Project Audi R4 / That Hacked Car

[Dedsec]

Yeah, I've seen there's another project called R4 but since I've used that locally (in Sweden) for quite some time... it would hurt to just change it here.

So, anyways, I'll make a shot here and see how detailed it will become.

For quick idea, what's to come...
I have no knowledge nor am i enthusiastic in engine tuning / exterior modifications.
As a IoT developer (hobbyist) i get excited about small devices (arduino-like, credit card sized computers so on). Where i come over a old electronic device, oh my god, theres so many chips, circuits and other parts to be re-used.
Basically i test things in a way which i hope few have thought about before or have gotten themselves into.



For starter... here's my sandbox.
Driving and experimenting, are 2 purposes I've found so far for it.



Here's a quick collection if experiments from past 1.5y.
Have always wanted to have a option or be able to modify / customize my personal belongings according my own needs.
My Car, in meaning of extra functions / electronical mods, is not any of that mentioned above.

Since dev time was a while ago now, I've already made a quick demo of it all, which i at the end of this post.
Therefor I'll share the video with some additional pic from dev-time.


Idea was to be able to customize my car, with functions, solutions and extensions
for more comfortable everyday usage. Sure one can buy devices from Ebay but I'm more for doing it myself.
Started off with testing around Android and centrallock/window triggers, plan was to roll windows up (if they were down) whenever i lock-n-larm my car.
Added couple of transistors (hardwired) to switches which would then be controlled my Intel Edison (raspberry pi similar device).
Here's couple of pics from dev / experiments










Even tho it worked but with limitations, that means only if ignition is on, those switches are functional,
I did'nt really like the solution. So I dumped this idea and removed all cables to restore back to 0.

Started looking a bit more into CANbus connectivity. Many seem to like to play with OBDII port but
after couple of months intensive research I realized that will not work for my plans. Needed something more
raw and customizable.

Video demoing it, contains following part, therefor I'll jump into that now....

Along the way, saw more and more newer Audis on road which have these awesome
Dynamic (as Audi calls them) Turning indicators... i had to have them and since I could'nt find any to buy
Well, why not build them myself.

Took apart headlights, painted 2 inner plastics black and started to experiment with acrylic plastic and how to form them.

It took couple of days to find best solution, as in thickness of acrylic, depth and coverage so it would melt into
the headlights without poking anyones eyes when not turned on. Overall, plastic formation and fitment took couple of days.

But the worst part was ahead, coding, the program which animates my lights.

Here's a little sum-up with pics.











I also made a brave attempt to solder a custom circuit as a prototype,
for my easy plug-n-play debugging but yeah... that board is long dead by now.
A little connectivity miss in paths almost costed me my controller board :O (Edison is NOT cheap, compared to rPI)

The software part was what took most time. I really wanted to understand CANbus and how i could
capture turnings signals there, instead of connecting extra cable to lightbulbs for activating
LED strip when it goes 12v. Actually, that was first idea but it did'nt work as neat as I hoped.

And here is a demo of those 2 projects but together.



Hope this was inspiring and gave new ideas :)

[Dedsec]

Couple of other videos

[Audibot]

Looking forward to see what else you can do. Highly impressed, and that LED flow for the turn signals looks awesome!

[kuattroo]

Looking forward to see what else you can do. Highly impressed, and that LED flow for the turn signals looks awesome!

exactly what he said....lol ^^^^

[al3k]

the led lights looked so sick :P
Arduino is awesome, I love how there is now android support in processing 3, its very easy to get information from a arduino to a android device through bluetooth chips or usb otg cable, Im gonne build a wireless boost gauge for my phone soon

[Dedsec]

Here,s a preview of current in-progress part.

I've been working on this one for a year approximately, and will become a control panel and central for status overview.


I will describe this one soon, gotta gather everything I've so far done :p

[Dedsec]

the led lights looked so sick :P
Arduino is awesome, I love how there is now android support in processing 3, its very easy to get information from a arduino to a android device through bluetooth chips or usb otg cable, Im gonne build a wireless boost gauge for my phone soon

That I had no idea of in processing.
I've been testing one and another in IntelliJ with processing but never gone all the way to test those 2 out or dig deeper in proc.
I can already some development improvements as in debugging... Crap, now I will be occupied with another idea.. I need 48h day cyclesnow to manage :/

[al3k]

Here,s a preview of current in-progress part.

I've been working on this one for a year approximately, and will become a control panel and central for status overview.


I will describe this one soon, gotta gather everything I've so far done :p

nice and clean! do you read all the door switches or just snapping info from canbus(if its possible)?

[Dedsec]

nice and clean! do you read all the door switches or just snapping info from canbus(if its possible)?

