What is Clickdrive?
Clickdrive is the evolution of the On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) adapter - A dedicated, always-on device that installs in seconds to connect you to your car. No, Clickdrive cannot drive your car for you. What it can do, though, is to download driving Apps that provide you with essential information - accessed via a phone, tablet, camera or even a HUD - all at the same time.
What makes Clickdrive special?
There were many limitations with existing OBDII adapters on the market. These adapters act like bridges to your car. Unfortunately, only one App can use that bridge at a time, which really locks down what can be done.
Within a few years, there will be many car-connected Apps to choose from, but there is no use if you can only run one. As these Apps run on your smartphone, things become unfavourable if a critical App monitoring your car stops working just because you answer a call or run out of battery.
Clickdrive doesn't work the same way as regular adapters. Rather than limiting running a single App, Clickdrive allows you to run many apps simultaneously - on the device, on your mobile, on aftermarket displays and on the cloud.
What are the kinds of Apps available?
There have been recent Apps designed to spy on the kids or beep insistently if braking is too hard but this didn't seem like much fun to the people at Clickdrive. The Clickdrive team wanted to do something for the enthusiasts and this explains the following bundle of Apps designed for petrol heads.
Customisable Dashboard - Turn your mobile into a dedicated gauge which not only shows you all the data in the car but also allows you to graph the data historically and create alerts if, for example, your boost peaks too high.
Driving Recorder - Record your track day on your phone's camera with customisable Gran Turismo-style overlays then upload to Youtube to show your mates.
Performance Monitoring - Save expensive trips to the Dyno by recording power curves with the Performance Monitoring App. The data can even be uploaded and shared on Facebook.
Fuel Saver - The FuelSaver App saves you money by allowing you to adjust your driving style or habits so you can minimise fuel consumption.
Blackbox Data Recorder - In the event of an unfortunate accident, the Blackbox data recorder provides valuable, accurate driving information that can be used as evidence.
Besides the performance bundle, there are also other Apps such as Breakdown assist, Clicktrack and Carprotect. People have started to realise that car-hacking is becoming a real possibility and that is why the Clickdrive team has built another first - a firewall into the device to protect your car from hackers or malicious Apps.
More importantly, the Clickdrive team is not just focused on its own Apps. The team has made connecting to cars simpler and faster and will publish its Open API which allows developers to use its free SDK to create more car-connected Apps and share.
Now, here's the deal. Clickdrive is currently in the prototype stage and needs some support to begin mass production. If you're interested, visit here for more information and to be a part of the innovation.
