Karma to Go

It’s been years since I first thought about how great it would be if we could use the data inside a car’s computer to improve our driving experience. Everything seems to be falling into place nicely – more powerful phones, more open carriers and operating systems, and a slick little bluetooth device that actually gets you linked into your car’s network.

Check out our new product, MotoCarma…

Without smartphones, this wouldn’t have been possible. Smartphones are now powerful enough to do 5 things at once (maybe 6 or more – you get the idea). They can communicate with your vehicles over a bluetooth connection, report engine failures, send emails with your driving statistics – all at the same time while you are talking on speakerphone. Talk about multitasking!

That multitasking is possible, in part, because of the processing power. The other part responsible for this is the Operating System, Windows Mobile. In addition to multitasking abilities, WinMo has changed the mobile phone world by providing an open-platform that runs 3^rd party applications. It also allows apps to run in the background unlike some OS’s which really made our unique application possible. Another bonus is that WinMo has many, many different phones to choose from. There are a few carriers that are still making it tough to run applications that they don’t sell or authorize in some manner (Verizon comes to mind first).

And the final piece to the puzzle is the OBD networking devices. We found a great one, OBDKey from KBM Systems in the UK. It’s wireless, low-cost, low-powered and works flawlessly on all cars from 1996 to present – there may be an exception but I don’t know of one.

Put it all together and we think MotoCarma is an amazing tool for monitoring your engine’s operating efficiency and your vehicle’s general state of health. And with an almost free smartphone, why not?