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OVCS: Retrofitting Cars with Elixir & Nerves | S13E11 Elixir Wizards Podcast by SmartLogic
Embedded Systems | Elixir Programming Language | Automotive Engineering
For the Season 13 finale, Elixir Wizards Dan and Charles are joined by Spin42 Engineers Marc Lainez, Thibault Poncelet, and Loïc Vigneron to discuss their work retrofitting a 2007 VW Polo and creating an Open Vehicle Control System (OVCS). Using Elixir, Nerves, and Raspberry Pis, the team is reimagining vehicle technology to extend the lifespan of older cars and reduce waste-all while making the process approachable and open source.
The Spin42 team shares the technical details behind OVCS and how they use Elixir and Nerves to interact with the CAN bus and build a Vehicle Management System (VMS) to coordinate various vehicle components. They dive into the challenges of reverse engineering CAN messages, designing a distributed architecture with Elixir processes, and ensuring safety with fail-safe modes and emergency shutoffs.
Beyond the technical, the team discusses their motivation for the project-upgrading older vehicles with modern features to keep them on the road, building an open-source platform to share their findings with others, and above all-- to just have fun. They explore potential applications for OVCS in boats, construction equipment, and other vehicles, while reflecting on the hurdles of certifying the system for road use.
If you’ve ever wondered how Elixir and Nerves can drive innovation beyond software, this episode is packed with insights into automotive computing, hardware development, and the collaborative potential of open-source projects.
00:50 Background and Journey of Spin42
02:11 The Motivation Behind the Project
02:47 Challenges and Solutions in Car Retrofitting
04:38 Why Elixir for Vehicle Control Systems?
05:57 First Nerves Project Experience
09:16 Vehicle Management System (VMS)
11:54 Development Environment and Tooling
14:46 Cantastic: Custom Elixir Library for CAN
19:24 Reverse Engineering and Real-World Impact
24:33 Custom PyCanbus Hat and Open Source Hardware
27:41 Open Source Hardware Trend
28:03 Building a New Infotainment System
28:28 Touchscreen Integration
30:09 Initial Display Technology Choices
31:11 Switching to Flutter
33:31 Hardware for Infotainment System
35:13 Marc's First Car: Volkswagen Polo
38:40 Autonomous Features and Remote Control
41:02 Safety Mechanisms
42:42 Mechanical and Software Fail-Safes
46:15 Open Source Documentation and Community Involvement
47:16 Future Plans and Contracting Work
51:34 Contact Information and Closing Remarks
Topics Discussed in this Episode:
Retrofitting a 2007 VW Polo with electric engines and modern tech
Building an open-source Vehicle Control System (OVCS) using Elixir and Nerves
Leveraging Elixir to interact with the CAN bus and parse proprietary messages
Designing a Vehicle Management System (VMS) to coordinate vehicle components
Developing custom hardware for CAN communication
Creating a YAML-based DSL for CAN message and frame descriptions
Building a distributed architecture using Elixir processes
Ensuring safety with fail-safe modes and emergency shutoffs
Using Flutter and Nerves to build a custom infotainment system
Exploring autonomous driving features with a ROS2 bridge
Developing remote control functionality with a Mavlink transmitter
Testing OVCS features at scale with a Traxxas RC car (OVCS Mini)
Challenges of certifying OVCS for road use and meeting regulatory requirements
Encouraging community contributions to expand OVCS functionality
Balancing open-source projects with contract work to sustain development
The fun and fulfillment of experimenting with Elixir beyond traditional applications
Links mentioned:
www.spin42.com/
nerves-project.org/
Quadcopter github.com/Spin42/elicopter
github.com/linux-can/can-utils
docs.kernel.org/networking/can.html
github.com/open-vehicle-control-system/cantastic
github.com/commaai/opendbc
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN_bus#CAN_FD
comma.ai/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN_FD
webkit.org/wpe/
docs.nvidia.com/jetson/archives/r35.4.1/DeveloperGuide/text/SD/WindowingSystems/WestonWayland.html
buildroot.org/
vuejs.org/
flutter.dev/
github.com/smartrent/elixir_flutter_embedder
www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-5/
The Rabbit Pickup www.hemmings.com/stories/value-guide-1980-83-volkswagen-pickup
www.expresslrs.org/software/mavlink
industrial-training-master.readthedocs.io/en/melodic/_source/session7/ROS1-ROS2-bridge.html
github.com/ros2/rcl
github.com/open-vehicle-control-system/traxxas
Contact Marc, Thibault, and Loïc: info@spin42.com
Fill out our listener survey here: HTTPS://smr.tl/EWS13 -- We'd love to hear your thoughts!
Переглядів: 265

