Prevent Breakdowns Before They Happen with Carmen Automotive’s Connected Car System

Singapore,
25 August 2016 – Say hello to Carmen, a next-generation Connected Car
System that prevents breakdowns before they happen. Designed and produced by
local start-up, Carmen Automotive, Carmen tracks and stores critical data from
your Engine Control Unit (ECU) and alerts users when it detects an impending
problem.

Aside from alerting users of issues, Carmen gives car
owners access to hidden information, normally accessible only to workshops, and
presents it in a way every car owner can understand. The product is set to
launch in late September, with pre-orders now available on the company’s online
store.

The
Carmen system consists of three parts; a Bluetooth dongle, the app, as well as
the web dashboard that provides users with detailed information of their car’s
performance over time. The connected car system, which connects through your
car’s On Board Diagnostics (OBD) port, pulls the data from your car, before
pushing up the information through a user’s mobile data to their servers, and
then storing and redistributing the updated data to the app and web dashboard.

By
tracking the historical data, Carmen is able to tell car owners how their cars
are meant to perform, growing more intelligent over time.

The
Carmen system tracks the following critical information from your car to help
maintain peace of mind on the road.

1.     Battery
Life

2.     Coolant
Temperature

3.     Fault
Codes

4.     Fuel
Efficiency

5.     Mileage

6.     Tyre
Pressure (Coming Soon)

The
connected car system is a dongle that connects to the car’s OBD port, and pulls
data from your car’s Engine Control Unit (ECU), giving car owners access to
data that would normally not be available to them. Able to store up to a
month’s worth of data, the dongle compresses the data it collects, ensuring
that there are minimal data charges when it pushes your car’s information up to
its servers.

The
dongle is designed to ensure that it consumes as little battery as possible
despite being constantly plugged into the OBD port, only turning active when
the car’s engine is turned on and running.

The
Carmen App, is set to launch on iOS this coming September, with Android users
already able to access the beta version of the app.

By
tracking the historical data of your car, and comparing it against their own
benchmarks, Carmen is able to tell how your car performs in optimal health. The
data is presented not just through numbers, but is also colour coded, allowing
car owners with less technical nous to easily read the data presented to them.
Owners who wish a more detailed report can turn on the advanced function, or
visit the web dashboard where users are presented with historical graphs
denoting the issues that their car is facing.

The
app is also able to send SMS and Email updates to the user whenever an
impending problem is detected, ensuring that car owners are always able to send
their vehicle in before a breakdown occurs.

With
the dongle pulling information from the car’s computer, the app will also alert
you when error codes are detected, allowing you to clear them through the app.

The
web dashboard allows car owners to view in-depth data of their cars over time,
for those seeking detailed reports of their vehicle.

The
web dashboard also allows you to schedule readings, meaning that car owners do
not have to fire up the app once the engine starts, so long as they are in the
car at the scheduled time. This function gives convenience to car owners with a
fixed daily commute, and ensures that car owners need not remember to regularly
upload their data onto the servers during the week.

Carmen
is currently compatible with vehicles of three major brands; Honda, Nissan and
Toyota – which make up 60 percent of the current car owners in Singapore, and
are currently focusing their efforts on expanding their range of compatibility.
With continental brands like Mercedes and BMW in their roadmap, Carmen expects
to see compatibility with 90 percent of road users in Singapore and the region
by Q1 2017.

Carmen
grows more intelligent over time, constantly collecting and storing information
into its server, learning how your car is meant to behave. Aside from that,
users will also be able to enjoy continuous upgrades to its range of services,
with the system soon to include additional functions such as the checking of
tyre pressure to its already impressive range of features.

The
Carmen App is free to download on the Google Play Store and will launch on the
iOS App Store in early September. Users will require a subscription fee on the
2nd year onwards (SGD 39.90) and the accompanying dongle (SGD
$119.90) can be pre-ordered at the online store below.