Apple Watch App Lets You Talk to Your Tesla Model S Electric Car

As reported by Transport Evolved: Just under a month ago, shortly after the launch of Apple’s highly-anticipated Apple Watch, we told you about Allen Wong, self-made app developer turned millionaire, car nut, and Tesla Model S owner.

Working for what he said was three or four days of non-stop coding after his Apple Watch arrived, Wong — who codes under the Rego Apps and Smartest Apps company names — produced a fully-functioning Apple Watch app that enabled remote control of the Tesla Model S electric car. At the time — despite selling it online for $9.99 — Wong said that his Remote S Apple Watch app was built as something of a “fun hobby” rather than a commercial app that he expected to make much money out of.

Despite treating this particular app as a hobby, we note from Wong’s YouTube channel (which we’ve been keeping an eye on) that he’s been busy, building an update to the Apple Watch App less than two weeks after the app debuted in the App store.

This time, he’s added voice control too, as the above video — uploaded about seven hours ago — shows.

In the video, Wong uses the standard “Hey Siri” phrase known to Apple Users everywhere to activate the Apple Watch’s voice recognition mode. After the watch has responded to his voice, he then shows us the car responding to some simple commands.

“Hey Siri…HVAC On,” he says, followed by a short pause while his iPhone and Apple Watch work together to accomplish the command.

“Hey Siri… Unlock Car,” results in a similar pause, followed by the unlocking of his red Tesla Model S P85D.
Wong also demonstrates the car’s keyless remote functionality by telling his watch to start the car. Sure enough, there’s a small pause, and the car turns itself on. Similarly, the video shows him remotely opening the car’s panoramic sunroof, all by voice commands.

It’s an impressive update to the app, which Wong says he’s still in the process of training to accept a number of different commands.

“I realize now that it sounds weird to say ‘Start Car’ instead of ‘Start the Car’,” Wong says in his description to his latest YouTube video. “I’ll change it to that phrase when I publish the app. I’m currently training my app so that it can understand multiple phrases, so you can say ‘KITT, start the car’ or ‘Start my Tesla’ or ‘Horn the horn at those morons,’ and the app will understand what you want it to do.”

Wong says he hasn’t yet submitted the updated code to the App store, but will do at some point in the near future.

“I’m just waiting for Tesla to implement the ‘summon car’ feature, so I can code the app that allows you to speak into your Apple Watch to make your Tesla drive up to you,” he adds, half-jokingly.

As some of those who have already watched the video note, the time delay between the command being spoken and the app responding isn’t quite as quick as perhaps some might like. But hey, for those who grew up with Michael Knight and KITT, that’s really not important, is it?