Adobe’s first auto app will give real-time car maintenance tips

The company behind Photoshop has an idea to make your next auto mechanic visit less of a confusing, expensive mess. 

Adobe has a new app that tracks car stats, like how the battery or engine is doing. It takes the Adobe Analytics platform typically used for a website or mobile app and puts it into the car. At its annual Adobe Summit in Las Vegas (hosted by comedian Mindy Kaling), one of its “sneaks,” a project to showcase an idea in development, is Project Car Smarts. 

Ahead of Wednesday’s presentation, Colin Morris, Adobe Analytics director of product management, explained in a call how the app and data-tracking would work for car owners and car makers. Think of it like the battery health check on the iPhone. Drivers will have a “better idea of their usage in an automobile,” he said.

Using a telematics tracker to pick up diagnostic information from a connected car, Adobe can create a dashboard full of patterns about your driving and how that will impact the car’s performance now and looking ahead. If your battery is in immediate danger of failing you could be alerted. 

He explained how this could also be preventative, telling you optimal speeds or better brake usage to keep the car in better shape — especially for any lead-footers out there. Morris thinks this is part of a better in-car experience — it’s a way to make car owners feel more informed. 

On the other side, car makers have been collecting data from cars from years, but not doing much with it, he said. Instead of focusing on traditional marketing analytics to target cars at certain potential customers, now auto companies can get a detailed look at how customers use the vehicles and what problems come up. Does the SUV’s engine crap out more often than the sedan’s? Are SUVs driven more and further distances on weekends? Are batteries draining in sedans sitting in commuter traffic? 

Data comes in aggregated and anonymous, so a fleet owner could get an overall look at problems in a certain city or with a type of car. Fleet or car companies can decide what improvements or products to spend money on, based on real usage on the road. 

Mindy Kaling better have some bad driving jokes prepared.