Ford's New Custom Model Is An App Toolkit

OpenXC vehicle open source hardware and software platform and toolkits for custom apps

Ford has launched its OpenXC vehicle application research platform. Described as a combination of open source hardware and software for developers to build vehicle-centric custom applications and pluggable modules, standard (and well-known) tools will be available to the programmers who use it.

The launch of OpenXC is in fact the second developer platform to be offered by Ford alongside the wider Ford Developer Program, which has made the SYNC AppLink API available for the creation of smartphone apps that can be controlled inside the car using your voice.

While AppLink is available in Ford vehicles now, the company positions OpenXC as "focused on the future" as an open-source hardware and software platform. Ford is hoping to "unleash" the power of the open-source hacker community to explore what can be done with vehicle data...