Good Afternoon,

I came across an advertisement for: Automatic - Your Smart Driving Assistant. It plugs into the OBD Port on the car and feeds data to an iPhone. I do not own the device or work for the company that is making or selling them. This is in no way an advertisement.

It got me to thinking - what other information is maintained within the OBD computer? Could it also give me the ability to lock/unlock doors? See if doors are locked or unlocked? Remote start? etc.

Anyone know what kind of functionality is built into an x350 onboard computer system? Looks like right now it will have mileage/mpg info as well as diagnostic check engine light info.

Eric

 

There is a great deal of information floating around the car's computers, gathering sensor data, using it in other car systems, but there isn't many programs that affordably gives owners like us access to them. Autoenginuity can get about 10x as much as a cheap, or freebie OBD program, but if you want all the goodies, including the ability to turn on/off dealer only options like global closing, alarm options, mirror dipping, etc...get yourself a drew technologies mongoose cable and find a SDD/WDS program with passwords - that's what the dealer techs use.

 

I don't really have a desire to do all that, but was more or less interested in what kind of stuff our onboard computers were being used for? I think the Automatic is an interesting concept combining mapping data with in-vehicle information to become a more efficient driver.

 

I don't own automatic, but the website mostly claims features you get with a smartphone or navi anyway.
The OBD2-feature doesn't seem to be directly linked to the other features, it's just a plain OBD2-reader to get the standard codes for the engine.
Suspension, gearbox and entertainment is likely to be missed on this one.

 

If your thinking about the possibility of finding and using some independent app. that might work with your smart phone to do some of the things that your coded key already does I'd forget it. The remote key is capable of doing what it does because of the transponder that it carries is specifically linked by programming special individualized codes to the specific vehicle that you own and nothing else. I doubt that you will ever find such a transponder enabled phone that would have the ability to bypass the security given by the remote key.

 

Yes, I agree. It's an interesting concept though - being able to plug into the car's computer system and being able to read data that was typically left for mechanics, technicians and those few do-it-yourselfers with code readers.

As a normal consumer, I have no idea what kind of data my car collects in the OBD or what kind of functionality it holds. I understand some of this functionality can only be accessed by technicians, but I don't even know what there is - it's the old I don't know what I don't know problem. I guess that is where I was going with my original post.

Since reading the forum, I understand the global lock/unlock is maintained there and the side mirror dipping in reverse, but not sure of much else.

 

You are not going to get any two-way communication through the diagnostic port unless you use Jaguar's software. All these apps do is read data. I've used Torque for Android for a year or two, and I can read intake temp, boost, horsepower (computed,) coolant temp, get 0-60 and 1/4 miles times, and about 50 other things in realtime.

GM has an app for some of their vehicles that works with the OnStar system and it does allow you to do things like unlock the doors. It also reads fuel level, tire pressure, and things like that. It requires a subscription as well as a subscription to OnStar.

 

Certainly in USA they will restrict our ability to do things the Government Safety police think is unsafe. Such as Global closing, you can't put up your windows up remotely, the thief in the car, stealing your stuff, might not have his arms clear.

 

I've been reading OBD, CANbus and SCP messages. These are the digital buses/protocols used in the X350 next to the glass fiber D2B.

OBD is a clearly defined protocol used for reading all emission related information, mainly engine and transmission. CANbus is the fastest protocol used for exchanging information between engine, transmission, ABS and similar fast reacting systems. CANbus protocol is also pretty clearly defined so you can find plenty of information on it but you have to find the specific messages Jaguar uses. The SCP protocol is used for most convenience stuff but this protocol is not very open and therefore it's difficult to decode.

Guus

 

That's not right as a window hitting an obstruction will stop, but in any case global close is quite slow so any thief would have plenty of time to get their arm out.