Control Your Car With iPod Touch and Make James Bond Jealous

[Blowfeld]

Alessondra Springmann

Mar 23, 2010 6:06 pm

video http://blip.tv/play/hKN7gc3AGAI

Master car hacker Dave Phipps has been modifying cars for over a quarter of a century, doing everything from tweaking stereos to rebuilding classic rides. His latest project is a 1969 Pontiac GTO convertible--the ultimate American muscle car--that has been completely restored and rewired to include automatic windows and doors, a wireless network, and voice control via Bluetooth. Phipp's latest hack? An app running on his iPod Touch that lets Phipps manipulate every subsystem of his car from across the parking lot.

How does Phipps do all this? The first step was to give the GTO its own wireless network, which he accomplished by hooking up a Linksys router that broadcasts a Wi-Fi signal to his iPod Touch.

Hooked up to the router is a RedEye base station, which is typically used for turning your iPhone or iPod into universal remote for your home theater system. In the GTO, the RedEye is connected to the car's various electronic systems, as well as numerous servos and other controllers. On the iPod Touch, RedEye's macro functionality comes into play, with an "all down" button that rolls down all the windows and opens the top.

The best part about this awesome car mod? According to Jalopnik, "there isn't a unique circuit board anywhere in the car."

If you wanted to pimp your ride like Phipps did and weren't amped about mucking about with circuit board design software, you'd just need to be adept at wiring your vehicle and writing software. Phipps, Jalopnik reports, is about to get fancy with his iPodiac GTOuch: next on his list is "a USB-tunable electronic fuel injection system" for the V8 engine, as well as a head-up display on the windshield.

What would you like to see in a car remote control? A Tomorrow Never Dies -esque steering pad and rocket-launcher control built into your phone?

This story can be found at http://www.pcworld.com/article/192198/h ... alous.html

[katied]

Those wireless things don't always work;I was watching a episode of Top Gear where one of the cars' bluetooth was going haywire.

[Blowfeld]

Those wireless things don't always work;I was watching a episode of Top Gear where one of the cars' bluetooth was going haywire.

What else can we expect from those buffoons , the hamster, May and the incredulous Mr. Clarkson. Wasn't Claskson in GE driving the DB5?

[katied]

^ wouldn't know-I've only watched part of one episode- and FWIW we watched it because it's my 14-year-old nephew's favorite show.

[Dr. No]

Cool! James Bond had this back in 1997, cutting edge. Nice while it lasted.