I figured I should at least try to use my studies at Cal Poly during each class to build something cool in each of them… so here is one new project development: PrimeCluster!

So, I ran into a few issues with my car: I love my Prius. I got it as a hand me down and my first car, specifically I have the 2019 Prius Prime. However, there are some areas I feel the car kinda lacks. I always really loved how other cars specifically BMW cars handled their infotainment system. I love the design far more and certain aspects of my car have become very outdated, especially since Toyota discontinued supporting the software of the Prius Prime a few years back.

This inspired me, what if I use the technical skills to build an open-source, gadge cluster system? I got curious and did some research and I have yet to find another like it.

I call it, PrimeCluster. Prime being the prefix of my car, and Cluster being the object it is.

The Origins

I actually was eyeing this idea as a result of a want. I recently became very much on alert for a CarPlay alternative or CarPlay device for my car.

In July, I ended up moving to San Luis Obispo for studies. One small problem with the navigation: my apartment is not in the dataset Toyota used on their car. This meant that if I ever needed to get back, I would have to use my phone, or use a more general location. The navigation itself also gave me a lot of issues as well, when it came to incorrectly routing me down a worse path.

Development

I have currently finished a very early version on my GitHub, and that early version has been able to read all the speed signals from the car. The process has been heavily expeditated due to Claude, as certain CAN signals would take significantly more time by hand, and although AI can be a slippery slope for learning, as long as your still learning how you’d be able to do it I found myself to be okay with.

I plan on continuing to develop the project and later make this project fully open source, maybe even turning it into a framework for other developers to build their own clusters easier. Right now, the signals would read only for a Prius Prime 2019 (maybe 2017-2022, untested) however as of right now it will remain a passion project.

Learning Outcomes

During my time working on this, I hope to hone in a lot of my C++ skills, learn QML (a lot easier than expected due to React knowledge), learn Qt (turns out there’s a lot of libraries that make working in Qt feel way easier), and teach me more about Embedded Systems and CAN protocols.

I ended up getting a lot of notes on how DBC notation is written, how the car reads to a CAN device, how the flow of signals work when using CAN.

In fact, this is the illustration of the system the code relies on: