Collecting the car data

For the purpose of collecting the car data, we will use a standard On-board diagnostics (OBD) interface found on most cars and referred to as OBD-II or EOBD in Europe. These are equivalent standards used to connect to the OBD port of the car; you can also read diagnostics data and fault codes about the car from this port.

Note

In 1996, the OBD-II specification was made mandatory for all cars manufactured and sold in the United States. The European Union followed suit in 2001 by making EOBD mandatory for all gasoline (petrol) vehicles sold in the European Union, followed by all diesel vehicles in 2003. In 2010, the HDOBD (heavy duty) specification was made mandatory for certain select commercial (non-passenger car) engines sold in the United States. Even China followed suit in 2008, and by then, some light vehicles in China were required by the Environmental Protection Administration Office to implement OBD.

On most cars, the OBD interface is found under the steering...