Appirion's iDriver app lets iPhone control minivan (video)
By Darren Murph 
posted Oct 14th 2009 4:04PM
posted Oct 14th 2009 4:04PM
[Via Engadget German]
Please note: If you're a current Engadget commenter, you do not need to re-register. Simply login and you will be prompted to select a username.
James Bond already did it.
haha true
not from an iPod/iPhone. For that we need to go to Dr. Horrible, who had an iPhone app that controlled a vehicle (or at least tried to until Capt. Hammer broke it)
Plus, James Bond had to use a touchpad to control his car, which isn't as natural as an accelerometer for it.
if James Bond had the "reliability" of AT&T's 3G network, he'd have to go back and beat Q with the remote for all the collateral damage and failed missions.
You forgot that before beating Q, he'd tell him, "there's a whap for that."
Bond did it with a Ericsson phone. That's why he's 007.
Dr. Horrible did it also, but he had that little can thingy on the top of the van.
"I stopped the van, the remote control was in my hand!"
Ugh - I fail at reading the previous comment by The Angry Intern. My bad.
As did Dr. Horrible in Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog.
Now all we need is for it to be completely bulletproof.
Mr. Bean did it (2:30)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zavsd6etz_Q
Meh, they already did this with a Sony Ericcson and a BMW 750 iL (well it was for James Bond)
doing it on a minivan is LAME! i'd like to control a ferrari f430 with a remote, that would be sweeet!
now that's just not safe
Yeah God forbid you get a phone call while using this.
I feel this is one instance when multi-tasking on the iphone would be a bad thing. Thanks AT&T and Apple for looking out for our safety!
Now can you make it go at more than one speed?
My thought too, need to add a throttle bar to adjust the amount of force on the accelerator. Probably a hard brake button as well for safety.
Pretty impressive! Wonder if by 2020 we will see something like this, kind of scary for consumers...
In the year 2000.....
Yah the minute this is available for your average consumer I will telecommute to work, use SimonDelivers for grocery shopping, rent all my movies online, and pretty much never leave my bunker until the world is a burn out husk as the last driver slams headfirst into the last gas station.
The controls are pretty horrible. A game controller like the xbox 360 wireless controller would be WAY better. Or even use the PS3 controller because it has bluetooth and could easily interface with a smartphone to relay it to WiFi.
What? Precision control? What is this buffoonery you speak of?
Don't you realize you're talking to a bunch of people who think Natal is the next coming of Christ for videogames.
Precision controls, and tactile feedback, be damned.
agreed, the finer control of a remote control with actual joysticks beats this anyday...
They should have used the ipod touch. Not that the inputs are different or anything, but the ipod touch is a great gaming device.
The iPhone has cachet. People secretly (and ridiculously) wait to see this pop up in the store.
The PSP controllers would fell a hell of a lot more safe for me, but I don't mind the d-pad. After all, if I can drive the Nurburgring at 150 mph with PSP controls, that ought to be good enough. Which means, of course, that the old NES's controller is good enough too.
They should have sliders for the gas and the brake, and whenever the brake is engaged the gas automatically goes to zero and vice versa.
Yeah this seems pretty pointless. I race nitro R/C cars and we have WAY better controls for those vehicles. They should have used a high end hobby controller like an Airtronics M11 or Futaba 4pk. Even the older M8's or 3pk's are very good and are relatively cheap these days. They use a proprietary 2.4gHz encrypted signal, much more reliable than wifi
Tim: It's not about the quality...it's about teh iPhoen!
Smartphone, keep kidding yourself!
Sorry, not starting a war here. I've owned one for 2+ years now. I don't know if I'd call it that or not. But why even use the adjective? Everyone heard of the iPhone by now. No need to start a way to improve ratings.
@Peter Funt above.
Bluetooth might have significantly worse connectionrange ;)
I guess we won't hear about suicide bombers anymore.
On second thought, a human life is far cheaper than your AT&T data plan.
Made me laugh.
Yo Darren, the media slobberfest over Obama began in '04 at Kerry's DNC... wayyy before '06. Check your facts, fool.
Sad, but so true.
I like the porn music in the video
music is great!! look up the band YELLO ( do you remember Ferris Bueller's Day Off - oh yeah song - same band)
but yea its good music!!
I'm fine with you disagreeing with his ideas and policies, but I really don't think it can be denied that Obama is a pretty smart guy, especially when compared with Bush.
Compass augmented reality apps n now this!
So can n900 bb htc motorila Sony do this?
Crickest!
Exactly. It's called consumer electronics decision making purchase envy!
Sick dude.
