Automatic Labs, which began selling a device in 2013 that gives drivers real-time feedback on their driving habits, took a page from Apple’s playbook Tuesday by launching its own connected car platform for app developers.
About 20 third-party apps now work with the Automatic Labs device, including one that turns your mobile phone into a dash cam. The more apps that become available, the more useful its main product becomes, says the company.
“Our model is an app store for your car,” said co-founder and CEO Thejo Kote.
Automatic Labs is one of several startups promoting a small device that plugs into the on-board computer diagnostic ports of cars sold since 1996. The original Automatic, linked to a smartphone app, was designed to tell drivers how their accelerating and braking habits affected gasoline consumption and what problems a “check engine” lamp signals.
But the device, like a fitness tracker, only had limited appeal once drivers learned more about their driving habits. And the company is facing growing competition for connected car technology from car manufacturers and tech giants like Apple and Google.
So Automatic, hoping drivers will find more lasting uses for its $100 product, is launching a more robust version of the module, along with a gallery store of nifty apps.
“The connected car is not just about your car, it’s about everything else in your life,” Kote said.
The third-party apps include one for the Google-owned Nest smart home thermostat. The app can be set to signal the driver’s home heating and air conditioning system to switch on when the car’s engine starts.
And during a recent demonstration, Kote drove down Mission Street in San Francisco to show how the car’s diagnostic system automatically reports mileage in business expense software apps like Concur or Expensify.
Another app, UnMooch, can calculate how much each passenger needs to pay to split the cost of gas during a trip.
“Automatic is no longer just a Fitbit for your car,” said Ljuba Miljkovic, Automatic’s head of product marketing.
©2015 the San Francisco Chronicle, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
