Ford releases OpenXC Platform. Hack your Focus!

[JessicaTi]

OpenXC has been released, open-source hardware and software is now available.

http://openxcplatform.com/


I can think of a few cool ideas, especially using the 3G connectivity.

[Sponsor]

[Bliky]

Very cool. Of course it works only with Android so from what I can tell us iPhone guys are SOL. Still, very neat that this exists and that it's an official ford thing. Some cool things could come out of this.

[suss6052]

This is sort of old news, they had announced this a while ago, but its still very cool. But they won't sell the can bus reader/ decoder as an assembled unit only telling you to buy the parts and wire it up yourself. That is an issue.

[JessicaTi]

Originally Posted by suss6052

This is sort of old news, they had announced this a while ago, but its still very cool. But they won't sell the can bus reader/ decoder as an assembled unit only telling you to buy the parts and wire it up yourself. That is an issue.

You're thinking of the beta toolkits that went to certain developers, mainly at Universities last year. This is the post beta that's now open to all and was released today at CES.


Ford Launches the OpenXC Program at CES 2013
January 10, 2013

http://www.geeknewscentral.com/tag/openxc-platform/

Today, January 10 Ford announced the launch of the OpenXC Program at CES 2013. OpenXC is an API to your car. It works off a small hardware module which reads and translate information from a car’s internal network.

OpenXC is a joint venture between Ford Motor Company and Bug Labs. What makes this program different from other existing programs is it is open-source and is built with the hobbyist and independent developer in mind. It runs on a combination of Arduino and Android platforms. The code to get started will be released on Github and the Ford team will be monitoring Google Groups to answer any questions.

[vinay427]

Sounds pretty great! Anyone know if this works if I just have the MyFord system rather than MFT?

[WackyWRZ]

Originally Posted by vinay427

Sounds pretty great! Anyone know if this works if I just have the MyFord system rather than MFT?

Since it uses the OBD2 port and reads the CAN bus, the radio / infotainment system should be irrelevant. It looks to me similar to a glorified (and much cheaper) snap-on or otc scanner.

It says that it passively listens to traffic on the CAN bus... I wonder if it will ever be able to transmit, I didn't see much info on this on the site.

[memphiscbrider]

Originally Posted by vinay427

Sounds pretty great! Anyone know if this works if I just have the MyFord system rather than MFT?

Saw it work myself at the show in Vegas. Don't know if it's stuck on just the mft system. But that's what ford was using at the show was mft and sync system

[JessicaTi]

Originally Posted by vinay427

Sounds pretty great! Anyone know if this works if I just have the MyFord system rather than MFT?

This will work with both MFT and non-MFT equipped Foci, and other Ford models.

"An up-to-date list of exactly which OpenXC messages are supported by each vehicle is maintained as a Google Spreadsheet.

The firmware for all supported Ford vehicles is currently available to anyone who signs this developer agreement."

•2011 - 2013 Focus (gas and electric)
•2011 - 2012 Fusion (gas and hybrid)
•2011 - 2012 Fiesta
•2012 Mustang
•2011 Figo
•2009 F-150
•2011 - 2012 E350
•2008 S-MAX

The firmware for these vehicles is as of yet untested, but should work fine. If you use the CAN translator on one of these vehicles, do let the developers know.

•2006 - 2010, 2013 Fusion
•2006 - 2013 Lincoln MKZ
•2010, 2011, 2013 Mustang
•2011 - 2012 Explorer
•2010 - 2013 F-150
•2009 - 2013 Flex
•2009 - 2013 Lincoln MKT
•2012 Edge
•2012 Lincoln MKX

[gkirk]

Originally Posted by JessicaTi

This will work with both MFT and non-MFT equipped Foci, and other Ford models.

"An up-to-date list of exactly which OpenXC messages are supported by each vehicle is maintained as a Google Spreadsheet.

The firmware for all supported Ford vehicles is currently available to anyone who signs this developer agreement."

•2011 - 2013 Focus (gas and electric)
•2011 - 2012 Fusion (gas and hybrid)
•2011 - 2012 Fiesta
•2012 Mustang
•2011 Figo
•2009 F-150
•2011 - 2012 E350
•2008 S-MAX

The firmware for these vehicles is as of yet untested, but should work fine. If you use the CAN translator on one of these vehicles, do let the developers know.

•2006 - 2010, 2013 Fusion
•2006 - 2013 Lincoln MKZ
•2010, 2011, 2013 Mustang
•2011 - 2012 Explorer
•2010 - 2013 F-150
•2009 - 2013 Flex
•2009 - 2013 Lincoln MKT
•2012 Edge
•2012 Lincoln MKX

Its definitely a start. I can't see that it lets you get much more out of the car than what you can read with your eyes of the instrument panel. It looks like rpm, light statuses, parking brake, pedal % depress, brake % depressed, etc.

I guess they don't want us debugging our DCTs. :\

[peplin]

Hey, this is Chris from the OpenXC team.

WackyWRZ is right - OpenXC is independent of any particular infotainment system since we go straight to the OBD-II port. That includes other OEMs (if they decide to release CAN message definitions or OpenXC firmwares) and really any Ford vehicle. The support vehicles list right now is basically everything we've been able to track down with the limited amoutn of resources we have, but if someone requests a specific Ford car I make it a priority to look it up and add at least tentative support to OpenXC.

gkirk, you're right about most of the data being available through the dashboard visually. The critical difference (and what we're so excited about) is that you can't write a software application that processes your dashboard visually, you need it in some programmatic form.

The topic of the widely available and inexpensive OBD-II scanners came up yesterday in the OpenXC Google Group (https://groups.google.com/forum/?fro...xc/fzkXY_k3wR0) I'd love to add support for these to the Android library so more people can start writing custom apps without investing in hardware. Anyone here with software experience?