Car Assistant

Keep track of your car remotely through Home Assistant

Sponsor

This project has been sponsored by PCBWay!

You can order this project from PCBWay at a $5 discount by using my referal link

Features

• OTA updates (Over a WireGuard VPN connection, cellular NAT IP or locally through the WiFi hotspot (coming soon))
• Cellular connectivity
• Automatically update the ESP's clock
• WireGuard VPN connection
• SD card support through a web server
• Broadcast a Bluetooth iBeacon (to detect which phones are in the car, by using the iBeacon Scanner sensor in the Home Assistant app)
• Report battery status (percentage, voltage, USB charging, solar charging & discharging)
• Report network details (public IP, Cellular NAT IP, WireGuard IP, Cellular network type, Cellular signal strength and Cellular network type)
• Report location status (latitude, longitude, speed, altitude, visible satellites, horizontal dilution of precision, accuracy and course)
• Report the uptime of the ESP in seconds
• Report your car's temperature, humidity and air pressure using a BME280 sensor
• Report the light level inside your car using a TSL2561 sensor
• Detect motion inside your car's cabin using a PIR sensor or a mmWave radar
• Report the CPU temperature and frequency
• Report the free RAM & PSRAM amounts
• Reboot the ESP32 & Modem remotely
• Broadcast a WiFi hotspot with internet access (coming soon)

Software Requirements

• ESPHome (2025.8.0 or later)
• Home Assistant server
• WireGuard VPN server or an MQTT broker
• USB <-> Serial driver (macOS | Linux | Windows)

Hardware Requirements

• LilyGO® TTGO T-SIM7600E-L1C ESP32 (Other ESP32 TTGO models could also work)
• A Nano SIM Card with an active internet plan
• Cellular antenna
• GPS antenna
• 18650B battery
• BME280 sensor (optional)
• TSL2561 sensor (optional)
• PIR sensor (like the AM312) thats pulled low by default (optional)
• LD2410S mmWave radar (optional)
• Micro SD Card formatted as FAT32 (optional)

Connectors

• I2C1 - GPIO 21 (SDA) & 22 (SCL)
• I2C2 - GPIO 21 (SDA) & 22 (SCL)
• GPIO - GPIO 19 & 23

Boards preview

Enclosures preview

More pictures can be found here

Installation

Follow these steps to get your Car Assistant device up and running with ESPHome.

ESPHome Integration Setup

1. Install the ESPHome add-on in Home Assistant if not already installed:
   • Go to Settings → Add-ons → Add-on Store
   • Search for ESPHome
   • Click Install
2. Start the ESPHome add-on and verify that it's running
3. Access the ESPHome dashboard through Home Assistant

Setup Device

1. In the ESPHome dashboard, click + New Device
2. Name your device (e.g., "Car Assistant")
3. Select ESP32 as your device type
4. Copy the default configuration to your new device from here
5. Modify the configuration in the user config section
6. Click Save and then Install

Device Flashing

Initial flashing must be done via serial connection.

ESPHome Web is recommended for the simplest experience.

Required Hardware

• USB-C to USB-A cable

Flashing Process

1. Connect the T-SIM7600E-L1C to a computer using a USB-C cable
2. Visit ESPHome Web
3. Connect to your device and flash the firmware you compiled earlier
4. After a successful flash, the device will restart and be ready for OTA updates

Device Tracker

Import the device tracker blueprint into Home Assistant to display your car's location on the map

Recover from GPS failures

Import the restart on GPS failure blueprint into Home Assistant to automatically restart your Car Assistant's modem & ESP32 if GPS fails and does not recover

Credits

• Xinyuan-LilyGO - Basic T-SIM7600X implementation
• oarcher - ESPHome SIM7600 implementation & Blueprint device tracker
• n-serrette - ESPHome SDCard implementation