The people and the journey
Founders
Smart Control began with a journey shared by Nicola Santini and Andrea Stolfa. A project, complementary contributions and a friendship that continues.
Historical co-founder of Smart Control
Andrea Stolfa
Andrea Stolfa took an active part in development during Smart Control’s early stages, later continuing to contribute through collaboration. In different capacities, he shared the journey that shaped the project.
Over time, opportunities and circumstances led the two founders along different paths. The friendship that connected them throughout that journey has continued.
This recognition belongs to the history of Smart Control. Today, Nicola Santini carries the project forward and leads its evolution towards SCA.
Background and current vision
Nicola Santini
Software experience. Freedom to experiment. A clear direction.
Experience as a starting point
I hold a master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Pisa and have worked professionally in software development since 2006: around twenty years of experience on projects of different kinds, sizes and complexity, in both small and larger, structured teams.
My work includes information systems analysis, design and development, platform integration, and the evolution of applications and processes. I want to turn complex needs into understandable, useful and sustainable tools.
Smart Control, my personal space for experimentation
Smart Control grew out of this approach to computing: a personal laboratory where curiosity, design, development and experimentation meet practical problems. It brings together two lasting interests: software engineering and the automotive world.
It is an Android app for onboard trip computing, monitoring and OBD2 diagnostics, developed and evolved over the years alongside my professional work, including pauses when work commitments took priority. It was not created to chase a recent commercial opportunity: it became a product used by many people and is now the starting point for Smart Control Automotive.
Taking responsibility for a direction
Today this experience is taking a more defined direction. Through SCA, I want to make developing my own automotive ideas a concrete professional priority.
I have already invested significant work in the project’s common foundations: evolving what has been built with Smart Control and creating new products that do not depend on a single technological ecosystem. This investment is visible not only in screens, but in the ability to sustain ideas and progressively bring them to different devices and systems.
After many years of committed work on other people’s projects too, I want to put this experience towards a direction for which I take personal responsibility. To build economically sustainable products that also return value to the people using them.
The contribution I want to make
Passion is not my only motivation. I believe technology should also create value for the people who bear the cost of owning a car: help them understand it, use it more thoughtfully and retain its usefulness where conditions still allow.
For me, innovation also means giving people more choice about when to change and when to keep making good use of what they own.
Technology is a means. A good product solves real problems, reduces complexity for its users and retains the ability to evolve.
The experience I bring to the project
Analysis and design · Integration and modernisation · Applications and devices · Reliability and performance · Automation
More about my technical and design background
My work has gone beyond application development. It includes information systems analysis and design, integration between different platforms, and the evolution of existing applications and processes, addressing functional, organisational and technological needs that are often closely connected.
A significant part of this experience concerns modernising administrative, business management and operational systems and processes: understanding how an activity works, identifying problems and inefficiencies, designing software to simplify it and helping existing solutions evolve. The most interesting challenge is not always building something from scratch; often it is improving what already exists while preserving its continuity and value.
I have worked with enterprise systems, web applications, distributed architectures, microservices, relational and NoSQL databases, integrations between applications and services, legacy systems, and challenges involving performance, concurrency and reliability. Technologies I have used include Java, JEE, Spring Boot, Angular, C++ and Android development. These experiences span digital services, public administration, healthcare, finance and logistics.
As a Senior Software Developer, I have worked through practical problems, technical constraints and changing requirements: evolving complex systems without disrupting their operation is part of the job. This experience includes parallel and concurrent programming, performance and process optimisation, modularity and long-term software maintainability.
I do not list companies, clients or confidential projects; what matters here is the technical and methodological experience built along the way.
Education, prototypes and curiosity
I earned a master’s degree in Computer Science at the University of Pisa, following my university studies in 1995–2003. My thesis, Simulatore visuale a componenti (a component-based visual simulator), developed in C++, already reflected my interest in modular, composable systems and tools that make complex activities more accessible.
Alongside professional projects, I have always explored ideas through experimentation and software prototypes, trying out architectures, interfaces and possible applications of emerging technologies.
I continue to explore software platforms, artificial intelligence as a tool for development, research and automation, and the interaction between software and physical devices. These technologies are not ends in themselves: I want to understand how they can become genuinely useful tools that improve work, services and everyday life.
Research areas for SCA
OBD2, CAN and J1939; Bluetooth, BLE, Wi-Fi and USB; modular and cross-platform architectures, including Kotlin Multiplatform. Vehicle telemetry and data acquisition, information processing and interpretation, automotive interfaces and safety-oriented UI/UX, integration between software, devices and digital services, automation and artificial intelligence.
These are research and development areas, not a list of released features. Smart Control OBD2 is the Android product available today; SCAutomotive is its direction of evolution. The Legacy app uses Bluetooth Classic/SPP and Wi-Fi over TCP/IP: BLE and USB are planned for SCA Runtime, not supported by the app available to download today.
The principles behind this direction
Local-first: wherever possible, keep data under the control of the people who generate it; use the cloud when useful, without making it a mandatory dependency.
Transparency: make the information available in vehicle electronics understandable and observable.
Choice and interoperability: work towards more open onboard digital services and systems that cooperate, while respecting necessary safety requirements.
Existing vehicles: explore how compatible software and devices can bring new digital capabilities to older cars too.
Safety and usability: help drivers without distracting them. Having more data does not mean displaying everything at every moment. These are design and research principles, not promises of capabilities already released.
Content author: Nicola Santini.