This Tiny Box Can Turn Your Car Into A Video Game

Over the past year, members of the Baen Project have been quietly working on their new piece of hardware that they hope will change the way we interact with our car. As founder James Cheung explains, the concept was built from the idea that sitting in slow boring traffic causes us to miss out on all the fun we should be having with our cars.

The Baen Cube is a small box-shaped piece of hardware that easily plugs into the diagnostic port of any vehicle equipped with OBD-II. Data is gathered from the vehicle and transmitted to a mobile device via Bluetooth technology. Basic vehicle data like fuel use, travel distance and error codes will be uploaded to the cloud where it will be used by developers in personalised games or apps to interpret your driving behaviours.

The Baen Project aims to differentiate itself from other OBD-II to mobile device technologies by making their software open to developers. With the Baen Cube, the creators will also release a corresponding SDK (software development kit). Although the Baen Cube is compatible with many OBD-II Bluetooth apps already on the market, the creators plan to build their own Baen game next year.

The game will use your car’s GPS location to record your movement as you make your way through a mix of a virtual and real world. You will collect items, pass checkpoints and even engage with other players. But what about safety? The creators assure us that the game will not allow touch screen interaction while the car is in motion, and that the basic nature of the game does not promote dangerous driving habits.

The Baen Project has just launched a Kickstarter campaign this week to raise funds for the hardware, and another will follow for the game. The cube can be purchased on the campaign page at a cost of $20 for the first 300 supporters before the price jumps to $40. The cube ships worldwide, is expected to be delivered in February next year and will work with most OBD-II apps.

“We believe that every car owner is entitled to his or her car data and we want provide an easy way for owner to access those data securely. We also believe that driving is more than just a process of getting from point a to point b; driving can be so much more.”

The Baen Project

While we love being able to measure our vehicle’s performance, there are already plenty of products that do just that. So we wouldn’t be surprised if the Baen Cube ends up being more noted for the gaming aspect, inevitably leading to safety concerns. Is Baen Cube a good idea, or something potentially dangerous? We’ll have to wait and see, but for now, we want to know what you think: share your opinion below.