Can you tell me your opinion? OBD-II monitoring device

Ryan_Mitty

Hello Guys,
I’m a member of the tech startup team and I really need your advice.
Imagine that you need an OBD-II tracker for your car, which features do you want to find there?
Would you be surprised to know that this Black box is based on Android and you can monitor current speed, fuel level and many more?

And do you want this device to be able to send you a notification if a car gets into an accident so you could see a 3D model of a moving car at the moment of the accident?

dar83

First thing I need to ask is the actual purpose of the item. Is it a tracker first and foremost in the commonly used sense of the word? (i.e. a tracking device for vehicle security). Or do you mean a data logger, so your meaning of tracking is of the ECU and running data?

Answering that may remove the potential confusion to follow below.

If you are talking about car data and its uses, then you need to look at Torque Pro as your barometer. They pretty much have the market sewn up for this and you need to at least provide at minimum what they do as well as including your own unique features to make your App worthwhile.

What purpose would the 3D moving car model have? Would it be able to show instant diagnostics as to what elements of the car may have been affected in the accident? What other purpose would it serve, as it doesn't instantly jump out as anything very useful whatsoever if it's just a 3D model for the sake of it...

Ferris

The Torque android app does this already. http://torque-bhp.com/wiki/Main_Page

Also Dash Command on iOS.

Edit - didn't read Dar83's post.

Ryan_Mitty

dar83 wrote: »

First thing I need to ask is the actual purpose of the item. Is it a tracker first and foremost in the commonly used sense of the word? (i.e. a tracking device for vehicle security). Or do you mean a data logger, so your meaning of tracking is of the ECU and running data?

Answering that may remove the potential confusion to follow below.

If you are talking about car data and its uses, then you need to look at Torque Pro as your barometer. They pretty much have the market sewn up for this and you need to at least provide at minimum what they do as well as including your own unique features to make your App worthwhile.

What purpose would the 3D moving car model have? Would it be able to show instant diagnostics as to what elements of the car may have been affected in the accident? What other purpose would it serve, as it doesn't instantly jump out as anything very useful whatsoever if it's just a 3D model for the sake of it...

Hi! Thanks for you answer. The device isn't just an ordinary tracker. It combines lot of functions, which can help people in their everyday life.
Of course you can determine the current location of the car, you can read error codes of the car, and you can receive different notification about driver's behaviour (i.e. hard acceleration, hard breaking). And of course you can receive the notification about the accident.
When you leave the car, the device turns on the sensor and starts guarding the interior space of your car. If the sensor detects any movement, you will instantly get a notification.

So this is a tracking device for vehicle security and even more.

I can write a lot about this device, because we have a lot of functions. And moreover you can add some functions if you can. You can add your software and use it like you want. And we will be on Kickstarter very soon.

kirving

I don't see the need for the 3D model, whatsoever, and I say that as someone who developed a telemetry system for a Formula Student car from scratch which could record a load of parameters from the car including individual wheel speeds, steering angle, acceleration and braking g-forces, vibration, chassis strain, suspension movement. etc.

It seems as though you want this device to do everything. I would say focus on a particular aspect of it, and do that we'll, rather than being a tracker, alarm unit, crash notifier, 3D model display, data logger, diagnosic device, etc.

In terms of diagnostics, the manufacturers will point blank refuse to give you any more data than is contained on the existing obd-2 specifications for free, which only really allow the AA to make a quick check. So the options there are limited - as Torque already is.

The next level of access is not given to startups, is very tightly controlled, and will cost you.