AUSTIN, Texas – The makers of Vinli gave out free rides at South by Southwest 2015 to show off their new device that is designed to turn any car into a connected car. We rode along as they demonstrated what the device can do.
Vinli is a communication module that plugs into the on-board diagnostic port to allow Wi-Fi access to vehicles not manufactured with that capability.
In addition to the Wi-Fi access, the device supports many different apps that are made by Vinli and other third-party developers.
Beagle and Lock and Key are Vinli apps. Beagle allows users to monitor a young driver and make sure they are driving safely while Lock and Key is meant to make sure the vehicle does not leave the premises when it is in the hands of parking valets.
Some third-party apps include: Breezometer, which was developed in Israel to monitor air quality; and Motostat, a European app that keeps track of the maintenance performed on the vehicle.
Vinli developers are hoping to have many more third-party developers create apps for their device, and travels all around the world to recruit more of them to build for Vinli.
VP and chief “hacktivist” at Vinli, Blake Burris, thinks the product will be groundbreaking.
“We’re the first to bring an LTE device to market combining Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth … and accelerometer, to put all that in one little package that fits under the hood for $100, we figure there’s going to be a lot of business models where big companies find a way to subsidize this or give it away.”
Vinli developers have teamed with many different companies along the way including Gemalto who made the modules for the device. They’re currently partnering with international carriers to pull distribution through online and offline retail channels.
Kenneth Lowe, device integration manager at Gemalto, is encouraged by the responses he has seen so far. “We’ve been driving around for three days with Vinli and people walk up, they hear about the product, they get a free ride and they leave saying, ‘hey when can I get one of these?’.”
The device works in any vehicle with an OBD port, which became available in most vehicles around 1996.
For more SXSW Interactive coverage, go to RCRWireless.com.
