I sent an email to their support team asking if they had plans to open source their apps and they said, "there are no plans".
Thank you for doing that. I really wish they did open source their apps also.
Automatic (Car Adapter) Shutting Down
71–80 of 95 posts
Re: Automatic (Car Adapter) Shutting Down
#72Just buy the Torque Pro app for $5 and buy a cheap OBD2 Bluetooth adapter to go with it. No subscription needed. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.prowl.torq...
That only replaces the "vehicle data inspection" use cases, not the other use cases such as "call me when my vehicle is crashed by my kid".
Re: Automatic (Car Adapter) Shutting Down
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
According to their App Store description: > We no longer recommend using the Automatic car adapter due to reliability issues. Do you happen to know if this is real or just a CYA? I'd pay $10 to extend the life of my adapter, but not if I needed to buy another device anyway.
Former VP Eng @ Automatic here :( There is an auth component needed for that BT connectivity to work - once the token expires, the BT connection won't authenticate anymore. i.e. if you uninstall the BT apps, change phone etc...
Oh that really sucks. I have an older one (Gen 1 I think) that a friend gave me when he upgraded. I don't really make much use of it but it was nice being able to see basic OBD codes the one time my car was acting up and the check engine light was on. Helped me figure out the likely issue before even taking it to the mechanic (saving time spent having them figure out the issue).
I could surely get a different BT ODB reader but I already have this one.
Re: Automatic (Car Adapter) Shutting Down
#74I sent an email to their support team asking if they had plans to open source their apps and they said, "there are no plans".
What a shame, it was a nice piece of hardware that could have had a few more years of life.
Re: Automatic (Car Adapter) Shutting Down
#75This really sucks. I have two Automatics, and they are just awesome. I've already used them to diagnose car issues, and tracking is great.
Luckily I got a lot of use out of them, but definitely said to see them go.
Re: Automatic (Car Adapter) Shutting Down
#76> With fewer consumers purchasing and leasing vehicles and drivers on the road, we unfortunately do not see a path forward for our business. Said like nobody will ever drive cars again. I'm perplexed at how quickly these businesses are deciding to fold.
I think it's a cop out. Sirius XM purchased them and then pivoted to rental car fleets. Guess that didn't work out, so blaming the Covid economy is an easy way out.
I was nervous Sirius would shut them down. Guess my worry was not misplaced.
Re: Automatic (Car Adapter) Shutting Down
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
What did they make? Their site doesn't have any info on their products.
an ODB port device, which connects with bluetooth to your phone. It records how gas-efficient your driving is, as well as beeping when you go over 80 mph or have a hard break. It tried to gamify your driving behavior to be more efficient and safe. And I think it was effective but from the start it's been tied to the cloud. At the start they'd send weekly reports of driving behavior, congratulating or saying what coul…
That's the first version. The second and third versions connected directly over the cell networks. The second version allowed third party apps over bluetooth. The third version removed that feature.
Re: Automatic (Car Adapter) Shutting Down
#78This sucks. I use Automatic to track business miles. Is there a good alternative that's not phone based?
Re: Automatic (Car Adapter) Shutting Down
#79If anyone has a device they’d like to sell, please contact me (in bio). [EDIT] Thank you to the wonderful hackers who reached out to me. I think that I am all set now.
If you manage to hack this, let me know (retiring VP Eng here)! The latest device contains a custom ASIC with hardware security :)
Wow, an ASIC is a big step! I'm impressed you needed to hit that level of (cost down, I assume?). Or was it to get better HW security, perhaps to use it for billing?
Anyway, I had an original Bluetooth Automatic until I upgraded to a Pro when it was launched. I love them! Sorry to hear this is the end.
Re: Automatic (Car Adapter) Shutting Down
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you manage to hack this, let me know (retiring VP Eng here)! The latest device contains a custom ASIC with hardware security :)
Wow, an ASIC is a big step! I'm impressed you needed to hit that level of (cost down, I assume?). Or was it to get better HW security, perhaps to use it for billing? Anyway, I had an original Bluetooth Automatic until I upgraded to a Pro when it was launched. I love them! Sorry to hear this is the end.
Vehicle compatibility was really the key - building a cross bar that allowed any pin to be mapped for any function (i.e. CAN on any combo of pins). We included a hardware protocol decoder and a ton of electrical safety items as well as security and reliability tools. 200MHz processor, 2MB flash and 256kB of ram in a single QFN package. A great project to work on! One career highlight for sure.