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122 points kcon | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source

Nissan's official mobile app for their LEAF electric car doesn't have a widget for quickly checking the car's battery charge status on your phone's home screen, so for a fun side project I decided to make my own using free tools like GitHub Actions, Appium, Tailscale, and Apple Shortcuts.
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STELLANOVA ◴[] No.43677779[source]
Great work! I love commitment to make it at no cost as @liamwire mentioned. Still not sure why on Earth car manufacturers would not just release APIs open to all owners (basically issue API key based on VIN) and let them use it. For developers to build apps that will only require API key to be entered would be win/win for everyone....
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xp84 ◴[] No.43678448[source]
> Still not sure why on Earth car manufacturers

Like all similar "why don't they have at least a self/community-supported open basic API" questions, the answer is usually the same: They're afraid someone else might create something of value, in part using their API, without them getting their own beaks wet in the process. If you want to integrate with a Nissan Leaf, even if all you wanted were the most harmless read-only access, they'd like you to request a biz dev meeting with them where they'll be happy to talk ruinous terms.

For a related story, see how Chamberlain (MyQ) torched the great, community-built Home Assistant integration it once had for no reason at all. They're afraid somehow they could stop getting the kickbacks from the likes of Walmart and Amazon delivery which they enjoy today, seeing themselves as co-owners of your garage door.

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1. mook ◴[] No.43678655{3}[source]
Pretty sure Chamberlain/MyQ was because they made their API go through the cloud for no reason (that garage door opener isn't going to get out of WiFi range), so the only way to make the app reliably work was to hit their servers. Which they then had to pay for.

Had the whole setup been local first, they wouldn't ever had that issue. But again, that makes it hard to charge people for using it.

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2. xp84 ◴[] No.43687638[source]
I agree with you. Of course, they already made the money selling the garage door openers, and make more money on the millions of people who use the Amazon and Walmart integrations (they get a little fee for opening the door for those). But if this cut their cloud bill by $200 a month or something I guess they feel vindicated.