Відео

Building an Open Vehicle Control System using Elixir and Nerves with Marc, Thibault, and Loïc
Переглядів 55Місяць тому
For the Season 13 finale, Elixir Wizards Dan and Charles are joined by Spin42 Engineers Marc Lainez, Thibault Poncelet, and Loïc Vigneron to discuss their work retrofitting a 2007 VW Polo and creating an Open Vehicle Control System (OVCS). Using Elixir, Nerves, and Raspberry Pis, the team is reimagining vehicle technology to extend the lifespan of older cars and reduce waste-all while making th...
Horizon: Deploy Elixir Apps on FreeBSD Hosts | S13E10 Elixir Wizards Podcast by SmartLogic
Переглядів 79Місяць тому
Elixirlang | Software Deployment | FreeBSD In this episode, The Elixir Wizards welcome Jim Freeze, organizer of ElixirConf and creator of the Horizon library. Jim shares his journey from organizing Ruby conferences to founding and growing ElixirConf into the community cornerstone it is today. He reflects on the challenges of running a major conference, how COVID-19 shaped the event, and why the...
Creating Horizon: Deploy Elixir Phoenix Apps on FreeBSD with Jim Freeze
Переглядів 45Місяць тому
The Elixir Wizards welcome Jim Freeze, organizer of ElixirConf and creator of the Horizon library. Jim shares his journey from organizing Ruby conferences to founding and growing ElixirConf into the community cornerstone it is today. He reflects on the challenges of running a major conference, how COVID-19 shaped the event, and why the talks remain an evergreen resource for the Elixir ecosystem...
Telemetry & Observability for Elixir Apps at Cars.com | S13E09 Elixir Wizards Podcast by SmartLogic
Переглядів 126Місяць тому
Software Analytics | OpenTelemetry | Elixir Programming Language Zack Kayser and Ethan Gunderson, Software Engineers at Cars Commerce, join the Elixir Wizards to share their expertise on telemetry and observability in large-scale systems. Drawing from their experience at Cars.com-a platform handling high traffic and concurrent users-they discuss the technical and organizational challenges of sc...
Telemetry & Observability for Elixir Apps at Cars.com with Zack Kayser & Ethan Gunderson
Переглядів 32Місяць тому
Zack Kayser and Ethan Gunderson, Software Engineers at Cars Commerce, join the Elixir Wizards to share their expertise on telemetry and observability in large-scale systems. Drawing from their experience at Cars.com-a platform handling high traffic and concurrent users-they discuss the technical and organizational challenges of scaling applications, managing microservices, and implementing effe...
Daylite: Scaling an Apple-Native CRM with Elixir | S13E08 Elixir Wizards Podcast by SmartLogic
Переглядів 190Місяць тому
Distributed Systems | Scalability | Elixir Programming Language AJ (Alykhan Jetha), CEO and CTO of Marketcircle, joins the Elixir Wizards to share his experience building and evolving Daylite, their award-winning CRM and business productivity app for Apple users. He details his experiences as a self-taught programmer and how Marketcircle has navigated pivots, challenges, and opportunities since...
Scaling the Daylite Apple-Native CRM Using Elixir with AJ
Переглядів 23Місяць тому
AJ (Alykhan Jetha), CEO and CTO of Marketcircle, joins the Elixir Wizards to share his experience building and evolving Daylite, their award-winning CRM and business productivity app for Apple users. He details his experiences as a self-taught programmer and how Marketcircle has navigated pivots, challenges, and opportunities since its founding in 1999. AJ explains why they migrated Daylite’s b...
