Modern cars are indeed very smart, though no car is perfect. One enterprising developer decided to make his Mazda a little smarter through code and share his work with others like him online. Unfortunately, the automaker took issue with his improvements, and hit the project with a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) claim, forcing it to be taken down.
Developer Brandon Rothweiler authored Mazda-specific integrations for Home Assistant, an open-source platform that can be used to run and establish interoperability between a variety of connected devices. Rothweiler's code plugged into Mazda's Application Programming Interface or API, allowing owners to create and share a number of seemingly inoffensive, convenience-minded functions, like checking and alerting fuel levels before a daily commute, or remotely unlocking and firing up the car when outside temperature drops below a certain threshold, as Ars Technica summed up in its coverage.
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