IoT on Wheels OBD-II Device from Samsung

Samsung has released the Samsung Connect Auto – a quick and easy IoT upgrade device for your vehicle

Image Source Samsung

The Samsung Connect Auto is a smart OBD-II Socket interface device.

Pretty much every car built since 1996 has been fitted with an OBD-II port, which allows access to the vehicle's On-board Diagnostics system (OBD). We will go into the OBD in further detail below.

Image Source Wikipedia

This device is powered by the OBD-II Port (Pin 16 is 12/24v and Pin 4 is Chassis Ground). It provides a 4G LTE Hotspot for up to 10 devices in the vehicle.

This does mean that this product is sold via cellular network providers such as AT&T in the USA so it use the Samsung Connect Auto, you would need an accompanying cellular data package.

As an always-on WI-FI, 4G LTE is very handy, even if it is just to keep the kids entertained during long journeys. This is a fully connected internet device that is plugged directly into your car's CAN bus network. It has the option to do so much more than just leech power.

The Connect Auto comes with an Android app that gathers and interprets the data from the car's CAN bus network. The first and most obvious use of this is to check error codes given by the vehicle, which Samsung calls the “Virtual Mechanic” feature.

This can be very useful for avoiding large service bills and knowing about the health of your car. 

Each of the EOBD fault codes consists of five characters: a letter, followed by four numbers. The letter refers to the system being interrogated e.g. Pxxxx would refer to the powertrain system. The next character would be a 0 if complied to the EOBD standard. So it should look like P0xxx.

The next character would refer to the sub system:

• P00xx – Fuel and air metering and auxiliary emission controls.
• P01xx – Fuel and air metering.
• P02xx – Fuel and air metering (injector circuit).
• P03xx – Ignition system or misfire.
• P04xx – Auxiliary emissions controls.
• P05xx – Vehicle speed controls and idle control system.
• P06xx – Computer output circuit.
• P07xx – Transmission.
• P08xx – Transmission.

The following two characters would refer to the individual fault within each subsystem.

Bluetooth OBD-II port scanners have been on the market for a few years now, and checking error codes is usually where the functionality ends, but the Auto Connect does this and more… much, much, more.

The next trick in this little box is security. The app allows you to get notifications if:

• Your vehicle exists a definable geo-fence,
• Moved unexpectedly without your phone being present
• If someone unplugs the OBD-II device.

Another core security feature, mirrored by Samsung’s other mobile devices, is the “Find my Vehicle” feature that allows you to pinpoint your vehicle's last known GPS coordinates on a map.

I feel this feature will be used less when a car has been stolen and more when you cannot remember where you parked your car after a particularly rough trip to Ikea. 

Fuel Economy and driver style are the next values to be crunched over in the Samsung cloud servers. They track metrics and events such as:

• Hard acceleration events
• Hard breaking events
• Hard Cornering events
• Time spend Over 100Km/h

These recorded events plus fuel consumption all add up to your Driver Score. The better the score, the more efficient and safer you are as a driver.

The app gives you this feedback to help you improve your fuel efficiency, get more miles out of your tyres and brake pads.

As someone with a heavy foot I would probably not like what the app has to say about my driving style.

Samsung hopes to make connections with insurance companies and make this device a “black box” for driving, reporting good and bad behaviour to your insurance company so they can teak your insurance fees.

The last trick in this under dash box of wonders is its ability to track:

• Journey Details
• Hours driving
• Fuel Costs

These could, presumably, be output to help claiming mileage back on business trips or tracking other drivers of your car.

This device is a polished end IoT on Wheels product with built in connection to the CAN bus network of sensors feeding to Samsung’s Cloud platform, which then displays this data concisely in an app with Google maps integration and a sleek intuitive user interface.

The theme of IoT on Wheels Design Challenge is to improve our vehicles with IoT connectivity, whether it be our cars, bikes, motorcycles, scooters or skateboards.

They get us to work, school, or offer a speedy way to visit a friend or just have some fun. But even though we love our WHEELS, they could be safer, smarter, or more efficient. That’s the goal of the element14 ‘IoT on Wheels’ Design Challenge with STMicroelectronics.

Integrate the low-cost  NUCLEO-L476RG Development Board from STMicroelectronics into your project for the chance to win a prize package worth up to $1800.

The IoT on Wheels Design Challenge will choose 10 sponsored challengers to receive a Challenger Kit for FREE, but anyone can join the Challenge as a non-sponsored Challenger.
Here's how: Simply get the low-cost NUCLEO-L476RG and integrate it into your project, as well as post 10 blogs about your design journey in the IoT on Wheels space (tagging your blogs 'IoT on Wheels').

The deadline for project submissions is 13th November.

To be eligible to win some fantastic prizes, including a Segway MiniPRO – a hands-free two-wheel electric scooter – you must blog at least 10 times on the Community detailing your project build.

All Challengers must build their projects in accordance with the Challenge's terms and conditions. All projects must include theNUCLEO-L476RG.