Every generation has a fictional car everyone secretly wanted. For us, it had a red scanner light, a dry sense of humor, and the unwavering loyalty of an old friend. EXCAR is our attempt to actually build it — minus the crime-fighting, plus a few decades of progress.
Most of the time spent in a car is spent alone — commuting, running errands, sitting in traffic with nothing but the radio for company. Voice assistants tried to fill that gap by answering questions. We think that misses the point.
What people actually want from a car companion isn't a better search engine on wheels. It's something that feels present — that remembers the conversation from yesterday, notices when you've been quiet too long, and has enough personality to make the drive feel a little less like a chore.
That's the gap EXCAR is built for. Not "the first car assistant." The first car friend.
If EXCAR reminds you of a certain talking car from 1980s television — it's supposed to. That show is a big part of why a lot of us wanted to build something like this in the first place.
EXCAR isn't affiliated with or endorsed by that show, its studio, or its rights holders. We're not using its name, characters, or branding. Any resemblance is an homage from people who grew up watching it — nothing more. Once EXCAR is further along, we'd genuinely love to explore a real conversation with the rights holders. For now, we're just building the car we wished we had.
These shape every decision — from how EXCAR speaks to which features we build first.
A list of voice commands isn't a relationship. EXCAR is designed to feel like a presence in the car — one with opinions, memory, and timing — not a menu you talk to.
The difference between "a gadget that talks" and "something that's actually with you" comes down to latency. We're obsessive about response time for exactly that reason.
One port, one cable, no installer. EXCAR connects through your car's OBD-II port and is ready before you've finished buckling your seatbelt.
EXCAR doesn't sugarcoat the fuel gauge or the check-engine light, and it won't pretend to know things it doesn't. Dry honesty is part of the character — and part of the trust.
Whatever EXCAR remembers from a one-on-one conversation stays there. With passengers in the car, it defaults to silence on anything personal — full stop.
Cloud connections drop. Tunnels happen. We're building toward a fully offline mode so EXCAR keeps working exactly where you need it most.
No outsourcing, no slideware — EXCAR is built by the people you'd talk to about it.
Drives the product forward — from the original idea to the team now building it. Focused on what EXCAR should feel like to drive with, and on getting it in front of real drivers.
Builds the core voice pipeline, the OBD-II integration, and the companion mobile app. If it runs on the device in the car, Selim wrote or wired it.
Harvard AI postdoc working on the local language model that lets EXCAR run fully offline — quantized to fit on hardware small enough to live under a dashboard.
We're piloting EXCAR with a small group of Boston-area drivers before anyone else gets one.