Vista, Calif. – Directed Electronics has integrated its Viper SmartStart app with the iPhone’s Siri voice-command system, enabling users to start their vehicle and lock or unlock the vehicle’s doors by speaking into their iPhone.
The app is the industry’s first remote-start app to integrate with Siri, the company said.
The 3.0.1 update of the company’s SmartStart app also enables users to launch the app by saying the works “Smart Start.”
Siri integration, however, works only with an iPhone 4S or iPhone 5 using the iOS 6 operating system.
For controlling and tracking vehicles, the app connect via cellular to embedded cellular modems in DEI’s remote-start and security systems. Depending on the compatible car-security or remote-start system from Directed, the SmartStart app remotely starts the car’s engine, locks and unlocks doors, pops the trunk, activates the car’s horn or security-system siren for use as a panic alert or car finder, and receives pushed security alerts. A SmartStart GPS module adds the ability to track a moving vehicle, whose location would appear on a map on the smartphone screen.
The 3.0.1 release also includes several other improvements, including in-app programming of SMS and email notifications and a changed UI that makes it easier to use the app’s SmartFence and HotSpot tracking capabilities.
The Viper SmartStart app originally appeared in 2009. In January, it updated the app with a new user interface, ability to check vehicle status, assignable auxiliary channels, and other features.
