Automatic’s dongle plugs into a car OBD-II port, pairs with a
companion app, and provides feedback to drivers in the form of 8-bit
chirps that make even a simple grocery run feel a bit like a game of
Spy Hunter. In a new partnership with
IFTTT,
almost any car manufactured since 1996 can be connected to one of 82
web services—Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, SMS, among others—and
triggered when the ignition is started, a trip is completed, the car
reaches a specific destination, or even when the check engine light
comes on.
“Your car is the most expensive computer you’re ever going to buy,
and its not even connected to the internet,” says Automatic Chief
Product Officer Ljuba Miljkovic. “It could be so much more useful to you
if it was connected.”
The car won’t drive itself, but these mashups, or “recipes” in
IFTTT’s parlance, could chip away at many of life’s little frustrations.