Published January 3, 2017 © Apache-2.0

Ok Google, Start My Car

Use an Adafruit huzzah ESP8266 with my car's fob and activate remote start using Google Assistant.

AdvancedWork in progress12 hours11,744

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Adafruit HUZZAH ESP8266 Breakout

Raspberry Pi 3 Model B

Only required if you want to use it as a server and add additional ESP8266 modules

Software apps and online services

IFTTT Maker service

Also need to activate google assistant channel and add custom voice command

Arduino IDE

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Soldering iron (generic)

Story

Last summer I was tinkering with the Adafruit huzzah ESP8266 interfacing it with a wireless ceiling fan remote, my garage doors, and I even created a pool temperature monitor.

I decided to see if I could interface it with my car's fob to activate it's various functions. There was one in particular that was of interest to me, it being the remote start feature.

I was able to set up a raspberry pie 3 to run a node.js web server as the hub of the operation and program the ESP8266 modules to register with the node.js web server so that I only have to worry about setting up the raspberry with a static IP and the ESP's can have dynamic IP's so I don't need to track their network configuration.

The ESP8266 nodes run a web server as well and when you hit specific urls they perform the programed functionality. I then added the maker channel from IFTTT.com so that I can hit these URL's from their app on my phone.

After Google Assistant was added to IFTTT I integrated the custom voice commands to activate the maker channel applets that hit the urls. It works really well if. I also use the IFTTT scheduler channel to start my car automatically Monday - Friday at 8am so that my car is nice and toasty during cold winter mornings, and fresh and cool during muggy Georgia mornings.

I am sure the code could be improved if I invested more time but it works as intended so I am satisfied at the moment. I have simplified the server code so that it only contains the code required to interface with one ESP8266 module.

If there is interest in the project I will elaborate with detailed step by step instructions.

Google assistant starts my car demonstration.

When I first set it up I was hitting the URL on the ESP8266 directly for testing using a Cron job to activate the remote start. I later added the Raspberry and here is that demonstration.

Code

// Raspberry Pi front end web server

var fs = require('fs');
var http = require('http');
var https = require('https');
var request = require('request');

var options = {
   key  : fs.readFileSync('key.pem'),
   cert : fs.readFileSync('cert.pem')
};

// declare constants
const token = "some token as deemed fit";
var carServerHostName = "google.com";
const outgoingPort = 80;

//Create a server
var server = http.createServer(handleRequest);
var server2 = https.createServer(options, handleRequest);

//Lets define a port we want to listen to
const ServerPORT=8080; 
const ServerPortSSL=443;

//Lets start our server
server.listen(ServerPORT, function(){
    //Callback triggered when server is successfully listening. Hurray!
    console.log("Server listening on: http://localhost:%s", ServerPORT);
});

server2.listen(ServerPortSSL, function(){
    //Callback triggered when server is successfully listening. Hurray!
    console.log("Server listening on: https://localhost:%s", ServerPortSSL);
});

//We need a function which handles requests and send response
function handleRequest(request, response){

    var incomingToken = "";

    response.end('It Works!! Path Hit: ' + request.url);
    
    var str = request.url;
    
    var arr = str.split("/");
    
    var arr2 = str.split("/").map(function (val) {
      
      // get the token
      if(val.indexOf("token") > -1) {
        incomingToken = val.split("=")[1];
        console.log("Token: " + incomingToken);
      }

    });

    var theCommand = arr[1];

    console.log("Function: " + arr[1]);

    // check to see that we have a valid token and function
    if (theCommand.indexOf("Register") > -1) {
        RegisterModule(theCommand, incomingToken);
    }
    else if ((incomingToken !== "") && (theCommand !=="favicon.ico")) {

      console.log(theCommand + " function was called with token " + incomingToken);

      if (incomingToken == token) {
        
      if (theCommand.indexOf("Car") > -1) {
        CarServer(theCommand, incomingToken);
      }

    }

}

// Module register function
function RegisterModule (theCommand, hostName) {

      if (theCommand.indexOf("Car") > -1) {
        carServerHostName = hostName;
        console.log("Car Module Registered: " + hostName);
      }

}

// Car server functions
function CarServer(command, token){

  var options = {
    host: carServerHostName,
    path: "/" + command,
    port: outgoingPort
  };

  callback = function(response) {
  
    var str = '';

    //another chunk of data has been recieved, so append it to `str`
    response.on('data', function (chunk) {
      str += chunk;
    });

