5/05/2010

Can the QNX virtual mechanic help automakers restore consumer confidence?

A few months ago, I provided a guided tour of the virtual mechanic, a feature of the QNX CAR application platform and the LTE Connected Car.

Despite its name, the virtual mechanic can't fix your car. But it will tell you if a problem exists and show you where it exists. Better yet, it can provide the location of the nearest service station and tell you how to get there. All of which gives it an A+ in the convenience department.

Still, there is a bigger picture I hadn’t considered when I published my blog post back in November. And that’s because the bigger picture didn’t exist yet. Since then, the world has witnessed a large number of vehicle recalls and a huge number of headlines about said recalls — headlines that, in my opinion, tend to overinflate the problem.

Enter Roger Lanctot. An automotive analyst at Strategy Analytics, Roger believes that the virtual mechanic isn’t just a convenience, but an idea whose time has come. An idea that can improve customer relations for automakers by providing customers with realtime information on the health of their vehicles.

For Roger, only one question remains: Which automaker will be first to roll out a virtual mechanic in their product lineup? To read his blog post, click here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would like OBDII codes translated in the cloud to plain english and sent back to me along with the power to clear the OBDII buffer.

"code 123: your gas cap is not tight.
reset code 123? Y/N"

Paul N. Leroux said...

Yes, that'd be cool! Wondering: are evap codes for gas tanks granular enough to do this? I got a code once, so we tried replacing the cap, assuming that is why the tank wouldn't pressurize. Turns out that the filler pipe was starting to rust out. Mind you, this was in a 2001 vehicle...