Behind the build: why we started with Tesla

CAILO Connect started with two Tesla owners and two very different problems. One of us needed a record of work travel and could not find a logbook that kept itself without an aftermarket device plugged into the car. The other had spent decades in fleet telematics and could see that Tesla had opened up a data stream nobody was presenting well for everyday owners.

The frustration

We kept opening the Tesla app and thinking the same thing. This car knows where it went, when it left and when it arrived. It knows how much energy each drive used, and every charging session down to the kilowatt-hour. So why were we still typing trips into a spreadsheet on a Sunday night, trying to remember which Tuesday was the client visit?

The tools we tried all leaned on the phone. Forget to open the app, leave the phone at home, or let the battery run flat, and as far as the record was concerned, the trip never happened.

The shift

Tesla’s Fleet API changed that. For the first time, every trip and every charging session could flow from the car itself into a dedicated record, with nothing to install, no phone-based GPS and nothing for the driver to remember. The car becomes the record.

Why Tesla first

Starting with one brand let us go deep rather than wide. Tesla owners already expect their car to improve through software, they tend to care about the numbers behind their driving, and the data is rich enough to do the job properly. Getting one experience right mattered more to us than covering every car on the road.

Where we go from here

CAILO Connect is the first product. The idea behind it is simple: your vehicle keeps its own records, you can see them clearly, and you own your data end to end. One Tesla at a time, that is what we are building.

General information only, not tax, financial or legal advice. CAILO is not a registered tax agent, so speak to one before relying on this for a claim or return.