WINNER: Best Technical Implementation and Functionality [My Ford]

https://devpost.com/software/my-ford-alexa-powered-ford

I let Alexa take control of the Ford for the Ford Smart Vehicle Connectivity Challenge. This project won the Best Technical Implementation and Functionality award ($2300 + meeting with Ford Software Product leaders).

I was surprised at how easy it is to create an Alexa skill and integrate it with various 3rd party APIs. The biggest challenge, which I didn't solve during this hack, is the fact that that Ford API can be fairly slow at responding and the Alexa skill require that you reply back within 10 seconds (there is no "request more time, I'm pending an API call" type of response you can easily give.) Given that this project won, perhaps I'll work on some kind of continuation token and have it be a stateful conversation (where the initial response says something like "I'm starting your car, would you like to know the status?" when getting the status times out.)

It was really fun to see the project actually work on a real vehicle. For purposes of the demo, I put the Alexa on a power pack (so you can see it in action), but if it is in the house then you can say anything similar to...

• "Start vehicle.", "Cool the car", etc. will start the vehicle (the API doesn't let us cool it, but hopefully the car will be smart enough to automatically cool if its hot once the engine is on.)

• "Lock the doors on my Ford."

• "Unlock car."

• "Find the vehicle." or "Where is the truck?" finds the GPS coordinates then it figures out what address it is.

• "Is the tank empty?"

• "Is the car plugged in?"

• "When will my car be charged?" tells you the current charging schedule.

• "Begin charging." will start charging now, instead of waiting for the schedule.

• "Good night" will let you sleep comfortably -- knowing the doors are shut, the alarm is on, the car is plugged in or remind you how much fuel is in your tank so you know if you need to get up early and swing by the gas station.

I look forward to chatting with the Ford Software Product leaders.