There is something alluring about combining a flight simulator’s flight stick with your car. I get it, one time I installed a flight stick as a Mercedes-Benz 240D’s shift knob. But can you actually plug a flight stick into your car?
Jason wrote about the most abused car in video gaming, Street Fighter II’s Lexus LS400. CSRoad asked a random question:
Torch, I think you’re the man to ask.
Can I interface my USB fight stick through the OBD2 port in my car?
Max Headbolts wins COTD for this seriously great answer:
No, the data lines on OBD2 are all CAN, LIN, or K-Line. While USB to CAN transceivers exist, they would need a whole lot of logic to translate the output of your flight stick to CAN commands. There is a Python CAN library you could run on a Raspberry Pi as the middleman to translate stick commands to CAN, but you’ll need the specific Arbitration IDs for the functions you want the stick to replicate.
Spopepro adds even more context:
I don’t know OBD2 protocols precisely, but it is completely accurate guide for nearly any computer protocol interface. The one thing I’d add is the Pi route, while maybe the most end user friendly, will have significant input lag. The joystick is already using an embedded controller that is taking analog and digital sensor positions and translating it to USB human interface device commands. USB HID is already notoriously input laggy (to be fair, a lot of this is on the operating system side) and adding what is more or less software emulation will make it worse. Far better to take an AVR, like a teensy, connect the sensors/buttons and program an embedded device to output the correct commands.
For CSRoad, the people you want to talk to are adaptive vehicle techs that modify vehicles for people who need different interfaces for cars. They know how to do what you want, and are awesome people who often are really creative as.their clients will all have some unique needs. But while they have the info, it’s unlikely to be legal for you.
Max Headbolts then goes deeper:
Depending on the vehicle, the Comma.ai interface may be an option as well, yes the Pi will add significant lag, please don’t try to drive your car this way. There is a video floating around on YouTube of someone driving their car with the motion sensors of their Smart Phone, in that case they hijacked the lane keep and adaptive cruise (this is all from memory) to control vehicle steering and throttle.
Anyway, if any of you hacker types want to give this a whirl, I’ll be your test pilot!
Finally, Thomas wrote about how his BMW broke again. You sort of have to have a sense of humor to own a German car because the alternative is crying. Vanillasludge:
I always admire the patience and sense of humor owners of old German and English cars have about their cars inevitable shit-taking.
They truly are the world’s greatest “glass half-full” people. A toast to you all!
Have a great evening, everyone!
Topshot: Mercedes Streeter
Why do I know about these things? Of my assorted hobbies I am a keyboard enthusiast. I have an IBM beamspring I’ve converted to USB using a custom capacitive sense controller. I made a switch-like retro game handheld from a raspberry pi, a chopped up super nes controller board, analog sticks, a teensy board, and 3d printed parts. I did the avr programming for my friends MAME cabinet he built.
In truth, one of the most liberating things you can do is learn to program C for embedded controllers. It makes the technical world your oyster.
Other note about the adaptive vehicle techs. My Dad is a T2-incomplete paraplegic and has had a variety of fantastic people help him with mobility. The vehicle techs are wizards. One even dailied a Jag xk-e, albeit SBC swapped. They really are awesome people, and awesome car people.