According to the National Safety Council, at least 28 percent of all car accidents in the United States last year included drivers using cellular devices. Cell phones when driving have become a hot topic of contention for lawmakers, police force and the public alike. While many call for more legislation, Ford might be focusing on a friendlier solution with its new experimental OpenXC platform for vehicles.
Accessible with apps from android
OpenXC - an open-source connectivity research platform developed by Ford and New York City-based Bug Labs - employs a small hardware component installed in the automobile that reads and translates data from the on board network. That info then is accessible for use in Android applications. With it, developers will be able to devise applications allowing drivers to send emails, get directions and who-knows-what other tasks without taking his or her eyes off the road.
T.J. Giuli, an engineer with Ford's Infotronics Research and Advanced Engineering team, said:
"With OpenXC, we want to enable anybody to write for the platform. It's based on Android, but it's easier to use. It's open-source software from the beginning. OpenXC is in private beta right now. When we do release publicly, the entire source base will be open."
Accessibility for programmers
Programmers will get a chance to create the apps for OpenXC as it will be available to them quicker.
Giuli reported that the technology grew out of a previous system, which was tested in a competition:
"OpenXC is a platform that's grown out of several ideas we've been looking at for research for a while. We did a previous platform with similar ideas: You could write code that ran on your car, and we partnered with Microsoft and the University of Michigan, and teams designed applications and had a competition. We took a lot of the things we learned from that platform and applied them to OpenXC."
Different economies
Ford thinks countries with unknown industry needs and emerging economies will like the platform better. This contains corporations such as India.
Venkatesh Prasad is the Ford Research and innovation senior technical director. He explained:
"India is such a unique and diverse marketplace that -- as an automaker -- it's almost impossible for us to keep pace with consumer trends. With OpenXC, Ford is opening up access to the car. By enabling local and independent developers to easily and quickly create apps using data provided by the car in combination with mobile connectivity and the power of the cloud, the possibilities are almost limitless."
Already sending kits
The first OpenXC toolkits have already been sent to MIT, Stanford, the University of Michigan and other private developers. There are a lot of various possibilities that can come from these platforms as the developers work on it.
There is no definite word on when the platform will be made accessible in consumer automobiles. But Giuli suggests it could emerge as soon as this year.
Accessible with apps from android
OpenXC - an open-source connectivity research platform developed by Ford and New York City-based Bug Labs - employs a small hardware component installed in the automobile that reads and translates data from the on board network. That info then is accessible for use in Android applications. With it, developers will be able to devise applications allowing drivers to send emails, get directions and who-knows-what other tasks without taking his or her eyes off the road.
T.J. Giuli, an engineer with Ford's Infotronics Research and Advanced Engineering team, said:
"With OpenXC, we want to enable anybody to write for the platform. It's based on Android, but it's easier to use. It's open-source software from the beginning. OpenXC is in private beta right now. When we do release publicly, the entire source base will be open."
Accessibility for programmers
Programmers will get a chance to create the apps for OpenXC as it will be available to them quicker.
Giuli reported that the technology grew out of a previous system, which was tested in a competition:
"OpenXC is a platform that's grown out of several ideas we've been looking at for research for a while. We did a previous platform with similar ideas: You could write code that ran on your car, and we partnered with Microsoft and the University of Michigan, and teams designed applications and had a competition. We took a lot of the things we learned from that platform and applied them to OpenXC."
Different economies
Ford thinks countries with unknown industry needs and emerging economies will like the platform better. This contains corporations such as India.
Venkatesh Prasad is the Ford Research and innovation senior technical director. He explained:
"India is such a unique and diverse marketplace that -- as an automaker -- it's almost impossible for us to keep pace with consumer trends. With OpenXC, Ford is opening up access to the car. By enabling local and independent developers to easily and quickly create apps using data provided by the car in combination with mobile connectivity and the power of the cloud, the possibilities are almost limitless."
Already sending kits
The first OpenXC toolkits have already been sent to MIT, Stanford, the University of Michigan and other private developers. There are a lot of various possibilities that can come from these platforms as the developers work on it.
There is no definite word on when the platform will be made accessible in consumer automobiles. But Giuli suggests it could emerge as soon as this year.
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