I'm directly connected to canbus and listening specific frames to decide what the UI should do. :)

[PenTico]

VERY impressive I would love to see you develop some LED tailights. Nice to see a B7 with more current tech possibilities.

[Dedsec]

VERY impressive I would love to see you develop some LED tailights. Nice to see a B7 with more current tech possibilities.

Vote for that! B7 is too old-school for any quick fixes cause CAN is more grown up in models after 2008. But B7 is still a good platform, is probably there one would want "extra functions".

It was actually tail light i started with but i soon realized, in daylight they were pretty invisible. Turnings indicators are simple halogens, which is covered by transparent green piece of plastic... halogen + green thru red gives yellow'ish glow. But we'll see what happens and if its worth to jump into that one again.

[sandspeed]

I would buy a pair of headlights and tail lights modded like this

[Dedsec]

I would buy a pair of headlights and tail lights modded like this

Hehe, I do offer building a custom made kit, but only as a custom build. Producing larger amounts is of course cheaper but harder to get on with as it is right now

[mdot1203]

Everything everyone has already said
I love what's going on in this thread. This is why I want to hold on to this car because it has some much potential to be very unique on the road.
I've only seen one other B7 avant and it was black but other people have no idea how old my car is.

[georgio3gr]

Great job!!! You definitely gave us ideas and a new "headache"...
After your post, i've searched over the net and understood the connection-reading canbus signals etc... But how difficult was learning to write correctly canbus codes? Because they look like chinese to me...

[Dedsec]

Everything everyone has already said
I love what's going on in this thread. This is why I want to hold on to this car because it has some much potential to be very unique on the road.
I've only seen one other B7 avant and it was black but other people have no idea how old my car is.

The b7 is quite old and misses some decent functions due last gen in this canbus world. B8 is first gen with full can. Anyhow still, since b7 misses few options and can be strict it Def. opens up opportunities for discover.
I

[Dedsec]

Great job!!! You definitely gave us ideas and a new "headache"...
After your post, i've searched over the net and understood the connection-reading canbus signals etc... But how difficult was learning to write correctly canbus codes? Because they look like chinese to me...

Hehe that headache you talk about, know exactly what you mean :P
I guess you're already familiar by now but I'll att it here anyway, as a clarification, there are 2 types of CANbus buzzes circulating on the internet"z". One, the most common people aim/talk about is the OBD2 connection, which actually is not so much CANbus since it is only a diagnostic port (mandatory and documented) and which manufacturers also use for easy access to various modules.
The second CANbus is onboard network which i call raw canbus (not sure if there's actual name).

The raw CANbus is where all the power lies, which is of course a upside. But the downside is, there is no documentation since pretty much each new model generation released, most probably has new can workflow (as modified frames). So taking one model and bugging out its data, will most probably not look the same in previous or upcoming models.

Back to your question.

But how difficult was learning to write correctly canbus codes? Because they look like chinese to me...

Yes, it is chinese, and its chinese even for chinese people :P As mentioned above, probably every model has different frames, which means the data can differ 100% from model to model. Since raw can is undocumented, it is up to developer to sniff, track and define each canframe as in, what it contains or even how to calculate values. That can be pretty tricky and even extremely time-consuming, unless you find someone who already has dont that and shares.

Once you figure out which frame contains data you are looking for, and also figure out the structure how calculations (if any) might be formulated, you're pretty much good to go with injecting your modified data and see the results immediately.

Here is a example of human readable canframe (HRCF):

Decimal frame id: 1571
Frame payload: 0018465409052016

If you look closer you'll see exactly what it is
And here is a non human readable canframe (NRCF):

Decimal frame id: 1329
Frame payload: 0912

For clarification, 09 indicates headlight status and 12 indicates passenger side turning indicator is currently ON (as in lit).

Some frames are statuses and some are for running commands in dependent module.

[georgio3gr]

Thank's a lot!!! I was thinking to start with arduino and a can bus shield connected directly to the lines behind radio... Hope i find enough time to try this... Keep up the good job!!!

[Dedsec]

Thank's a lot!!! I was thinking to start with arduino and a can bus shield connected directly to the lines behind radio... Hope i find enough time to try this... Keep up the good job!!!

Np :) Glad to wake some interest.
Be aware, radio is tied to infotainment bus which might / can be a bit boring but it's definitely good starting point to get started.

[Dedsec]

So after a while, since the first and initial video here comes a 2:nd update.

I had originally a setup that worked perfectly both ways, that means receiving data and sending commands to on-board controller from an external device.
The idea I did not like was unencrypted data flow, anyone with a bit more knowledge of WHW (what, how and when) near me, could sniff unwanted data.
But finally, kind of solid encryption and frequency handling are on place
and should be fine for personal usage.



