New Google Glass App Syncs with Tesla Model S

Independent software engineer and repeat tech newsmaker Sahas Katta has struck again. On Monday, Katta released his first app for Google GOOG +0.46% Glass platform called Glasstesla which pairs Google’s experimental augmented reality eyewear with the Tesla Model S electric car. This  newly-released app called "GlassTesla" uses the interactive capabilities of Google Glass to connect wirelessly with Tesla's Model S. Once connected, owners have a variety of Glass activated commands at their beck and call and information in front of their eyeballs.

The resulting GlassTesla app communicates with Tesla’s onboard system to provide drivers with instant visual feedback through Google Glass without taking their hands off the wheel or eyes off the road.

The app gives drivers access to a range of information and commands, including monitoring the vehicle’s charging status and providing the option to start or stop charging via Glass.

The application includes all of the features of the Android app, which aren’t necessarily meant to be used while driving. Instead, it focuses on features that are useful when the car is parked: charging can be turned on and off, the internal temperature can be queried and adjusted, doors can be locked and unlocked, the sunroof can be opened and closed, the horn can be honked and the lights flashed. If you decide to park somewhere where that isn’t a charging station, you can ping your car and have it show up on a map.  It’s a set of luxury features for a luxury vehicle.

Owners who have forgotten the location of their Model S can direct Glass to locate the aforementioned lost Tesla on the map. Glass then taps into Tesla’s GPS system and directs owners accordingly. Forgot to lock the doors? No problem, Glass can check the car to see that doors and trunk are locked and secured on command.

“I’m already working on it,” Katta said. “We’ll soon be able to do something along the lines of being able to say ‘OK Glass, open the trunk,’ for when you’re carrying groceries and your hands aren’t free.”

Driving is perhaps the prime time when your hands and eyes aren’t free, so with voice commands, the app will also be able to open the sunroof or change the temperature or do any number of other actions. So even though Glasstesla is nestled in a niche that fewer than 50 people are likely to use, it’s on the cusp of something big.

“I think this absolutely highlights the potential of wearable technology and how it will interact with the tools we use every day,” Katta said.

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Write by: RC - Wednesday, July 3, 2013