This Car (1969 Pontiac GTO) is Controlled via an iPod Touch

Have you ever wondered how can you control your car using just a gadget? Well, apparently a man has thought at that before you and built a remote control system for his 1969 Pontiac GTO. Dave Phipps is a man who has linked up a ‘69 Pontiac GTO to his iPod touch — he’s been reconstructing these automobiles for a while, and this peculiar one was collected of a farm for just $400. It is value is a lot more than that at present,  why? Because he has substituted all of the cabling in the car and remotely linked it to his iPod, so he can do a lot of things just by using his iPhone iPod.

The system uses a RedEye remotely system, Bluetooth technology and an iPod Touch. Using just the iPod the car can be transformed from a convertible to a coupe or turn on the engine and the stereo. Now he can now start the engine, open up the doors, put the top up or down, and even control the radio. Unfortunately, he can’t actually drive the car but he can rev it!

There’s isn’t a single scrap of original wiring in this GTO. After he purchased the car, Phipps stripped it down to the frame and completely rewired it with a car wide network tying every device and switch to a central 110 block, much more common in structured data and control systems.

With this block in place it allowed him to tie in remote control systems starting with a simple key fob. Following the key-fob he created a control system using a 2.4gHz cell phone which used the speed-dial to create timed events like putting up the top and rolling up the windows. The next upgrade was voice control, using a Bluetooth unit tied to a cell phone to create complete voice control over the car. All of that still works, but his latest — and coolest upgrade yet — uses an iPod Touch.

This is a video of Phipps showing the system off after the break (sorry iPhone users, it’s in Flash). He originally used Bluetooth, but now has the car set up on its own wireless network and he’s got it working with a RedEye IR system, so he can even do macros and open all of the doors with one button and so on. He can’t actually drive the car, but he can turn on the ignition, start the motor and even rev it up, all from the iPod touch. This is what we call as technology advancement at it’s very best. We’ve got to salute the ingenuity and dedication to the task Phipps shows in building this technologically-advanced remote control system.