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Show HN: Google Glass + Tesla Model S = GlassTesla (glasstesla.com)

96 points by sahaskatta ↗ HN
In case you didn't guess, it this app lets Tesla Model S owners interact with their vehicle with Google Glass.

Here's what it can do:

- View vehicle charging status. Start or stop charging via Glass. You can even open the charge port without having to get back into your car.

- Locate your Model S on a map and get directions to it. You can even honk the horns or flash the headlights if you still can't spot it.

- See whether the doors, trunks, or sunroof is open/closed. Of course, you can lock or unlock your car remotely and even control the sunroof too.

- You can view the car's interior and exterior temperatures. With a single tap, you can enable "auto climate" to either cool or heat your vehicle to an optimal temperature remotely.

What do you guys think?

49 comments

[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 44.5 ms ] thread
tchae
This is pretty cool. How many people have both though?
loceng
Probably a lot, if Google buys Tesla.
skriticos2
Google is not a car company. I don't see how that would be good for either of them. A joint venture seems more likely. Money is only part of the equitation and Elon Musk actually want's to change the status quo so we don't suffocate with CO2. Assimilation politics would not further that goal.

A collaboration would be very beneficial for both parties though. Tesla and Google could focus on what they can do best and bring out a product in a joint venture that unifies they're strength sharing the profit.

But maybe I'm naive?

sterlingross
Google may not be a car company, but they are developing self driving cars.
k-mcgrady
They are developing the technology to make car self-driving. They are not developing the cars. They use Toyota Prius and I think some Lexus model too. I could see them partnering with Tesla to make it the first company to use the technology though.
loceng
They are a technology company. I think Google should keep Tesla separate, and with very subtle non-intrusive brand insertion - e.g. "Just a company Google owns" They would collaborate too. Everything you say is true, and no reason that should stop Google from buying them. Especially since Google's getting into self-driving car and Google Glass-technology, etc..
benburleson
Google's not a phone company either, but they sell phones. Why would you not expect them to sell cars when they're obviously dumping so much money into auto technology?
timdorr
Because that auto technology is not meant for users. It's meant for them to get a more accurate and up-to-date street view for Maps. Android is an extremely user-facing technology, and furthers their efforts to control as much of the mobile ecosystem as possible.

Buying Motorola to support their growth in mobile makes sense. Buying a car company to support a side project doesn't make any sense.

nedwin
I would suggest that their self driving car technology is not purely intended for Maps, their goal is for it to be used for industry and by consumers.
gkoberger
Even if it's small, it's still not a bad idea to target a market that clearly has a good amount of disposable income.
btian
Increasing number of people
aclevername
I'd argue the intersection of these sets is a lot higher than you'd expect in the Valley. Mr. Katta may be looking to attract the attention of these people, which are often influential investors or otherwise well connected.
cocoflunchy
After clicking half a dozen times on the arrow, I realized I had to scroll down. I think there's something to do here to make a little more obvious, like actually start scrolling when you click on the arrow, or at least removing the fade effect on the click (otherwise it actually makes me believe that clicking was the expected behavior!)

[edit] I tried again and realized that the fade effect was not triggered by my click, I was just super-synchronized ;)

sahaskatta
Yeah, I'll try to fix that now. Got similar feedback from others too!

Thanks!

kami8845
You can save yourself trying to guess how to navigate a page and simply use page up / page down :) It's also faster that way.
moocow01
Id imagine that Google Glass will fall under the same laws banning cell phones and electronics while driving so Im not so sure how much potential this has besides putting the ability to unlock your car on Glass.
dragonwriter
I imagine it won't, at least, it won't fall under some of the existing laws which specifically prohibit the use of electronic devices that aren't hands-free while driving.
kayoone
But it will be banned eventually. There is a reason why car entertainment systems arent allowed to playback visual media while driving, mobile phone use is banned etc. Its about distracting the driver and as soon as these devices get more popular they will be included in these laws, thats certain.
dragonwriter
> Its about distracting the driver and as soon as these devices get more popular they will be included in these laws, thats certain.

That's usually the stated justification, but in reality what gets banned is pretty much completely unrelated to the empirical evidence as to actual sources of distraction; most places explicitly ban non-hands-free device use, even though, IIRC, studies have shown that hands-free and non-hands-free device use have similar effects on driving ability (and that using a phone, hands free or not, has similar impact on driving ability to carrying on a conversation with a passenger, which is also not banned.)

If there's any justification for the actual bans we see , is that there is an industry wants to sell in-car hands free devices and hands-free add-ons for devices

quackerhacker
I can actually see what you mean and agree with you. I remember some driving law...something about not obstructing a driver's field of vision (which is why it's technically illegal to drive with a handicap placard or even a little tree fresher hanging off your rearview mirror).

It'll really come down to officer judgment, since they can also view it as hands free (like a Bluetooth).

In regards to this app though, it doesn't appear to serve any function while driving, so I can't imagine it being used during driving.

k-mcgrady
Google Glass will probably be banned when driving (and rightly so - it'll also be much easier to catch people using Glass than mobile phones). I think something like Siri is much more likely to take off in cars due the the hands and eyes free ability. It's a nice concept you've made but I can't see it being very useful.

I'm interested to know if you considered this and have a different opinion.

dannyr
Why do you think it's easier to catch people using Glass?

You can operate Google Glass hands-free.

k-mcgrady
Because it's attached to your face and incredibly easy to spot/very noticeable. People can easily text on phones by holding it by their lap out of sight of passing motorists/police.

