Web and iOS/Android Apps for Car Electronics Management

About Our Client

The Client is a software and hardware provider that specializes in car electronics products. The company has a strong presence in Europe and Asia and plans to expand globally.

Challenge

The Client’s flagship hardware device was able to communicate with a vehicle’s electronics to start and stop the engine, open and close the doors, retrieve diagnostics information, etc. It also had a built-in GPS unit, motion and crash sensors, and a GSM module that was able to send data to/from a server.

The Client wanted to develop a complex client-server solution with interactive web interface and feature-rich mobile applications for Android and iOS platforms that would allow customers to communicate with their vehicles and perform remote car electronics control.

Solution

Experienced in web development and fleet management software solutions, ScienceSoft was chosen to develop the required software solution. The team delivered the new solution in three stages.

Stage 1

ScienceSoft’s team started with the integration of the hardware tracking device mounted on a vehicle with a web server. ScienceSoft’s engineers worked together with the device manufacturer’s technical team located in South Korea. As a result, they determined the I/O interfaces and implemented the server application programming interface (API). They also created a server prototype for testing and stabilization purposes.

ScienceSoft’s testing team performed different kinds of stress tests to ensure high connection stability and solid performance.

Stage 2

ScienceSoft’s team designed and implemented web software that integrated user’s interface, administrative functionality and electronic payment system and allowed users to:

• Track a vehicle’s position.
• Start/stop the engine.
• Set air temperature inside the vehicle.
• Schedule engine warm-up.
• Open/close doors and trunk.
• Turn the lights on/off.
• Monitor trip information.
• Get instant notifications on accidents and speeding violations.
• Track driving style and view driver’s safety score.
• Review fault diagnostics.
• Receive push notifications on maintenance activities required.
• Track balance and make payments through the electronic payment system. There was a referral program for new users’ attraction.

UI interacted with web server via API based on JavaScript Object Notation (JSON). Back-end software part was based on Entity Framework 6.0, a powerful object-relational mapping (ORM) system.

All server-side software was scalable thanks to Microsoft Azure Cloud implementation. All databases of the system stored in Microsoft Azure SQL Databases.

Administrative tool provides reporting functionality, ability to build charts and view maps.

The system could track up to tens of thousands of applications simultaneously without any performance issues.

The solution had an integrated monitoring module for tracking bugs, receiving reviews, organizing users’ forum and a voting system.

Stage 3

ScienceSoft’s developers designed and implemented mobile applications with modern and intuitive user interface for Android and iOS platforms and integrated the with the previously developed back-end system.

ScienceSoft’s team introduced intelligent voice command interface (Google Voice Actions for Android and Siri for iOS platforms were used), ensured low battery consumption while tracking vehicle state and real-time GPS tracking with push notifications of alerts.

Results

After the successful launch of the complex solution, the Client’s sales increased significantly. The developed solution was actively used by the general public, as well insurance companies and car dealers.

Technologies and Tools

.NET: Microsoft Visual Studio, Microsoft SQL Server, ASP.NET MVC 4, Entity framework 6, Unity IoC, jQuery, Knockout.js, Hightcharts, Microsoft Azure SDK, Newtonsoft.Json, Google Maps API.

iOS: Objective-C, UIkit, Core Location, Google Maps SDK for iOS, SpeechKit, CocoaPods, AFNetworking, Crashlytics.

Android: Java, Android SDK, Google Maps SDK for Android, Microsoft Azure Mobile Android Client SDK.