Yep, they all could. With exactly the same process to accomplish it. Oh and cool that you're finally enjoying augmented reality apps, I've kinda gotten over them since they first started appearing for the G1 about 11 months ago.
"Motorilla" Is that Motorola + Gorilla
Well anything at this point will help this company...
Sholes and Click please hurry....we won't last much longer
the difference is, apple would decide if a consumer could have this.
the more open platforms would just let you do it
Are you really that illiterate or is it the iphone keyboard?
Doctor Horrible coulda used this.
Haha! That's exactly what I thought about when I read the headline!
I half expected Capt. Hammer to drop down onto the roof of the van. :)
I second that!!!
We're on the fourth idiot in a row right now!
Bush/Clinton/Bush/Obama
There needs to be a way to resurrect Reagan!
You mean the idiot who graduated from Harvard Magna Cum Laude? Must be pretty stupid.
anyone who accepts a nobel peace prize he didn't earn is an idiot. He also believes in global warming...
Too lazy to drive? There's an app for that
HAHA, this made me laugh!
Yea and its gonna be funny to see your car stop in the middle of a highway because of no coverage
"Hello....Who, Jim?....What do you mean he lost coverage right on the tracks?....Damn AT&T."
Hey.... that is my University. I wonder if they will let me give it a go?
yeah....blackberry storm did this forever ago...using a mclaren f1 racer....
@richard: "He also believes in global warming..." As does every single respectable scientist in academia. And every single peer reviewed(only thing that's required to appear in a peer review journal is that the scientific method used is valid and actually proves the point logically) article on the issue. Keep 'em coming, this is hilarious.
If the app crashes....Does the car crash too?
If the designers have any brains, the car comes to a controlled stop as soon as it stops receiving input, or receives invalid input.
I think he meant to say - the guy that won the Nobel Peace Prize by sending more soldiers to Afghanistan.
Idiot or not, the mention of politics or religion usually causes issues. Please refrain from politicizing tech articles Engadget.
that obama joked sucked.
poor relevance
try again engadget
@BillG: Agreed. I was originally typing out a comment saying as much, but then decided pointing out the incredibly flawed statement in his post(regardless of your political beliefs, you can't legitimately say Obama isn't an intelligent man) would be far more effective in preventing such things.
What a lot of people do not realize about Global Warming is that it can cause spikes in cold weather. Global warming upsets to whole climate system therefore moving cold spots around the globe. It does not mean that everywhere gets hotter consistently.
The energy companies have blinded you with false science that was made by paying smart people a lot of money to act stupid.
Future botnets will be scary! O.o
@mark: If we are have been in a state of global warming for 7+ years then why isn't every day a new record high? People argue "oh well in parts of the world this is happening..." Anyone ever looked up the word global? There are 4 seasons per year on earth and people like you with no common sense couldn't fathom that the earth might have heating and cooling seasons as well? Do you forget so easily about how in the late 70's they wanted to put coal on the ice caps? Weird do you think it might be cyclical? Of course you can't look past the word of scientists that are paid to prove global warming in order to get new grant money... This is hilarious you are right. Read 1984 look at the concept of "doublethink" and then you might begin to understand where the "word" of scientists is overriding your simple common sense.
They've began to change their terms to "climate change" pretty soon it will "always have just been climate change" just like chocolate rations can go up from .7 oz to .5 oz... Use your brain if you are still capable...
I wonder if Apple rejected the app for that.
If the iPhone crashes, both crash.
It's a tough call to even mention Obama due to the US's evenly split public opinion of him. Global warming is one of those types of arguments as well, there are theories of a natural climate shift being researched and discussed now. Seemingly identical to those theories and discussions 15 years ago about global warming. So who's to say, its flame war fodder and nothing more.
Is that a wheelchair van?
@richard: That's great, you can use short sighted incidentals to try to show flaws in a scientifically proven phenomenon. One problem with that idea: We're talking yearly averages here, not something that you're going to notice one day and not something that greatly effects the world every single day. The average temperatures are rising at a faster rate than they have in the past several hundred million years(as far back as we can look). You're trying to simplify an incredibly complex phenomenon into something you can see in your everyday life. While you're at it you might at well claim that electron tunneling isn't real because you never see things being able to teleport through walls.
@richard,
Ok, if you don't believe in global warming and ozone depletion go stand in the Florida sun for about an hour w/o sunblock. 10 years ago you'd have a tan. Today they'll find you.... well maybe if the dogs haven't eaten your carcass yet.
Way to chime in with the same comments everyone else has posted before spamming your own site, shithead.
Of course, when you lift the phone to take a call, the van flips over.
