I have a 2014 Ford Mustang, and I’d like to learn how to use an android device (installed in car and/or remote) to control functions, send and receive commands, and retrofit features the car didn’t have originally.
For instance, I’d love to create an android app with the 8 buttons used to control my car’s HVAC - Fan+, Fan-, Temp+, Temp-, Defrost, Zone 1/2/3, and recirculate allowing me to entirely remove the old, clunky buttons in the center console, and replace them with an android tablet.
Some potential ideas:
Monitor the CANHIGH and CANLOW messages for other events in the car, and use them to automate tasks on the installed android device - I press the seek+ button on my steering wheel, the android device in my dash skips to the next song/station (and multimedia variations thereof).
If I brake hard,causing the car’s accelerometers and brake pressure to go over a threshold, have the installed device broadcast a signal to enable the hazard lights for a set interval.
If I press the door unlock button on my remote 4 times, roll down the windows.
If I am backing up, utilize the OEM proximity sensors to overlay a visualization of detected objects behind the car onto the camera feed (I can see the sensor PID output using my phone and an OBD diagnostic app already).
These sort of ideas intrigue me, and it seems that carloop is a ready made way to get started, but I’m not yet familiar with programming with a specific goal in mind. I know I’ll need:
Carloop Basic or Bluetooth
MicroUSB Cable
Particle Photon
CAN Hitch
How does the Particle IDE translate to other uses? I looked around for a tutorial on a start-finish project like I’m envisioning, but I didn’t see one. Any advice or tips would be appreciated!