Castmagic: An AI-Powered Content Workflow Platform | S13E07 Elixir Wizards Podcast by SmartLogic
Переглядів 1212 місяці тому
AI Social Media Content Generation | Automated Workflows | Phoenix LiveView Justin Tormey, co-founder of Castmagic, joins the Elixir Wizards to discuss building an AI-powered content creation app. Castmagic repurposes audio and video into social media posts, blog articles, newsletters, and more. The tech stack leverages OpenAI and Anthropic LLMs with Elixir as the coordination layer and Phoenix...
Creating the Castmagic AI-Powered Content Workflow Platform with Justin Tormey
Переглядів 292 місяці тому
Justin Tormey, co-founder of Castmagic, joins the Elixir Wizards to discuss building an AI-powered content creation app. Castmagic repurposes audio and video into social media posts, blog articles, newsletters, and more. The tech stack leverages OpenAI and Anthropic LLMs with Elixir as the coordination layer and Phoenix LiveView powering the front end. Justin dives into the technical details of...
Standd: AI-Native Document Analysis & Generation | S13E06 Elixir Wizards Podcast by SmartLogic
Переглядів 1862 місяці тому
Generative AI Tools for Business | Elixir Programming Language | Software Development Solka, CTO and co-founder of Standd.io, joins Elixir Wizards Owen and Charles to share the journey of building an AI-native deal intelligence and due diligence platform. Designed to streamline document analysis and text generation for venture capital firms, Standd.io leverages large language models and AI tool...
Creating the Standd AI-Native Due Diligence Platform with Stephen Solka
Переглядів 242 місяці тому
Stephen Solka, CTO and co-founder of Standd.io, joins Elixir Wizards Owen and Charles to share the journey of building an AI-native deal intelligence and due diligence platform. Designed to streamline document analysis and text generation for venture capital firms, Standd.io leverages large language models and AI tools to address key customer pain points in document workflows. Stephen explains ...
Creating WebAuthn Components for Phoenix LiveView Apps | S13E05 Elixir Wizards Podcast by SmartLogic
Переглядів 892 місяці тому
Passkeys | Passwordless Authentication | Software Engineering Today on Elixir Wizards, Owen Bickford, fellow Wizard and creator of the WebauthnComponents library, joins us to talk about building passwordless authentication for Phoenix LiveView applications. Owen walks us through the evolution of authentication-touching on everything from plain text passwords to multi-factor setups-and explains ...
Creating the WebAuthn Components Library for Phoenix LiveView Apps with Owen Bickford
Переглядів 442 місяці тому
Today on Elixir Wizards, Owen Bickford, fellow Wizard and creator of the WebauthnComponents library, joins us to talk about building passwordless authentication for Phoenix LiveView applications. Owen walks us through the evolution of authentication-touching on everything from plain text passwords to multi-factor setups-and explains the security flaws and user experience issues each method pres...
Making a Terrestrial Telescope with Nerves & LiveView | S13E04 Elixir Wizards Podcast by SmartLogic
Переглядів 682 місяці тому
Embedded Systems | Hardware Engineering | Elixir Nerves Today on Elixir Wizards, indie developer Lucas Sifoni shares his experience prototyping a remote-controlled terrestrial telescope using Elixir, Nerves, Rust, and various hardware components. Lucas explains the basic components of a telescope, the challenges he faced during the development process, and the benefits of using Elixir and Nerve...
