ACPspec is the Automotive Commerce Protocol, an open, JSON-native standard that models the full automotive transaction lifecycle. It is the successor to the ADF XML format that dealers have used for over two decades. The specification is available at ACPspec.org, licensed under Apache 2.0, and free for any CRM, DMS, or AI platform to implement.

This is not related to the FCC's Affordable Connectivity Program (also abbreviated ACP), which was a federal broadband subsidy program that ended in 2024. ACPspec is an automotive data standard. If you are looking for information about the federal broadband program, this is not the right page.

What problem does ACPspec solve?

The automotive industry runs on a data format called ADF. ADF stands for Auto-lead Data Format. It is an XML-based standard created around 2000 that defines how lead information moves between systems in automotive retail. When a customer fills out a form on CarGurus or Cars.com, that lead gets packaged as an ADF XML file and sent to the dealer's CRM.

ADF was built for form submissions. Name, email, phone, vehicle of interest. That was the interaction in 2000. ADF captured it perfectly.

In 2026, a customer interaction looks nothing like a form submission. A customer might have a twenty-message conversation with an AI assistant on a dealer's website. The AI captures budget, financing preference, trade-in payoff, competitor comparisons, timeline, urgency, appointment availability, and purchase probability. That is twelve or more buying signals from a single conversation.

ADF carries eight to fifteen data points. The rest have nowhere to go. They fall on the floor. The salesperson picks up the phone with name, email, and "interested in Camry" when the AI already knew everything they needed to close the deal.

I call this structured data loss. ACPspec was built to eliminate it.

How is ACPspec different from ADF?

ADF models a lead submission. ACPspec models the entire transaction lifecycle.

An ACP envelope contains eight top-level objects that capture the full picture of an automotive commerce interaction.

source identifies where the interaction came from. Platform, channel, agent type, device, UTM attribution.

lead carries customer information, vehicle interests, budget, trade-in details, and detected intents with confidence scores. Not just "interested in Camry" but "test drive intent at 97% confidence with a $580 monthly payment target and a trade-in with $12,000 payoff."

transaction holds the commerce state. Deal stage, full offer history with revision tracking, finance terms, appointment details, delivery confirmation. ADF has no concept of transaction state. ACP tracks the entire deal lifecycle through eight stages: inquiry, qualified, negotiation, finance, appointment, sold, delivered, and closed lost.

conversation preserves the full transcript with message roles, timestamps, handoff state, sentiment, and topic extraction.

events captures eighteen standard behavioral event types in chronological order. Page views, intent signals, pricing interactions, trade-in evaluations.

ai_analysis includes purchase probability, recommended next actions, objections detected, and engagement level.

Where ADF gives you eight to fifteen data points per lead, an ACP envelope carries one hundred to two hundred or more. Not because it is bloated. Because modern automotive commerce actually produces that much meaningful data.

Is ACPspec compatible with ADF?

Yes. ACPspec does not break ADF. It extends it.

The migration path is designed to be incremental. You do not rip out ADF on day one. ACP envelopes can be deterministically converted back to ADF XML for any downstream system that still requires it.

The three-phase migration works like this. Phase one: dual output. Your AI generates ACP envelopes alongside ADF XML. Your CRM keeps consuming ADF as usual. Phase two: ACP primary. Your CRM switches to reading ACP. ADF continues as fallback. Phase three: ACP only. ADF gets deprecated. A converter stays available for backward compatibility.

Nobody has to make a hard switch. ADF keeps working throughout. ACP just gives you access to everything ADF was leaving on the floor.

I wrote a more detailed breakdown of the full ADF-to-ACP comparison in What Is the Automotive Commerce Protocol (ACP)?

How does ACPspec relate to CORDspec?

CORDspec (Canonical Object Relational Data) is universal. It works in any industry. Healthcare, finance, recruiting, real estate. Anywhere AI output needs to move between systems without losing meaning.

ACPspec is automotive-specific. It is built on CORD's principles but tailored for the data structures, workflows, and lifecycle stages of automotive retail commerce.

Think of CORDspec as the foundation. ACPspec is the first building on that foundation. Other industries will build their own domain-specific protocols. Automotive happened to be first because that is where I have spent twenty years and that is where I kept hitting the wall.

I wrote about this distinction in detail in Why CORD Is Universal and ACP Is Not.

Is ACPspec free to use?

Yes. Apache 2.0 licensed. Anyone can use it, extend it, fork it, build on it. No license fees. No permission needed. No vendor lock-in.

ACPspec is governed by a vendor-neutral advisory board with a public RFC process for specification changes. Two advisory board seats are permanently reserved for independent community contributors. No single vendor controls the protocol.

What CRMs and platforms support ACPspec?

Drivevex CRM is the first CRM with native ACP ingestion, full envelope storage, intent-based routing, and transaction state mapping, with ADF XML fallback generation built in.

AutomotiveAI is the first AI sales agent platform generating ACP envelopes from live customer conversations across chat, voice, and SMS channels.

Both are in production. The specification is open for any CRM, DMS, or agent platform to implement.

Who authored ACPspec?

I did. My name is Jamil Ashkar. I authored ACPspec after building four AI products for the automotive industry and watching the same data loss pattern repeat across every one of them. The AI worked. The ADF format could not hold what it produced.

ACPspec is patent pending. The specification itself is open source and free to implement. The patent protects the specific architectural innovations in the protocol. This is the same model used by many open standards. Open to use, protected from being closed by someone else.

Where do dealers start?

If you are a dealer running AI tools today, ADF is still your format. It works. Your CRM reads it. Your lead providers send it. Nothing changes tomorrow.

But if you are noticing that your AI captures rich conversations and your CRM only shows name, email, and a vehicle interest, that gap is the problem ACPspec solves. Not someday. Now. The spec is live, documented, and available for any platform to implement.

Full specification, JSON schema, migration guides, and reference implementations at ACPspec.org.

Structure before tools. Strategy before speed. Systems before scale.

The Automotive Commerce Protocol is the open standard for AI-native automotive commerce data. Read the full specification at ACPspec.org.