre-ordered but never got a confirmation email. I emailed support and after a couple of emails back and forth, they located my order and got me at the appropriate place on their que.
As a small business owner who does a lot of driving, I can't wait for mine to show up just so I can have automatic logging of all my miles. No more need to log things for the IRS. And I have had great feedback from the company. I pre-ordered but never got a confirmation email. I emailed support and after a couple of emails back and forth, they located my order and got me at the appropriate place on their que.
Forget this geek stuff... I just want to spy on my kid...
Speed, brake rates, some gps... any kid over 18 driving a parent's car is going to have to make up a new story...
Speed, brake rates, some gps... any kid over 18 driving a parent's car is going to have to make up a new story...
$70 is too much for this, it's a great device and i was super excited about it after reading the description but this high price is a deal breaker for me.