    //the whole response has been recieved, so we just print it out here
    response.on('end', function () {
      console.log(str);
      request.post('https://maker.ifttt.com/trigger/TheTriggerNameYouSetInIFTTT/with/key/TheKeyForIFTTT');
    });

  }

  http.request(options, callback).end();

}


function sendPost(command) {

  request({
        url: "https://maker.ifttt.com/trigger/" + command + "/with/key/TheKeyForIFTTT",
        method: 'POST'
    }, function(error, response, body){
        if(error) {
            console.log(error);
        } else {
            console.log(response.statusCode, body);
        }
    });

}

#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>
#include <ESP8266mDNS.h>
#include <ESP8266WebServer.h>
#include <WiFiClient.h>
#include <WiFiUdp.h>
#include <ArduinoOTA.h>

const char* ssid = "your wifi ssid";
const char* password ="your wifi password";

const char* host = "the ip of the raspberry pie";
const int httpPort = 8080;
int registerTimer = 0;

// Use WiFiClient class to create TCP connections
WiFiClient client;

ESP8266WebServer server(80);

const int onboardLedRed = 0;
const int onboardLedBlue = 2;

const int pullUpPin = 4;
const int auxPowerPin = 5;

const int lockPin = 12;
const int unlockPin = 13;
const int trunkPin = 14;
const int panicPin = 15;
const int startPin = 16;

char auth[] = "some authentication token";

void setup(void) {

  pinMode(pullUpPin, INPUT);
  digitalWrite(pullUpPin, HIGH);

  pinMode(onboardLedRed, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(onboardLedBlue, OUTPUT);

  pinMode(lockPin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(unlockPin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(trunkPin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(panicPin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(startPin, OUTPUT);

  digitalWrite(lockPin, 1);
  digitalWrite(unlockPin, 1);
  digitalWrite(trunkPin, 1);
  digitalWrite(panicPin, 1);
  digitalWrite(startPin, 1);

  digitalWrite(onboardLedRed, LOW);
  digitalWrite(onboardLedBlue, HIGH);

  // power on aux
  pinMode(auxPowerPin, OUTPUT);
  digitalWrite(auxPowerPin, 0);

  //Serial.begin(74880);
  Serial.begin(115200);
  WiFi.begin(ssid, password);
  Serial.println("");

  // Wait for connection
  while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) {
    blinkBlueLed();
    Serial.print(".");
  }

  // Port defaults to 8266
  // ArduinoOTA.setPort(8266);

  // Hostname defaults to esp8266-[ChipID]
  ArduinoOTA.setHostname("CarServer");

  // No authentication by default
  ArduinoOTA.setPassword((const char *)"123");

  ArduinoOTA.onStart([]() {
    Serial.println("Start");
  });
  
  ArduinoOTA.onEnd([]() {
    Serial.println("\nEnd");
  });
  
  ArduinoOTA.onProgress([](unsigned int progress, unsigned int total) {
    Serial.printf("Progress: %u%%\r", (progress / (total / 100)));
  });
  
  ArduinoOTA.onError([](ota_error_t error) {
    Serial.printf("Error[%u]: ", error);
    if (error == OTA_AUTH_ERROR) Serial.println("Auth Failed");
    else if (error == OTA_BEGIN_ERROR) Serial.println("Begin Failed");
    else if (error == OTA_CONNECT_ERROR) Serial.println("Connect Failed");
    else if (error == OTA_RECEIVE_ERROR) Serial.println("Receive Failed");
    else if (error == OTA_END_ERROR) Serial.println("End Failed");
  });
  
  ArduinoOTA.begin();

  Serial.println("");
  Serial.print("Connected to ");
  Serial.println(ssid);
  Serial.print("IP address: ");
  Serial.println(WiFi.localIP());

  while (!client.connect(host, httpPort)) {
    Serial.println("Connection failed!");
    delay(50000);
  }

  // We now create a URI for the request
  String ip = WiFi.localIP().toString();
  String url = "/RegisterCar/token=" + ip;
  Serial.print("Requesting URL: ");
  Serial.println(url);

  // This will send the request to the server
  client.print(String("GET ") + url + " HTTP/1.1\r\n" +
               "Host: " + host + "\r\n" +
               "Connection: close\r\n\r\n");
  Serial.println();
  delay(500);

  // Read all the lines of the reply from server and print them to Serial
  while (client.available()) {
    String line = client.readStringUntil('\r');
    Serial.print(line);
  }

