Drivebot Dongle Monitors Your Car's Health

Unless you own an OBD-II reader, a random check engine light coming on in your car requires a trip to the nearest auto shop or service station to have it read — an annoyance in what are often busy days with little time for unexpected car troubles. The makers behind Drivebot aim to eliminate this hassle with what they call "a Fitbit for your car", and it comes in the form of a Bluetooth-equipped dongle that shuttles data about your vehicle's status to a paired smartphone.

The Drivebot is a small plastic device that plugs into your vehicle's OBD-II port, where it constantly monitors the car's status and sends any information about problems to a smartphone, which is paired with the device via Bluetooth. If a loose gas cap throws an error code, for example, you'll get that information on your phone rather than seeing an ambiguous service engine light.

The Drivebot and accompanying app do more than monitor for error codes, however, also providing information on things like fuel savings, optimized routes, suggestions for improving your driving, and logs that can be reviewed later on to get a long term look at everything related to your vehicle.

The device is being funded through Indiegogo, where it quickly exceeded its $35,000 goal, currently sitting at a touch over $69,000 with 32 days left in the funding period. A pledge of $75 USD will get you one Drivebot, with the eventual retail price being set at $119 USD.

SOURCE: Digital Trends