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We've gathered in a converted warehouse in San Francisco's trendy South of Market neighborhood, home to some of biggest names in tech. Sitting at long work benches, we bend over small circuit boards with soldering guns, attaching chips and transistors while trying not to singe ourselves—or the electronics.
It may not look like it, but we're developing car apps, and we're starting from scratch. TJ Giuli and Sudipto Aich, two researchers from Ford Motor Company's Silicon Valley Lab, are showing me and a roomful of software developers how to use OpenXC, an open-source (Linux-based) platform created by Ford for developing in-dash software.
Melissa RiofrioTo build a car app, first you must create an instrument gauge. Grab a soldering gun and get started.
OpenXC is meant purely "for rapid prototyping and do-it-yourself exploration," Giuli says. Unlike the SYNC infotainment platform in Ford cars, which has its own API and app development process, OpenXC is designed to encourage developers to experiment with car apps that Ford itself would never dare imagine. According to Giuli, Ford needed to "create a system that allows individuals to do something completely different than we ever would have thought of, or intended to do."
The individuals at the workshop have intentions, all right. They pepper Aich and Giuli with questions about how far OpenXC could push into the car.
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