Originally published at: Home Automation Standard Gets an Official Name - TidBITS
The home automation partnership featuring Amazon, Apple, Google, and others is taking off, with an official name for its standard, an enormous list of partners, and a release timeframe.
“In theory, you should end up being able to control a Nest thermostat (owned by Google)…”
An interesting development but I won’t hold my breath for theory being turned into practice!
So “The standard is open source” - does this mean I can build something with an Arduino that can be controlled by HomeKit (or whatever), and/or build something with an Arduino that can control other devices?
Yeah, you can do that today. Apple opened up HomeKit to tinkerers a few years ago. I actually use an open-source system called Home Assistant to manage my home automations. It can be set up to act as a HomeKit-recognized hub, so you can add a non-HomeKit device to Home Assistant, which is then picked up by HomeKit, and vice versa.
(So yeah, Home Assistant already does what this standard promises to do. I don’t discuss it much in TidBITS because it’s super technical and even I don’t have my head wrapped around it yet.)
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