The documentation only has a screenshot of the brands supported. Would be nice to just be able to lookup my car brand and make support in the docs instead of having to make an Auth flow first...

Yeah... I went to their homepage and still had no idea what cars they supported, what features the car needed, etc.

From my understanding though they're just a wrapper API around the car manufactures existing apis?

Found this eventually: https://support.smartcar.com/faqs/which-car-brands-does-smar...

Agreed. The homepage is confusing and doesn't give me some of the information I need.

The requirements/supported brands & models should be somewhere prominent on the front page, and I'm honestly still confused. Similar any country restrictions. This being limited to the US should not be hidden three levels deep in some FAQ.

The Otonomo isn't any better though, it doesn't even seem to have any links to the docs.

> From my understanding though they're just a wrapper API around the car manufactures existing apis?

Yep, think EasyPost for car functions

That's good feedback. We'll try to make things more clear!

How is it possible?

You will need additional hardware in the car to achieve this. Smartcar just does a really thorough job of hiding this fact.

AFAIK the is not a single car manufacturer (not even Tesla) that has any API available. Most cars don't have internet connectivity anyway.

Disclosure: I do NOT work for Smartcar, but have build multiple backends for P2P carsharing and bike rental platforms.

Disclosure: I used to work for Smartcar.

This is patently false. Smartcar does not require additional hardware. Quoting from their product page:

> Our API works with the embedded telematics module built into most new vehicles. No need for aftermarket hardware like OBD2 dongles.

Only a very, very small selection of cars support this.

As it stands now, the documentation is very much misleading as Smartcar makes it sound as if you can use this on any vehicle. Look again at sahaskatta's response, he/she made it sound as if you just have to read the docs to 'unlock your car with an app'. But in reality, you'll also need to have a brand new and very specific car if you want to do this.

Sahaskatta also asked for 'any feedback I have'. I gave that and now I'm being downvoted for my criticism...

So it’s like builtin Bluetooth?

through builtin cellular data

A lot of new cars do have internet built in whether that is exposed for your use or not.

My 2014 Chevy gave me 2 years of their mobile app which could unlock/lock the car via cellular for free. I know the car still has a data connection available because if I play songs via bluetooth it pulls in album art that doesn't exist on my phone via Gracenote. I can also hit the OnStar button and talk to someone via the car and I don't pay for that.

That Chevy lock/unlock API may not be a public API but there is nothing stopping someone from reversing it. Or just signing up to use it: https://developer.gm.com/vehicle-apis

Most modern cars offer the same features.