SAN FRANCISCO – Voyomotive LLC, engineers of the world’s most advanced connected car technology, announce the Kickstarter launch of VOYO, a revolutionary quick-install controller and optional relays that change the way consumers interact with their cars. Available first to the backers of its Kickstarter campaign VOYO can retrofit almost any car built since 1996 into a “smart car” to improve safety, convenience and fuel efficiency.
Although modern cars feature dozens of computers generating gigabytes of data, there has not yet been a solution that fully leverages this data – until now. In just two minutes, car owners can connect VOYO hardware and begin using a suite of apps that will change how they interact with their cars. VOYO is the Internet of Things solution that provides actionable, useful information for consumers. Additionally, VOYO will “future proof” existing cars, enabling them to technologically stay up to date with the most recent models.
“After-market connected car devices have yet to realize the full potential of automotive IoT,” said Peter Yorke, CEO and founder, Voyomotive. “Current products on the market only track a small number of available vehicle parameters at a very slow rate which significantly limits their usefulness. VOYO can collect 100x the amount of information from a much wider selection of vehicle data and process it at a dramatically faster speed that enables a powerful suite of apps.”
VOYO’s features include:
- Autokey – Automatically locks or unlocks the car doors based on the phone’s proximity.
- Immobilization – A security feature that requires the cell phone be in the car during certain time periods set by the driver.
- Vehicle Network – Tracks multiple vehicles from a single dashboard screen. Shows location, engine status (on/off), malfunctions and reports alerts on driver behavior such as speeding, swerving and hard braking for every vehicle in the network.
- Trip Logger – Shows trips by day, week, month or year for each vehicle in the Network. Data includes per trip information on mileage, driving time, gas used, CO2 produced and savings from EcoStart.
- Aware Alerts – VOYO uses its data acquisition capabilities with the power of crowdsourcing to detect and report dangerous driving conditions. Similar to Waze but without the potential driver distraction, alerts are sent to the Voyomotive Cloud and then posted to the phone app. Alerts are based on vehicle swerving, use of stability control, ABS, hazardous weather, etc.
- Advanced Diagnostics – Most OBD-II units are equivalent to a $20 tool that read generic error codes taken from a few of the car’s computers. By contrast, VOYO can read manufacturers’ error codes from all computers on millions of vehicles. VOYO provides detailed information on the problem, frequently before the ‘check engine’ light comes on.
- EcoStart – The world’s first aftermarket, plug and play, Start/Stop system, and the only system that allows the driver to turn the engine of a stopped vehicle on/off using the footbrake. VOYO crowdsources intersection stop times, which are displayed in the app, to inform drivers where to save the most fuel.
- Gamification – Award pop-up screens for gas saving, CO2 reduction, money saved and safe driving can be shared by drivers on social media, and are reported both for individual as well all drivers in a given city, state or country.
- Privacy – VOYO gives users absolute control over their privacy settings including whether or not to share data with other drivers and the Voyomotive Cloud or even select a data “kill switch”. Users can also delete select data from the app and the Cloud. To further assure privacy, data held on the Voyomotive Cloud is anonymized and obfuscated.
- Security – VOYO uses Advanced Encryption System (AES) 256 at every level of the system. Voyomotive is working with one of the world’s most secure network services to further ensure data security and user privacy.
“If a consumer wanted to add all of the functionalities provided by the VOYO to their car individually on their own, it would cost well over $2,000,” adds Yorke. “The VOYO provides all of these functionalities at approximately one-tenth of the cost, and will continue to expand on these capabilities.”
The first VOYO units will ship by February 2016 with approximately 2,000 Kickstarter backers having access to the first production models. A limited number of VOYOs with Voyomotive relays will be made available for Toyota, GM and Ford vehicles. Voyomotive plans a full US product launch in Q2 2016 with plans to expand into international markets in the second half of 2016.
Voyomotive represents the best of Silicon Valley innovation and Detroit automotive engineering. Bringing a combined background in scientific research, venture capital and start-ups, co-founders Peter Yorke and Harald Ekman teamed up with automotive visionary Robert Vogt, now Voyomotive’s CTO, who is a leading developer of diagnostic equipment for the automotive industry. In addition, Voyomotive has partnered with frogVentures™, the investment arm of global design and strategy firm, frog, who provided branding and industrial design expertise to VOYO’s exterior design, packaging and identity.
“We chose to partner with, and invest behind the founders of Voyomotive because of the depth of their experience and the unparalleled opportunities presented by the technology they’ve developed,” said Ethan Imboden, Head of Venture Design at frog. “Our work together has resulted in a clean, functional and iconic design that is in harmony with the vehicle, while suggesting the depth of capability of the full suite of Voyomotive solutions.”
Additionally, Voyomotive will be making a VOYO API available to the developer community. The API will provide data on up to 100 operating variables, enabling groundbreaking apps that deliver an entirely new Internet of Things experience.
For more information check out the Kickstarter or Voyomotive’s website at www.http://www.getvoyo.com/.
About Voyomotive
Voyomotive’s automotive technologies increase vehicle safety, security, fuel efficiency and driving fun. With headquarters based in San Francisco and an R&D facility in Ypsilanti, Michigan, Voyomotive is developing a line of proprietary hardware, software and cloud based services that can be connected to a vehicle in minutes with no technical skills required. The Voyo product line focuses on consumer applications. The Passport line will provide hardware and software to fleets comprised of passenger vehicles to heavy duty trucks. Both systems support Voyomotive relays that can be optionally used for additional security and fuel saving features.
About frog
frog is a global design and strategy firm. We transform businesses at scale by creating systems of brand, product and service that deliver a distinctly better experience.
We strive to touch hearts and move markets. Our passion is to transform ideas into realities. We partner with clients to anticipate the future, evolve organizations and advance the human experience.
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