I know it can be operated hands free but you still have a potentially distracting display.

brandynwhite
The display is only on when you activate it. The alternative isn't glass or nothing, it's glass or what people currently do which is often looking down at their phone for directions. Directions on glass are far less distracting than any other navigation setup I've seen.
thoughtpalette
Because they will be wearing it.
dannyr
But wearing it does not necessarily mean you're using it.
rogerhoward
Holding a phone doesn't mean you're talking, but it's enough to get you a ticket (at least in California).

I live in Long Beach, where TED is held, and I had personal experience with someone using Google Glasses while driving during this years event - I was on my motorcycle a few blocks from the convention center, and I finally pulled over (in heavy traffic) and waited for him to get well away from me before I entered traffic again.

I hope these things are banned from use while driving - it's bad enough trying to stay alive on the roads as it is.

nickpresta
Yes, holding, which takes a hand (or two) off the wheel. Wearing Glass does no such thing.
mayanksinghal
Was he not driving well? Was it the Glass device that is the cause of poor driving, if it was in fact poor driving?
yannisp
Its not illegal to have a Bluetooth headset and have your gps running. What's the difference here?
r00fus
I don't think Glass will be banned from driving, unless evidence mounts that Glass usage has caused increased accident rates (or unless there's a high-profile case that can be used to stir public action against them).

However, if I ran a secured workplace, I'd really think twice about letting my employees or hell, anyone, show up on premises with one. The ability to surreptitiously record everything you see is pretty hard to counter, security-wise... especially when it can save to local disk and transmit later when clear signal is available.

neurotech1
Fighter pilots fly with HUDs and helmet mounted displays quite safely. The reason why texting is so dangerous is because its a heads-down activity.
dchichkov
Yes. But, I don't think fighter pilots often watch YouTube on their HUDs while flying.
mikeash
Flying is a substantially different activity. It's dangerous in its own way, often more dangerous than driving (if you're flying small planes, and probably fighter jets), but very differently so. In driving, a moment's inattention can kill, but as long as you have that taken care of, you're generally fine. In flying, things rarely go wrong with that kind of speed, but if you're not thinking far ahead, you can find yourself screwed.

A simple thought experiment: while cruising, close your eyes for ten seconds. What happens?

If you do this with a car, you're probably no longer driving when you open your eyes again. If you're on the highway and are unlucky, you never open your eyes again. If you're luckier, you've come to a stop by plowing into something. It's unlikely you're still cruising.

If you do this with an airplane, you're almost certainly still flying along fine. You may be off altitude or heading some, your airspeed may be getting into dangerous territory, but you're generally fine, and haven't suffered anything that can't be immediately fixed. There are things that can go wrong in those ten seconds to kill you, like a mid-air collision, but they're rare and not something you can avoid with confidence even with your eyes open.

This short-term ease is more than made up for with long-term planning difficulty. I can go hop in my car right now and set off for Los Angeles and be pretty sure I'll arrive safe and sound in a few days. Doing the same with an airplane (if I had one capable of making the flight, and the appropriate license) would require substantial advance planning, otherwise I could easily find myself killed by weather or lack of fuel.

In short: that pilots use HUDs is not as informative to their safety in cars as one might think.

cookingrobot
I would rather see a different kind of mashup - install the Google Glass into the car.

Put the camera on the rearview mirror facing forward, and install a small heads-up display to reflect off the windshield. This could be a lot more interesting than Apple's in dash iOS approach.

Then you could use all the glass apps + features while driving, without having to wear the headset. From what I hear it will be basically impossible to use glass while driving because you have to look up and to the right to see the screen.

wavesounds
Agreed. I have been waiting for them to pivot to this since they first introduced the product, it seems like such a more obvious and useful use of the technology.
skizm
I heard that you have to basically look at the ceiling in your car in order to fully see Glass' interface since you need a dark background for Glass to be correctly visible. Am I wrong? Seems like Glass would be even less safe for driving than a cell phone.
sahaskatta
It really depends. Google Glass does very well in dark places AND even under bright sunlight since the photochromic lens turns black.

However, the photochromic glass doesn't turn black when you happen to be standing under shade when outdoors. So that's the one situation where it's a bit difficult to see.

In a car, I found that just putting down the visor helps. I don't need to move my head up.

tobico
If you have that much money, why not just get your butler to do it for you.
Spittie
Wouldn't it be possible to do something like that for "normal" cars too, using the ODB2 interface (that, by law, car makers have to include since years).

Use an ODB2 Bluetooth adapter to read the car data onto a cellphone (Obviously you won't get as much stuff as the Tesla offer, but at least you should be able to get the current speed/gas left), then send this data from your phone to the Glass.

I'm not sure if the phone can send data directly to the Glass, otherwise you would probably have to send this data to a server, and then retrieve it using the Mirror API. Slower and dumber, but it should work.

Anyway, very cool project. I wish I had Glass and a Tesla to try it out.

molbioguy
As others have said, Glass + driving will lead to increased accidents and will likely be banned in the same manner as texting while driving. A recent study by AAA showed that voice-to-text messaging is more distracting than making calls with a cell phone. For the average person, multitasking while driving will almost always be more dangerous. Pilot HUDs are not comparable, because they are focused on flying, the task at hand, and pilots are highly trained in using them. I doubt that users will restrict themselves to map apps while driving.
christiangenco
God, I wish I was in the target market for this app.
benblodgett
I can imagine the user base for this is a tiny yet interesting bunch.
joshfraser
Two awesome toys and I don't own either one. Way to make me feel poor and abandoned outside the cool club!
jaekwon
Doesn't Google Glass force all apps to communicate via Google's servers? When I read the API the day it was announced, it certainly seemed that way.

So basically Google Glass is a massive camera & audio surveillance device, with most probably instant access by "government" intelligence agencies.