A connected car API lets your software talk to vehicles: read the battery level, find the car, check the odometer, unlock the doors. Every automaker exposes some of this, but each one behind its own contracts, auth flows, and data formats. DIMO is not another brand-by-brand connectivity contract. It is the toolkit for building vehicle access: data flows in through whatever connectivity you already have or choose (a direct OEM oracle, a provider like Smartcar, Flespi, or Volteras, or your own telematics hardware), and DIMO turns it into stored, consent-governed, queryable vehicle data behind one GraphQL contract.
What you can do with it
| Capability | Examples |
|---|---|
| Real-time telemetry | Location, speed, battery state of charge, fuel level, odometer, tire pressure, diagnostic trouble codes |
| Vehicle identity | VIN-backed digital ID, make/model/year, ownership proof |
| Commands | Lock and unlock doors, start and stop EV charging |
| Consent management | Owner-granted, scoped, revocable permissions (SACD) with a signed audit trail |
| Events | Webhooks for state changes via Vehicle Triggers |
| Ingest sources | Direct OEM oracles, providers like Smartcar, Flespi, and Volteras, or your own hardware (BYOD) |
Connectivity from anywhere, one data layer
Connectivity providers such as Smartcar, Flespi, and Volteras are pass-through APIs: they convert an OEM's format and hand the data to you, and what happens next is your problem. They do not store the data, they have no sharing or consent model, and you cannot self-host them. DIMO is the layer those feeds flow into. Signals from any ingest source land in one system of record with identity, owner consent, and sharing built in, and the core is open source, so you can run it yourself. You can keep an existing Smartcar or Flespi integration and put DIMO on top of it. This is the access layer that powers the session-based economy: identity, data, and consent packaged so a vehicle can be rented, shared, or serviced as one auditable session.
One query, any source
Vehicles across 50+ brands are already on the DIMO network, connected by drivers through OEM oracles, partner providers, and DIMO hardware. However a vehicle arrives, it answers the same GraphQL query. No per-manufacturer parsing, no unit conversion, no separate auth flows:
query {
signalsLatest(tokenId: 12345) {
speed { value timestamp }
powertrainTractionBatteryStateOfChargeCurrent { value }
currentLocationLatitude { value }
currentLocationLongitude { value }
}
}Official SDKs cover TypeScript, Python, and C#, and a React SDK handles the user-facing consent flow. Most developers make their first successful API call within five minutes of creating a key.
Consent is the hard part, so it's built in
The expensive failure mode in connected car products is not missing data; it's access governance. Who authorized this read? Can the owner revoke it? Can you prove both to a regulator? DIMO answers these at the protocol level: vehicle owners grant scoped permissions through the SACD consent model, revoke them at any time, and every grant is recorded on a signed, verifiable audit trail. GDPR and EU Data Act requirements are satisfied by the architecture instead of by paperwork.
What people build
EV charging apps that schedule around real state-of-charge instead of user guesses. Fleet tools that track vehicles across mixed-brand inventories without three telematics vendors. Rental and carshare operations where a booking becomes a session: digital key, scoped data, spend cap, and clean revocation at return. Usage-based insurance rated on actual driving. AI agents that check your car's battery and precondition the cabin before you ask.
Pricing
The Hobbyist tier is free: all APIs, one AI agent, and vehicles at $1.25/month each. You can build against your own car before spending anything. Core is $349/month with 100 vehicles included for production apps. Full pricing details.
Where to go next
If you are comparing providers, the DIMO vs Smartcar breakdown covers the differences in depth. If you want raw signal specs, see the vehicle data API overview or jump straight into the developer docs. Everything starts with a free account at console.dimo.org.