Whoops...
Already done with the RX-8.
ahem... no
Iphone is NOT controlling the minivan, instead is send a normal http connection to a server located in the van. The server read such information and send analog signal utilizing a digital to analog interface.
So, it can be done with almost any cellphone that allow a http connection (web service for example).
One thumb on the brake and one on the acceleration pedal? He drives like a grandma.
So April Fools came true??
Want to die in a car wreck? There's an app for that.
don't ya just love fanboys?
All that matters is what is its Nurburgring lap time. Can it join GTR porsche war?? ... hehe
i can see the taliban buying all of apples stock on the iphone now.. car bombs have never been so easy.
Lol'd at the end of this vid.
has no one wondered the about the carnage that would ensue if this thing mysteriously loses wireless connection to the vehicle?! apparently they are unfamiliar with the concept of "coasting" in germany.
Cool Story. This has been done with the Blackberry Storm with a F1 car.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiLoANg6nN
All I can think of when I saw this was Dr. Horribles Sing-a-long Blog. Pops the remote control device (controled via iPhone) on the van containing the wonderflonium.
Imagine having sex in the back of this van, to this music.. and someone else is driving it via iPhone.. good way to get back at your girlfriend/boyfriend if he/she is cheating on you in this car
I wont be happy until I see someone drift with this thing
i can't believe people would call any president stupid. i'd bet money that every president has had an IQ AT LEAST 1 standard deviation above the average. for those who don't know, average IQ is defined to be 100, and 1 standard deviation is defined to be 15. meaning anyone with a 115 IQ is smarter than ~84% of the population. the "study" that started the rumor of W. Bush's IQ was made up:
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/presiq.asp
his actual IQ based on his old SAT scores is 125 or higher:
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=292960
i'm sure Obama is quite smart too.
oh, and Mark:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/california-cool-cars-regs-put-the-kibosh-on-radio-cellphone-an/comments/22299332/
specifically:
“It is a blatant lie put forth in the media that makes it seem there is only a fringe of scientists who don’t buy into anthropogenic global warming.” - U.S Government Atmospheric Scientist Stanley B. Goldenberg of the Hurricane Research Division of NOAA.
so, you're wrong. all credible scientists are not in agreement, and i am not convinced either. even so, i'm all for reducing pollution and energy consumption, more renewable energy sources, etc. let's just be reasonable about it.
richard, while there are plenty of arguments against global warming, yours are quite weak. just because each day isn't progressively warming doesn't mean that there isn't a general trend over years.
I noticed something in the video on how they are accomplishing this:
They're using EMC Mobility's AEVIT drive-by-wire system, normally built for the handicapped. You can just see it in the video with the joystick and wheel in the background at about 1:27. The screen right next to it controls all of the vehicle functions from the wipers to the gearbox. Also note the AEVIT badge on the side of the car at about 1:37.
http://www.emc-digi.com/ is their site showcasing the AEVIT system.
They're simply tapping into that via a few computers, and viola - instant iCar.
Systems like this are a lot easier to deal with instead of, say, tons of motors and actuators in the cabin. AEVIT enables them to, at a whim, disable the whole system and drive it normally without much clutter in the way.
I read this and I say WTF?! I understand that there was disagreement when Al Gore had his movie (which by they way had showed facts that were known for YEARS I remember that in fourth grade we learned about the greenhouse effect and how pollution from cars and aerosols was contributing to it) but since then there had been SO MUCH research that I didn't think that this 10% of scientists who don't believe the facts had a real crowd of believers. it is well known that since the invention of the train and then the cars the state of the earth has been worse each year, statistics show that in 1900 there was one billion people on earth-today there are 7 billion-can you see how the rate is accelerating? this also probably (it hasn't been proved but there are speculations of it) that the increased rate of diseases like cancer, asthma and Alzheimer (and dementia at all) have rised progressively in the last 100 years.
can you really say that there is no global warming? global warming isn't a vhange in temperature-it's a change in the climate.
the problem is out of a certain range wouldnt this be useless? it looked to me as though it was using wifi
the steering servo is well done-the pedal control is so....ghetto
The accelerometer seems pretty inaccurate to me, not at all like the motions he was making at times.
What makes you think Clinton was an idiot? He was one of our best presidents in the past 50 years. Just because he had an affair doesn't take that away. If anything, that makes him smarter to realize how much of a bitch Hilary is.
but why a mini van?
What happens when it hits 88mph?
Be careful people, I heard this deletes you car.
enough with the politics. Let me make this thread civil again:
In related news, Microsoft announces that you will be able to control your next car with a new WinMo device...