I know the video is kind of silent in way of describing what is going on.
Just for clarence Edison next to me has a extension mounted which
communicates with dev-board mounted in my car. Dev-board continuously
transmits data collected from my car, to Edison when something new happens in CANbus,
so Edison which has built in WiFi, can store and transmit relevant
data for external storage or as in this video, act as AP for a custom web based controlpanel.
It's the graphical part I loose all my time at... I just don't have a eye for design :(

It took a while to get a solid cryption and frequency hopping to work
which also allows safe 2 way com.
Have not really tested the range yet, but from another project, a colleague reported this
setup to be able to communicate freely on 700m range but in theory
should also be able to range up to 1.4km. The range in this video was
not more than 5m, car was parked right behind the wall which my screen
beautifully reflects :P

So for now, i got full overview of whats going on with my car while parked.
And due Edison power(fullness), its extremely portable. Can either have it in my
pocket, mounted in car or even placed in my apartment somewhere for just collecting
data from my car.... aaawesome!

Next-up: not really sure what will be next step, expect of database and creating a real
control-panel for history overview based on collected data.

[Dedsec]

Note: all pics are currently down and I'll try to get them up before end of this month

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Audizine mobile app

[SamsonKnight]

"Project R4" name well deserved.

[Okedokey]

bump any progress?

[Dedsec]

bump any progress?

Well... yes and no :)
I recently jumped on to a job which unfortunately it is consuming me at Level: 250%.

Cause of that, got extremely limited free time :(
Last thing i did work on for R4 related was Grafana graphs for raw canbus data presentations.
Needed something to visualise raw can frames to find out some patterns. This is tied to a idea that I'm really hoping to build within upcoming year.
Here's a little screenie of grafana graphs

[aluthman]

I'll take the guts of an engine any day over trying to understand how CANbus works. It's all gibberish to me.

[Dedsec]

I'll take the guts of an engine any day over trying to understand how CANbus works. It's all gibberish to me.

I know what you mean, altho once you put your head into it, things start to get clearer.

I struggled with engine bus data for a while but once grafana graphs were up, things started to fall in place. Now I just gotta find more time to make some use of it

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Audizine mobile app

[inkbybuster]

Dedsec, what you do and are doing with this b7 is incredible. I had used an audirino controller for the led lighting of my salt water reef tank but, never thought it could be brought over to the automotive world. Insane man. Subscribing and very much inspired.

[Dedsec]

Dedsec, what you do and are doing with this b7 is incredible. I had used an audirino controller for the led lighting of my salt water reef tank but, never thought it could be brought over to the automotive world. Insane man. Subscribing and very much inspired.

Glad it makes you tick :P

[ZipMeUpJ]

Another geek here lol! Really digging the work man.

[Dedsec]

Another geek here lol! Really digging the work man.

Hehe yep, guess I am one :P
Thanks!

[Dedsec]

Not really a update, more of a follow up.

LED flow lights are starting the animation at the same time as OEM side-lights, have been thinking of
either disabling OEM ones entirely or delay them to sync with flow animation end-point.
I have not put any weight on that issues until now. Got contacted by a firm who wants me to develop
a prototype for SDS (semi dynamic sidelights). They already sell similar items but i guess they want to cut down
costs or something...
Ahh well, thought I'll give it a try and see how it works out.

Is not much but it'll do for a tiny thread update.

[Sergio0719]

Do you sell headlights ?

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[Dedsec]

Do you sell headlights ?

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As in complete setup or just LED mod?

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[Sergio0719]

As in complete setup or just LED mod?

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Led mod

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[Dedsec]

Led mod

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Well, not as product for everyday use (right now). But as custom mods for show vehicles or other kind of projects.

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[canadianA4B7]

So the headlight mod. What's someone like myself looking at for $$$ to have a set of the LED lowers made up. Yellow/white blinker sliding center to outter, able to blink 50% white 50% yellow.

What's this gonna run?? I have a new set of bi xenon headlights new in box. Only harrassed by me to paint/blacked out. And will clear corner them soon.

[Dedsec]

So the headlight mod. What's someone like myself looking at for $$$ to have a set of the LED lowers made up. Yellow/white blinker sliding center to outter, able to blink 50% white 50% yellow.

What's this gonna run?? I have a new set of bi xenon headlights new in box. Only harrassed by me to paint/blacked out. And will clear corner them soon.

Do I follow you correct, you're curious how much it would cost for described setup?

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[canadianA4B7]

Ya what you wud charge to make up a set for another car.

[Dedsec]

Ya what you wud charge to make up a set for another car.

Send me a pm with details, describing exactly what you're looking for. The more descriptive the better.

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[apf]

For me, this is seriously impressive, even more so than most mechanical modifications (probably because I hate programming related stuff).

Keep up the good work man, I might contact you for some help with something like those turn signals