[Video Link] Al Linke and Ytai Ben-Tsvi took home the “Best Hardware” prize at the Boing Boing Ingenuity: Data Driven hack day on August 17. Their creation was a “smart brake light” prototype. Using Ford’s OpenXC data platform, the device reads the car’s gas pedal position and brake inputs and displays contextual animations on the monitor.
As seen in the video above, colored bars indicate how far the gas pedal has been pushed. A graphic of a foot pressing on a brake pedal plays when the brakes are on. In addition, a button press triggers a “Thanks” graphic, which can be used as a way to thank someone who allowed you to merge in a traffic lane.
Al and Ytai took home a gift basket from our friends at Adafruit Industries.
In the coming days, we’ll post more videos of the other Data Driven award winners.
Boing Boing: Ingenuity in partnership with Ford C-Max.