  Serial.println();
  Serial.println("closing connection");


  if (MDNS.begin("esp8266")) {
    Serial.println("MDNS responder started");
  }

  server.on("/", handleRoot);

  server.on("/inline", []() {
    server.send(200, "text/plain", "this works as well");
  });

  server.on("/LockCar", []() {
    
    server.send(200, "text/plain", "Car Locked");

    blinkBlueLed();
    
    digitalWrite(auxPowerPin, 1);
    delay(500);
    
    digitalWrite(lockPin, 0);
    delay(500);
    digitalWrite(lockPin, 1);
    
    delay(500);
    digitalWrite(auxPowerPin, 0);
    
  });

  server.on("/UnlockCar", []() {
    
    server.send(200, "text/plain", "Car Unlocked");

    blinkBlueLed();
    
    digitalWrite(auxPowerPin, 1);
    delay(500);
    
    digitalWrite(unlockPin, 0);
    delay(500);
    digitalWrite(unlockPin, 1);
    
    delay(500);
    digitalWrite(auxPowerPin, 0);
    
  });

  server.on("/PanicCar", []() {
    
    server.send(200, "text/plain", "Car Panic");

    blinkBlueLed();
    
    digitalWrite(auxPowerPin, 1);
    delay(500);
    
    digitalWrite(panicPin, 0);
    delay(500);
    digitalWrite(panicPin, 1);
    
    delay(500);
    digitalWrite(auxPowerPin, 0);
    
  });

  server.on("/CarTrunk", []() {
    
    server.send(200, "text/plain", "Trunk Opened");

    blinkBlueLed();
    
    digitalWrite(auxPowerPin, 1);
    delay(500);
    
    digitalWrite(trunkPin, 0);
    delay(2000);
    digitalWrite(trunkPin, 1);
    
    delay(500);
    digitalWrite(auxPowerPin, 0);

  });

  server.on("/StartCar", []() {

    server.send(200, "text/plain", "Car Started");

    blinkBlueLed();

    digitalWrite(auxPowerPin, 1);
    delay(500);

    digitalWrite(panicPin, 0);
    delay(500);
    digitalWrite(panicPin, 1);
    delay(3000);

    digitalWrite(lockPin, 0);
    delay(500);
    digitalWrite(lockPin, 1);
    delay(500);

    digitalWrite(startPin, 0);
    delay(2000);
    digitalWrite(startPin, 1);
    delay(5000);

    digitalWrite(unlockPin, 0);
    delay(500);
    digitalWrite(unlockPin, 1);

    delay(500);
    digitalWrite(auxPowerPin, 0);

  });

  server.onNotFound(handleNotFound);

  server.begin();
  
  Serial.println("HTTP server started");

  digitalWrite(onboardLedRed, HIGH);
}

void loop(void) {

  ArduinoOTA.handle();

  server.handleClient();

  registerTimer++;

  if (registerTimer == 6000000) {

    registerTimer = 0;

    while (!client.connect(host, httpPort)) {
      Serial.println("Connection failed!");
      delay(50000);
    }

    // We now create a URI for the request
    String ip = WiFi.localIP().toString();
    String url = "/RegisterCar/token=" + ip;
    Serial.print("Requesting URL: ");
    Serial.println(url);

    // This will send the request to the server
    client.print(String("GET ") + url + " HTTP/1.1\r\n" +
                 "Host: " + host + "\r\n" +
                 "Connection: close\r\n\r\n");
    Serial.println();
    delay(500);

    // Read all the lines of the reply from server and print them to Serial
    while (client.available()) {
      String line = client.readStringUntil('\r');
      Serial.print(line);
    }

    Serial.println();

    Serial.println("closing connection");

  }

  blinkRedLed();
  
}

void handleRoot() {
  server.send(200, "text/plain", "Hello From CarServer!");
}

void handleNotFound() {
  String message = "File Not Found\n\n";
  message += "URI: ";
  message += server.uri();
  message += "\nMethod: ";
  message += (server.method() == HTTP_GET) ? "GET" : "POST";
  message += "\nArguments: ";
  message += server.args();
  message += "\n";
  for (uint8_t i = 0; i < server.args(); i++) {
    message += " " + server.argName(i) + ": " + server.arg(i) + "\n";
  }
  server.send(404, "text/plain", message);
}

void blinkBlueLed() {
  digitalWrite(onboardLedBlue, LOW);
  delay(500);
  digitalWrite(onboardLedBlue, HIGH);
}

void blinkRedLed() {
  digitalWrite(onboardLedRed, LOW);
  delay(500);
  digitalWrite(onboardLedRed, HIGH);
}