Creating a Terrestrial Telescope using Nerves & LiveView with Lucas Sifoni
Переглядів 322 місяці тому
Creating a Terrestrial Telescope using Nerves & LiveView with Lucas Sifoni
Creating a Local-First Offline-Enabled LiveView App | S13E03 Elixir Wizards Podcast by SmartLogic
Переглядів 2982 місяці тому
Creating a Local-First Offline-Enabled LiveView App | S13E03 Elixir Wizards Podcast by SmartLogic
Creating a Local-First Offline-Enabled LiveView PWA with Tony Dang
Переглядів 802 місяці тому
Creating a Local-First Offline-Enabled LiveView PWA with Tony Dang
VintageCell: A Retrofit 1930s Rotary Phone with Nerves | S13E02 Elixir Wizards Podcast by SmartLogic
Переглядів 1063 місяці тому
VintageCell: A Retrofit 1930s Rotary Phone with Nerves | S13E02 Elixir Wizards Podcast by SmartLogic
Creating VintageCell: Nerves, PCBs, and GenStateMachine with Bryan Green
Переглядів 363 місяці тому
Creating VintageCell: Nerves, PCBs, and GenStateMachine with Bryan Green
Igniter: Elixir Code Generation & Automation Framework | S13E01 Elixir Wizards Podcast by SmartLogic
Переглядів 3053 місяці тому
Igniter: Elixir Code Generation & Automation Framework | S13E01 Elixir Wizards Podcast by SmartLogic
Creating the Igniter Code Generation Framework with Zach Daniel
Переглядів 563 місяці тому
Creating the Igniter Code Generation Framework with Zach Daniel
ElixirConf 2024 Hype-isode: Elixir Wizards x Thinking Elixir Podcast
Переглядів 2056 місяців тому
ElixirConf 2024 Hype-isode: Elixir Wizards x Thinking Elixir Podcast
Elixir Wizards X Thinking Elixir ElixirConf 2024 Hype-isode
Переглядів 546 місяців тому
Elixir Wizards X Thinking Elixir ElixirConf 2024 Hype-isode
Retrospectives in Agile Software Development | S12E11 Elixir Wizards Podcast by SmartLogic
Переглядів 398 місяців тому
Retrospectives in Agile Software Development | S12E11 Elixir Wizards Podcast by SmartLogic
"The Past is Your Teacher" with Alicia Brindisi and Bri LaVorgna
Переглядів 328 місяців тому
"The Past is Your Teacher" with Alicia Brindisi and Bri LaVorgna
Joining a Software Development Team | S12E10 Elixir Wizards Podcast by SmartLogic
Переглядів 578 місяців тому
Joining a Software Development Team | S12E10 Elixir Wizards Podcast by SmartLogic
"So You've Been Hired" with Emma Whamond and Micaela Cunha
Переглядів 438 місяців тому
"So You've Been Hired" with Emma Whamond and Micaela Cunha
Task Writing & Backlog Grooming in Software Development | S12E9 Elixir Wizards Podcast by SmartLogic
Переглядів 438 місяців тому
Task Writing & Backlog Grooming in Software Development | S12E9 Elixir Wizards Podcast by SmartLogic
"From Inspiration to Execution" with Camber Griffin
Переглядів 198 місяців тому
"From Inspiration to Execution" with Camber Griffin

КОМЕНТАРІ

  • @eranga-dev
    @eranga-dev 26 днів тому

    I am new to Elixir and this is easily one of the best podcasts I have come across. I absolutely love your content. Happy new year.

  • @jasmyneokudo
    @jasmyneokudo 28 днів тому

    Hi! Stumbled on this today and it was quite interesting to listen to. I know it's been 9 months but I'd like to express my interest in Elixir developer opening if it is still available. I'm a mid level Elixir developer with a lot of enthusiasm about Elixir and building amazing stuff with Elixir. Will be glad to apply. Thank you 😊

  • @toxtethogrady4610
    @toxtethogrady4610 Місяць тому

    Oh my - this is great interview, thank you

  • @AdolfoNeto
    @AdolfoNeto 6 місяців тому

    I would love to go to an ElixirConf and meet all of you. Unfortunately, it won't be possible this year.

    • @SundiMyint
      @SundiMyint 5 місяців тому

      Maybe next time!!!