Alexa, Start Maverick. - Ford Automation, Home Automation, Home Assistant

[mavmav]

I have done some Maverick automation with history graph to monitor fuel consumption and mileage for my mav hybrid. I would like to have historical data as well as tire pressure, oil and battery status. Having ability to monitor and start maverick via home automation is nice convenience. Alexa, Start Maverick!
Any nice ideas on ford monitoring and automation ?

Sponsored

 

[mavmav]

Good example of history monitor is below. on December 1st from 3:15 AM to 4:32 AM battery voltage dropped to low threshold. My battery was low due to a cold night -11 Celsius. ( 12.2 Fahrenheit ) and background components draining battery, such as, cellar radio, WIFI, alarm, components testing, etc.
Next day i installed 1 amp trickle charger to keep battery fully charged. Sometimes history graph and email notifications can be used for car troubleshooting.

 

[TarpDogg]

Love all the data you are able to gather. Just a word of warning though, I was using HomeKit integration through HomeBridge with THIS . It was fantastic. However, IBM (Ford's provider) locked me out of FordPass because of 3rd Party API usage. Apparently, only the official FordPass App and the official Alexa integration are Kosher with their servers. According to the GitHub for the integration, MANY users have been locked out as well. It was a 4-5 day process for them to unblock my account, but they made sure I had disabled the integration before they unlocked it.

 

[mavmav]

it would be nice if Ford would offer a public api with proper secure authentication and reasonable pull interval. I have same Tesla monitoring for over two years and never had any issues. My understanding and conclusion: Ford is watching / monitoring your driving behavior, GPS location, speed etc. but the same information they will not provide to the owner. WTF? if they stop my fordpass account i will remove their GPS locator/sim card. it cannot work one way. it has to be two way relationship. BTW anyone knows where is that sim card/cell radio is located ?

 

[mavmav]

Looks like account lock down issue was "resolved" by increasing pull interval from 5 min to 15 min.

 

[TarpDogg]

Looks like account lock down issue was "resolved" by increasing pull interval from 5 min to 15 min.

Thanks, that's good to know. I'll keep watching that developer to see if it truly is resolved. I really liked having the HomeKit integration.

 

[commadorebob]

That is very cool. The limitation on the API call may be the fact that IBM runs FordPass for Ford as a private cloud. It might not be meant for public use outside the app. Tesla runs their own cloud and so may be a tad more loose with it. Don't blame IBM; private clouds are generally run as dictated by the customer.

We run a private cloud for our client and have been approached by more than one third-party about setting up APIs to better access the data and we have told them no. Hell, we have told our own corporate internal teams no. But then again, all of our data is protected by HIPAA and our client has to approve when we change the font. I'm not sure what regulations or agreements Ford and IBM have to follow.

That said, I would love if they would open up the data for some deeper analytics for us nerds.

 

[mavmav]

I would love if they would open up the data for some deeper analytics for us nerds

totally agree with that ibm cloud is under influence of it's customer (ford). so from data sharing perspective it doesn't meter if it is IBM, assure, aws or private inhouse solution. there is no physical limitation. This data share and API limitations are mandated by ford. Therefore, If FORD collects data about me/my vehicle, such as mileage, oil status, tire pressure, GPS coordinates etc. I "customer" is entitle to have same information.
it looks like ford is working on API for developers to have this type of access but why they would block it? even if you have 5 min interval api pull it is 7200 pulls per day. Google nest api is 60 seconds pull interval having millions of customers. it is not much data in todays world. it will take team of 2-3 developers for two weeks to develop and document excellent api.
my conclusion, if ford will block me i will tear off ford cellar transmitter so they cannot collect data about me and my vehicle. if there is no mutual data share, F*** Ford. at the end, this is my privacy that is jeopardized not ford. BTW, where is that cellular module located ?

 

[commadorebob]

totally agree with that ibm cloud is under influence of it's customer (ford). so from data sharing perspective it doesn't meter if it is IBM, assure, aws or private inhouse solution. there is no physical limitation. This data share and API limitations are mandated by ford. Therefore, If FORD collects data about me/my vehicle, such as mileage, oil status, tire pressure, GPS coordinates etc. I "customer" is entitle to have same information.
it looks like ford is working on API for developers to have this type of access but why they would block it? even if you have 5 min interval api pull it is 7200 pulls per day. Google nest api is 60 seconds pull interval having millions of customers. it is not much data in todays world. it will take team of 2-3 developers for two weeks to develop and document excellent api.
my conclusion, if ford will block me i will tear off ford cellar transmitter so they cannot collect data about me and my vehicle. if there is no mutual data share, F*** Ford. at the end, this is my privacy that is jeopardized not ford. BTW, where is that cellular module located ?

Comparing to Google isn't really fair. Google is a trillion-dollar corporation with datacenters all over the world and makes almost all of their money selling ads based on the data it collects. Ford is paying IBM for a couple racks within a warehouse (with likely a back-up in a separate location) and makes most of their money selling cars. Plus, Nest can poll all the time because it is backed up by Wi-Fi. FordPass involves cellular, which means Ford has to have an agreement with AT&T or Verizon in order to connect. I'm willing to bet there is a data limitation on that.

I completely agree the information Ford has on their server could be provided to consumers. But I doubt it'll ever get to Nest levels without Ford contracting Google. At which point, guess which ads start showing up on your Nest...

 

[mavmav]

Agree with wifi vs cellar cost. vw group, tesla, nissan etc. have API that works well with reasonable pull interval. I don't need 60 sec. give me 15 min. pull interval.
if ford is paying for a few racks that's too bad for them. they should have good infrastructure and compete on the IOT market. maverick for 30 k or mustang for 60k+ are using same fordconnect infrastructure. it is not meter of the cost. it is just ford's privacy approach. Ford doesn't want to do right thing !

 

[BlueSpec1]

BTW, where is that cellular module located ?

In the TCU - Telematics Control Unit
Supposed to have SIM/eSIM soldered onto the PCB.
Looks like same location per my 2022 Escape service manual - behind the climate controls.
https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/forum/threads/how-to-remove-telemetric-control-module.7908/

 

[mavmav]

Telematics Control Unit

Thank you so much! @BlueSpec1 that's exactly what i was looking for.

Sponsored