SW/Firmware: Model S Apps

[vfx]

“We want people to develop car-specific applications,” Musk told the audience during his keynote. “And text-to-speech technology can address some of the issues with driver distraction.”

Tesla Model S Will Support Third-Party Apps On Its Massive 17-inch Touchscreen

Let's see. Full battery and charge info, a Ipad/phone/android app converter, a timelapse recorder for any Model S cameras, weather, voice recording, and a Post it note feature to start.

 

[AnOutsider]

I'd love to be able to tinker with my car more than just switching codes on and off on the OBDII -- just as long as there's some serious firewalling of core components...

 

[jkirkebo]

Let's see. Full battery and charge info, a Ipad/phone/android app converter, a timelapse recorder for any Model S cameras, weather, voice recording, and a Post it note feature to start.

An automatic video recorder app and a front camera would actually be very nice, you could use it to document accidents that were not your fault.

 

[mpt]

...were not your fault.

And an erase button for everything else :biggrin:

 

[jcstp]

An automatic video recorder app and a front camera would actually be very nice, you could use it to document accidents that were not your fault.

like a blackbox in airplanes

 

[vfx]

Useless fun Model S screen App.

 

[tdelta1000]

Wow... what a smart move! Allowing third party developers to help improve the product offering and garner more press for the hottest yet released product of 2012.

Mr. Musk, there are a few things that will be needed: the programming language of the infotainment system, the must have(s) with any third party design and the turnaround time on any third party development.

 

[vfx]

Wow... what a smart move! Allowing third party developers to help improve the product offering and garner more press for the hottest yet released product of 2012.

Mr. Musk, there are a few things that will be needed: the programming language of the infotainment system, the must have(s) with any third party design and the turnaround time on any third party development.

That's a good point. Unless they are working in secret with outside companies (they clearly have connections.)working on apps already they need to put it out there to facilitate a simultaneousness car/outside app release.

 

[ljbad4life]

Wow... what a smart move! Allowing third party developers to help improve the product offering and garner more press for the hottest yet released product of 2012.

Mr. Musk, there are a few things that will be needed: the programming language of the infotainment system, the must have(s) with any third party design and the turnaround time on any third party development.

I've read that the infotainment system will be powered by android. So essentially any android dev could get their app up and running. Tesla will of course have their own stricter standard of compliance but nothing devs can't work with.

 

[vfx]

Steampunk App

 

[AnOutsider]

I've read that the infotainment system will be powered by android. So essentially any android dev could get their app up and running. Tesla will of course have their own stricter standard of compliance but nothing devs can't work with.

Source on that?

 

[EV_de]

the prototype system was running on "Roundarch’s Merapi Project" :

The Tesla Model S – Touch-Screen User Experience is Powered by Roundarch’s Merapi Project

Link

i started a thread, to say that it will be grate IF TeslaMotors would use Android (Honeycomb) ...

... but the latest news (end 2009) say that the "merapi-guys" still working for Tesla ....
.
Edit. ... no evidence on the Roundarch’s Blogs ... if they are still working for TM, they are realy reserved ...

 

[KBF]

Steampunk App

A steampunk 'skin' for the 17" display would be really neat. AFAIK custom themes wouldn't be that difficult to make and the possibilities are endless...

 

[mnx]

I hope Trapster gets ported fairly quickly for the Model S. One of my fave iphone driving apps.

 

[T@oo]

Lcars

This one for me, please.

 

[doug]

I hope Trapster gets ported fairly quickly for the Model S. One of my fave iphone driving apps.

I spoke with the CEO of Trapster a couple years ago. At the time he said the number of iPhone users was dwarfed by the number of people that just used the basic SMS text-based service, but that it was important to have an iPhone app for the publicity and the cool factor. (The whole concept of phone apps was still just catching on with the public and thus generated a lot of buzz.) We spoke about the Model S for a while and he said he'd be very interested in developing an app for it even if the user base was small. So you may get your wish.

On a related note, I thought this was interesting:
Cobra iRadar detection system for Android hands-on -- Engadget

It's basically some radar detector hardware that's then controlled via your smart phone and integrates the phone's gps and cloud connectivity for some Trapster like features. In the video, the guy says info about speed traps is updated daily, but I'd think with a cloud connection it could be up updated instantaneously with other devices automatically reporting in.

 

[TEG]

 

[de704]

An automatic video recorder app and a front camera would actually be very nice, you could use it to document accidents that were not your fault.

What about a app that would alow you to remotly turn on a HD camera that points at the driver and pasengers and automaticaly streams the video feed to ustream. It would also show the stream in the infotainment screen after a 60 second delay with the words YOUR BUSTED! written across it.

This would be useful if some one tries to steal your car.

 

[tdelta1000]

If the "S" has internet connectivity. I think an app that allows control of the a/c and the hvac system while allowing the occupants to access email and gps information together would be cool.

 

[MitchL]

Reviving this old thread instead of generating a new one...

I've asked the folks at the Santana Row dealership a few times about user-written apps. I'm super interested in this, and there's some hope that there will be an SDK or other developer toolkit available eventually (so I'm told).

Some of the apps I'd like to see (or write):

- Access to home automation systems (turn on the lights, heat, hot tub, etc.) from the road.
- Home security system control (view cameras, etc.)


You could imagine all sorts of things:
- "outbound" apps: From the console to some external device, system, or service
- "inbound" apps: deliver information or services _to_ the car from the outside
- "local" apps: manipulate information or peripherals already onboard the car.

Depending on how nice the SDK is, being able to write software to talk to peripherals plugged into the car's USB ports could be interesting.

I'm told that the user interface panel is completely separate from the drivetrain control (one would hope), so runaway apps or crashes should not disable the vehicle. Still, I'd be curious about how much access Tesla will provide for app writers, whether there will be any vetting of apps (like Apple does), or wide open for developers (Android, etc.).

Time will tell, it's going to be interesting!

/Mitch.