AutoPi.io - Blog

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We blog about our adventures in making the AutoPi. We all have one or more Raspberry Pi's, most of us have cars, and we all share the love for cool tech projects.

Carsharing: How to use your AutoPi for short term lease car sharing

Carsharing is a growing field within the car rental industry, and not just in the US, but also in places like in Denmark and several other countries. So, what is “Carsharing”? The concept of carsharing comes from the “sharing economy”, in which certain parts of the private sector is becoming more and easily accessible through sharing between private parties and with the help of a developing platform..... Read more

by autopi on May 22, 2019, 2:33 p.m.

2nd Generation of IoT Raspberry Pi Dongles

We have worked hard and diligently on improving, expanding our dongles and ensuring better and quality results in our devices. This is culminated in the creation of a new generation of AutoPi dongles. Thus, we are very proud to now be able to reveal the next generation of AutoPi Dongles. This new generation of AutoPi Dongles have the same look as the old ones, the same price and the same base features, but we have included many new additions..... Read more

by autopi on April 3, 2019, 4:50 p.m.

AutoPi WiFi Edition - Now with NB/CAT M1

For all who do not follow us on our social media platforms, not only is our WiFi Edition Dongle back in stock in our webshop, but we have also upgraded the device so it now contains a Narrowband/Cat-M1 modem with global support. Meaning, that you can use it in countries where this is available as an option by your local network carriers. This upgrade is for all WiFi Edition dongles send out and thus you do not need to buy a new device as it's alr.... Read more

by autopi on March 14, 2019, 8:40 a.m.

Raspberry Pi Dongle: How to Read and Reset Fault Codes From Your Vehicle

The AutoPi IoT platform is much more than your regular OBD-II dongle. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t able to perform all of the same things a regular OBD-II dongle does (plus much more). One of the common things you would do is to read out details about fault codes in your vehicle. In this blog we will go over the details on how this is done with the AutoPi and how you can combine fault codes with triggers to make automatic alerts..... Read more

by autopi on Sept. 28, 2017, 11:57 a.m.

Discover hidden functions in your car (using CAN bus sniffing)

All modern vehicles today is controlled by multiple Electronic Control Units (ECU), which you can think of as small computers controlling all electrical components in your car. Using the OBD-II port and an AutoPi it is possible to communicate with the ECUs. One of the ECU’s is called the Engine Control Module (ECM). This is responsible for communication with a lot of subsystems, like transmission, power steering, windows and doors. These sub.... Read more

by autopi on Sept. 21, 2017, 2:22 p.m.

Speak to your car with Google Assistant - almost like K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider

Wouldn’t it be cool if you could speak to your car and give it commands? We remember our childhood in the last millennium where Michael Knight (David Hasselhoff) and his intelligent Pontiac Trans Am named K.I.T.T. solved crime together. While we may not be able to have a meaningful conversation with our car just yet, it’s now a possibility to talk to your car and give it commands to execute. We are here giving a short introduction to how thi.... Read more

by autopi on Sept. 15, 2017, 11:37 a.m.

How-to build a Raspberry Pi touch screen car computer

Integrated car computers are not only for expensive cars like the Tesla Model X nor is it only for complex car DIY projects that require you to have a degree in engineering. Not many people know how easy it is; by combining a few components it is possible to make it for any car. Follow this guide to see how it can be done..... Read more

by autopi on Sept. 8, 2017, 11:08 a.m.

Build your own Black Ice Detection system for your car using AutoPi

The term “Black ice” refer to a winter phenomenon, where a layer of ice on the road is so thin it becomes transparent and thus appears “black” from the road below. This is a very common situation during winter times and can create hazardous situations for vehicles and pedestrians. The phenomenon often occurs when the temperature is right around freezing point and when a light rain hits a road surface which is below freezing point..... Read more

by autopi on Aug. 21, 2017, 1:18 p.m.

Saving your car interior on a hot day - Making a cabin overheating protection system using AutoPi

Studies show that on a hot summer day the temperature inside your vehicle will rise dramatically within just 10 minutes after you parked. HeatKill.org reports that with an outside temperature of 27 C (80 F), the inside temperature could rise to as high as 37 C (99 F) after just 10 minutes. The inside of your car becomes an oven roasting your interior. The sun will permanently damage the color and look of everything it touches, thereby degrading .... Read more

by autopi on July 7, 2017, 11:36 a.m.

AutoPi: Using Raspberry Pi as a Parental Control or Teen Driver Mode

Your teenage son or daughter has just received their learners permit and you are worried about them being mature and responsible enough to use your vehicle or maybe you have friends who are irresponsible and terrible drivers. One way to ease your worries is in how AutoPi uses Raspberry Pi to make your car a carputer, basically having a computer within your car, where you can set-up limits and settings in order to control your vehicle in a Teen Dr.... Read more

by autopi on July 4, 2017, 9:46 a.m.

Raspberry Pi Car Security: How to Add a Remote Theft Detection System to Your Car

Your car is a valuable and expensive asset. Even with full insurance a car theft can be a cumbersome and expensive affair. But how can you help prevent the theft of your car and possibly avoid an increased insurance premium? In this blog post, AutoPi explore the possibilities of getting remote theft detection, using the Raspberry Pi as a car security system..... Read more

by autopi on April 28, 2017, 8:55 a.m.

Is my car compatible with AutoPi?

How can you be sure your car is compatible with the AutoPi? In this blog, we give you a short introduction to the OBD standard, the location of the port and how to check if your car has support for the AutoPi..... Read more

by autopi on April 21, 2017, 3:19 p.m.

What is AutoPi and What Does It Do?

Get a short introduction to how AutoPi works and what it does for you. We will cover some of the technical details but also give a brief overview of the use case scenarios for this IoT device, like theft detection and remote safety monitoring. Get a felling of the AutoPi IoT platform and hardware dongle..... Read more

by autopi on April 11, 2017, 3:59 p.m.

Using a Raspberry Pi Zero as an IoT platform for your car

Internet of Things (IoT) is a popular buzzword in the tech/gadget community. The concept is that all the devices in our everyday life can be online/connected to the Internet 24/7, and thereby help to improve and make our lives more efficient. This includes our light bulbs, kitchen appliances, TVs, alarm and heating systems etc. All our "things" should be able to communicate with each other and be controlled from everywhere in order to achieve a m.... Read more

by autopi on March 10, 2017, 1:35 p.m.

Switching from Raspberry Compute to Raspberry Zero

During the design phase of the AutoPi, it was decided to use the Raspberry Compute Module. The Raspberry Compute Module is small, versatile and expandable in a lot of ways, which suited the AutoPi project perfect. All the pinouts from the Broadcom BCM2835 processor is available through the SODIMM DDR2 interface on the Compute Module. This gave us a lot of possibilities during the design phase of the AutoPi and therefore the Compute module was an .... Read more

by peter on Feb. 14, 2017, 7:26 p.m.