Archive: Business & Technology

It was a Sunday and I was driving home from southern Virginia.  I have a bad back and it was a bad back day that Sunday, so I relied on cruise control so that I could move my legs around to relieve the pain.  The problem was that Subarus inexplicably disable cruise control when the check engine light is on.  Mine was on because I had lost my gas cap.  Even though I had replaced it, the light remained on -- all day!  It wasn't until I got to Horseheads that the bloody thing finally reset and by then the pain was excruciating.

That's what got me interested in pre-ordering an Automatic -- a dongle that plugs into your car's computer and sends data to your iPhone.  Because the Automatic would have the capability of resetting your check engine light without having to go to a dealership (Subaru dealers are closed on Sundays).

Pre-ordering prospective products has become all the rage on Web sites like Kickstarter.com, where entrepreneurs solicit donations that will fund their latest, greatest product ideas.  I pre-ordered my Automatic on Amazon in March.  They were promising shipment for iPhone users in May and a bit later for the Android crowd.  May came and went.  Then it was delayed.  Then it was delayed... It finally showed up in my mailbox last weekend.

I gather this is an issue with ordering prospective products -- I am still waiting for my Lockitron to show up.  That's a device that can lock and unlock your front door using your smart phone, which I pre-ordered in October.  Delivery has been postponed multiple times, with the last promise for the end of last month.  While I have recieved countless chirpy emails telling me all about the manufacturing process in China and what has been causing shipping delays, I'm still waiting.

I have to say that because of the very long time between the originally promised shipping date and actual delivery, some of the shine of anticipation had worn off.  Then it was exacerbated by the fact that my wife had my car out of town last weekend when the device finally arrived.  But early Monday morning I was in my car, oblivious to a rainstorm, installing the Automatic on my car and in the app on my phone.

In a way the delays continue, because the Automatic iPhone app is in Beta (beta testing is when an almost finished piece of software is widely tested prior to the final release version).  However, even this beta version turns out to be a full featured app that is working as advertised.

I may never have to use the feature that most attracted me to the Automatic.  But if I do the app will tell me exactly what triggered the Check Engine light so I don't have to pay a mechanic to diagnose the problem.  It reports the On Board Diagnostics-II (OBD-II) code as well as giving an explanation of the problem in English.  And it will display a button to reset the light.

While the Check Engine feature is the main draw for me, the Automatic has two other major features.  It monitors your driving and provides hints and statistics on how you may improve to get better gas mileage, plus it helps you find your car when you forget where you parked.

The monitoring feature includes beeps when you accelerate or brake too fast, or exceed 70 miles per hour.  I lived with the beeps for two or three days but then turned them off.  When you turn off of my road you are driving into a dangerous curve on a state road where people frequently exceed the 55mph speed limit.  If you don't accelerate fast you run the risk of getting clobbered by a truck zipping around the curve and you certainly don't also need to be beeped at.  On the other hand I could feel myself anticipating the beeps and trying to avoid them as I drove arount town those few days.  So I see the value of the beeps.  They're just not for me.


The part I do like is the reporting piece.  The app keeps a record of each trip providing information like the length of the trip, your miles per gallon, and how much that trip cost in gasoline.  It tells you how many times you accelerated or braked too fast or exceeded 70mph (so far I haven't done THAT on the streets of Lansing!).  And it shows a map of your route.  It also displays a weekly aggregate of these statistics.  Good information, especially with gas prices so high.

The app is supposed to be activated when you turn on your car, meaning every trip you take will be recorded if you have your phone with you.  This works sometimes.  Evidently an issue with iOS 6 is preventing the app from automatically starting unless it is already 'running' on your phone, meaning that if you double-click the Start button the Automatic icon is one of the ones you see at the bottom of the screen.  When it is already running the app activation has worked every time for me.  That doesn't mean the app is the one filling the screen, just that it is among those that are running.  Then when you load the app onto your screen all the data is there.  The company says that improvements in iOS 7 will fix this so the app will start itself even if it isn't running.

When you turn your car off Automatic puts a marker on its map showing where you left it.  You use GPS location service -- that wavering circle that pops into existance to show where you are -- on your phone to see where you currently are, and follow the map back to your car.

As the app is in beta testing I have already sent my first email report to the Automatic team.  They are very responsive, and seem genuinely grateful for performance reports and suggestions.  I had trouble at first making a bluetooth connection between the dongle and my phone.  Not only did my beta report get an almost instant response, but shortly after I also received email from a tech support person with a solution (that worked, by the way).

I am already making a list of new features I want to suggest.  I would love it if the app could unlock my car, and I would like to see better real-time messages during a trip instead of the spinning gear and a vague reference telling me that I am driving, which I already know I am doing.  Although I will admit it's a bad idea to be looking at your phone while you're driving.

I would also like to see the app given the capability to print or save reports in PDF format and possibly in a format that allows you to manipulate your data on a spreadsheet or some other program.

But for now so far, so good.  I typically make little jumps within Lansing, so I have a bunch of little trips collected that don't exceed a few miles at most.  But I'll be making that trip to Virginia again at the end of this month, and am looking forward to seeing what my Automatic will do.  Especially if I lose my gas cap again!

v9i33