I park my car on the street every night here in New York City, so I'd love it if there was an easy way to know when somebody gets a little too close to my ride for comfort. Now Intel is developing an app that lets you check on your car using your smartphone.

There already are several apps that let you check on your home, but this is the first one aimed specifically at cars.

The Intel system connects to your car's existing security system, and starts streaming video to a cloud server via WiFi the moment a sensor is triggered. You can set it up to send an alert to your phone, or it can record the video in the cloud for later review. You can also call up the car to get an instant view on demand.

Intel is also looking at ways in which the system can share information with the car's manufacturer, but that also risks opening a big can of worms on privacy issues.

No word on when this will make it to market, but it sounds like a potential winner to me.

Via Technology Review