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title: OpenXC
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            <h1>The OpenXC Platform</h1>
            <p>
                OpenXC is a combination of open source hardware and software that
                lets you extend your vehicle with custom applications and
                pluggable modules. It uses standard, well-known tools to open up
                a wealth of data from the vehicle to developers.
            </p>

            <p>
                <a class="btn btn-primary btn-large"
                    href="/getting-started/index.html">Get Started</a>
                <a class="btn btn-inverse btn-large"
                    href="/vehicle-interface/output-format.html">See the Data</a>
                <!-- <a class="btn btn btn-large" -->
                    <!-- href="https://github.com/openxc/openxc-android"> -->
                        <!-- Download the Android Library</a> -->
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                <h2>What is OpenXC?</h2>
                <p>
                    OpenXC is an API to your car - by installing a small
                    hardware module to read and translate metrics from a car's
                    internal network, the data becomes accessible from most
                    Android applications using the OpenXC library. You can start
                    making vehicle-aware applications that have better
                    interfaces based on context, can minimize distraction while
                    driving, are integrated with other connected services, and
                    can offer you more insight into your car's operation.
                </p>

                <p>
                    Ford Motor Company and
                    <a href="http://www.buglabs.net/ford-buglabs">Bug Labs</a>
                    joined up to create a standard way of creating aftermarket
                    software and hardware for vehicles. Every new car is full of
                    computers and electronics, and there is growing interest in
                    connecting the output from those systems to third-party
                    applications and the web. Many companies are already
                    offering tools to hook into the driver's interface, but for
                    the most part they have limited availability for hobbyists
                    and developers. What if the system was designed from the
                    ground up to be open source and to give insight into the
                    vehicle itself? With proper hardware isolation to ensure you
                    can't "brick" your $20,000 investment in a car, OpenXC
                    imagines when your car is as easy to program as your
                    smartphone.
                </p>

                <p>
                    Today's version of OpenXC runs on a combination of the
                    <a href="http://arduino.cc">Arduino</a> and
                    <a href="http://developer.android.com">Android</a>
                    platforms. It uses tools you already know and opens up
                    thousands of possibilities.
                </p>

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                <h2>Personalized Fuel Efficiency Challenge</h2>

                <p>
                    On March 27th, Ford launched a <a
                            href="http://ford.challengepost.com/">challenge</a>
                    to engage the developer community in creating innovative
                    apps on top of the OpenXC platform with the
                    goal of helping drivers better understand and improve their
                    personal fuel efficiency.
                </p>

                <p>
                    Don't miss the new <a
                            href="https://github.com/openxc/trace-analyzer">open
                        source</a> <a
                                href="http://openxcplatform.com/trace-analyzer/">web-based
                            visualizer</a> for OpenXC vehicle data, too.
                </p>

                <h2>What can it do?</h2>

                <p>
                    Plug the OpenXC vehicle interface into your car and from
                    Android, you can read data from the vehicle in real-time
                    like the steering wheel angle, GPS position, and vehicle
                    speed. Right now, OpenXC supports over a dozen different
                    measurements on a growing list of Ford vehicles.
                </p>

                <p>
                    A simple start is to take advantage of the GPS antenna on
                    the roof of the car to improve the accuracy of your location
                    aware application. Or get creative - why not generate a
                    digital painting based on your steering wheel movements over
                    the course of a day, and upload it directly to the web? No
                    single company can think of all possibilities for
                    applications, and that's why OpenXC gives the freedom of
                    experimentation to developers.
                </p>

                <h2>How can I write OpenXC applications?</h2>

                <p>
                    You can get started right away without any hardware - check out
                    the <a href="/getting-started/index.html">tutorial</a> to
                    begin. When you're ready to test
                    in a vehicle you'll need to buy or build the
                    <a href="/vehicle-interface/index.html">vehicle interface</a>
                    and make sure you have a compatible
                    <a href="/android/index.html">Android device</a>.
                    </p>

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