Don't fight the cistern: Voda takes the plunge with plumbers’ parking app The Vodafone bright ideas department, xone, has been testing its car-tracking system with a plumbing company in London, potentially saving the pipe/washer-related enterprise "£100,000 a year". It’s the job of xone to tinker with new technology and then work out how to sell it. The Drivexone is a device which contains a GSM …
From employing Buster Martin to being up for every bit of TV exposure available, Pimlico Plumbers certainly have a knack for getting free publicity.
I wondered that. My only guess is that it's to figure out what kind of vehicle it's currently attached to, as parking costs can vary on vehicle size (vans costing more than cars etc), but it's a stretch.
Other advantage being it's an easy way of keeping it powered without leaving it visible.
... as in "Combine an app that shows free parking spaces with a gadget that sniffs around in your car's data and your driving habits." None of the users will question whey these two things need to be combined or even understand that they are constantly being monitored.
I just wonder why the OBD-II gadget doesn't feature a CCTV camera and voice recorder.
I had a 1998 Mondeo that did have OBD II, but that is probably because it was a car that was sold in the USA.
From the usual place:
EOBD
The EOBD (European On Board Diagnostics) regulations are the European equivalent of OBD-II, and apply to all passenger cars of category M1 (with no more than 8 passenger seats and a Gross Vehicle Weight rating of 2500 kg or less) first registered within EU member states since January 1, 2001 for petrol (gasoline) engined cars and since January 1, 2004 for diesel engined cars.[13]
My guess would be that it applied to all new models from that date, with an exemption for some period for models already on sale - that how a lot of regs like that tend to be.
As to why it needs OBD ...
Best guess would be for speed, steering information if available, and compass heading if available. GPS can be "somewhat tetchy" in some types of built up area, so the best systems augment the raw GPS location with other data to maintain more accurate positioning. The simplest of these additions is "distance travelled", and if you add turn/steering information and a good road map then you can apply logic like "well the GPS could put us on this road or that road, the vehicle has just turned right, there's no right turn off that road so we must be on this road" to increase quality/accuracy of positioning.
My standalone Garmin 7200 has an optional input for the speedo signal - specifically to keep tracking going during momentary loss of signal (in amongst tall buildings, under bridges, etc) - the alternative is to just assume that the vehicle is still travelling at the same speed until the signal comes back.
My guess would be that it applied to all new models from that date, with an exemption for some period for models already on sale - that how a lot of regs like that tend to be.
It was mandatory from 2001 (petrol) and 2004 (diesel) on all newly manufactured cars (regardless of the age of the model range). It was fitted to some cars before that, other manufacturers (*cough* Citroen) used an OBD-II port as the physical interface, but didn't use spec-compliant protocols, so it looked like you could use your diagnostic computer when you couldn't.....
Definitely wasn't mandatory from 1995 though
Does anyone really think that the "Click" to park part of this system will remain or will they just bill you based on the GPS?
That's how they'll make money plus if you look at the following two numbers which one looks bigger?
£5 per hour
10p per minute
Also if they manage to make gps mandatory for all cars (probably a pedoterrorist will use a car bomb in the future) then it's bye bye wardens.
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I can't help but think that a fairer system would be not to charge at all. The government usually argues that parking spaces are a scarce resource so they have to charge which doesn't make any sense at all. I've visited a few large towns where parking is free (perhaps restricted to a number of hours or residents only in places) and there's no evidence that parking is more of a problem there.
It's just another tax.
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The Polish for water is woda, pronounced voda - so given the frequent conflation of Poles with plumbing, Vodafone seems highly appropriate.
In Nabokov's Ada or Ardor, telephones are hydraulically operated (no electricity) so given his own Russian origin he missed the chance to call the system Vodafone (the Russian for water is vod), so the company would have had to call itself something else.
he missed the chance to call the system Vodafone so the company would have had to call itself something else.
A search on Companies House reveals that CustomerHatingDogfuckers plc has not been registered yet, should they decide to choose a more appropriate moniker.
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