New Apple Watch App Allows Remote Control Of Tesla Cars

Apple Inc AAPL recently delayed the launch of the Apple Watch until April, but Ukrainian company Eleks has already developed an app for the device that will allow owners to control systems in Tesla Motors Inc TSLA vehicles using only their watches.
Among other thing, users will be able to use their Apple Watch to lock and unlock a Tesla Model S, turn on and off the headlights, and monitor the internal temperature, mileage and battery charge.
Third-party app toolkit
Eleks used Apple WatchKit to develop the Tesla app, a toolkit from Apple that allows third-party users to develop their own Apple Watch apps before the watch even goes on the market. Although the company was successful in creating the app using WatchKit, Eleks was dissatisfied with the toolkit’s limitations. For example, WatchKit does not provide access to Apple Watch’s accelerometer, gyroscope, Taptic Engine, speaker or microphone.
Limitations of WatchKit
The Eleks team even went as far as to express their frustrations on the project page for the app. “We can now confidently say that creating anything really necessary and fully functional for Apple Watch with the current SDK version is very, very difficult, and many of the things promised at launch that were perfect for some business ideas are not at all available yet.”
Keep your iPhone handy
Ironically, Apple already has an iPhone app that provides the same type of remote control functionality for Tesla vehicles. In addition, since the first-generation watch only allows software developers the ability to use the watch as a bridge for a user’s iPhone, third-party apps such as Elek’s Tesla app can only function properly if users keep their iPhones on them at all times.