An App That Can Instantly Identify Any Car (At Least Half the Time)

Screenshot: State Farm

So you’re shopping for a car. You’ve been browsing online, talking to friends, and actually paying attention to TV commercials, yet you still haven’t seen anything you really like. And then it happens: Something zips past you on the street and you’re awestruck. “That,” you think. “That I’m into.”

But you have no idea what it is. No worries. Chase it down, snap a photo from the back, and upload it to Car Capture. The free app, created by State Farm, needs just seconds to identify the make, model and year of the car and a pile of other helpful info.

The only problem is the app is wrong about half the time.

Car Capture, for Android and iOS, has a pretty simple premise: State Farm created a database of photos of more than 1,000 cars (counting each model year as a different vehicle) made since 2000. Sadly for those who love the classics, there’s no plan to catalog older cars, says State Farm’s Jack Weekes, because “there’s just a practical point of effort versus reward.” There simply aren’t many people in the market for a 15-year-old daily driver.

The app is easy to use: Take a photo of the back of a car and upload it. The app uses computer vision algorithms to match the features of the car you photographed against cars in its database. Rear ends are better than profiles because the back of a car tends to have more distinctive styling and it’s the view you’re most likely to have in a parking lot. After a few seconds, the app spits out the model and year of the car you’re looking at, along with information from Edmunds about the vehicle’s safety rating, available options, and consumer reviews. Of course, there’s a handy link to get a quote for insurance or financing from State Farm.

An app like this is a clever, fun way to get your name in front of customers and provide helpful information. Sadly, it’s not that accurate. Out of 15 cars I photographed, it got seven correct, including a Chevrolet Volt, Range Rover Sport HSE, Jeep Grand Cherokee, and Subaru Forester. On eight, it came close. It called a regular Fiat 500 the Fiat 500 Abarth and mixed up the BMW 320i and 328i. It elevated a standard Smart Fortwo to an electric Fortwo cabriolet and called an Audi A4 sedan a two-door A4 convertible. One, it totally bombed, declaring that the Subaru WRX hatchback in front of me was in fact an Impreza sedan. Bonus round: It turns out putting a large bike rack on a Volkswagen makes it look like an Audi. That’s not great, considering that on most of these, the specific model name is actually written on the back.

But that’s OK! First of all, the app is directed at the casual car customer who may need help figuring out if he’s looking at a Hyundai or a Mazda—that, it can handle. Secondly, the app, which is reminiscent of Songza, could follow the same trajectory as the music identification app: Underwhelming at first, but better with time. State Farm is planning on updating and growing the database, so there’s reason to believe Car Capture will get smarter and more accurate with time.