Tapping into THE 981 CAN for Alexa voice control
 

Porsche gurus -

Im in the process of hooking up an amazon echo to my cayman to control things like the windows, volume, heated seats, etc. I'm a software engineer with a good understanding of the CAN system but not of the 981. What's the best place to splice into CAN+/-? Ideally in the front or the back is fine - the data once processed will be transmitted over Bluetooth to an iPad.

very easy......

Go to this site and scroll down to: "Porsche 981 GT4 AiM Solo DL CAN wiring guide"

http://www.peterkrause.net/Krause_%2..._and_Data.html

Harvey

PCA, Chin & PBOC HPDE Instructor
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2015 981CS - PDK, GT Silver/Black
2008 997.1 C2 - 6 Speed, Meteor Grey/Sand Beige (gone)
2000 986S - 6 Speed, Arctic Silver (gone, but not forgotten)

If you figure out what CAN segment has the parking brake control on it, I'd be interesting in hacking that one myself.

Thanks guys, does that location have all CAN traffic though? I actually did those steps but didn't have any luck. Curious if it was my fault or there just isnt a lot of CAN traffic there

Also ill be sure to share all this when im done!

Be sure to check out the diagram on page 68 of the service information booklet. Lots of different buses. All of them ultimately have to find their way to the general area of the OBD2 port so that the PIWIS test set can be connected, but it's far from clear how to access any given bus segment.

Hey @noah, mind adding the service manual here? Planet9 has a bug and won't let me create a new account

Older version of same document, see page 140.

that was super useful, thanks Noah! What I learned: The wires i tapped int for CAN+/- are just for diagnostics, which isn't connected to the other CAN systems.

Next step: Finding where to tap into at least the comfort CAN bus. Once that's found i can get rolling.

it looks like if i can tap into the Gateway Control Unit ill get access to the whole thing - anyone have a schematic of that? Or know where its located?

One place for sure that will have access to the comfort CAN is the headunit, anyone have instructions for how to pop that out?

Not much is publicly known about any of this stuff, unfortunately. Access to your own car's wiring diagrams costs $$$ in the brave new world of DRM and "No user-serviceable parts inside."

So I can drive up next to you and shout "Alexa, open the trunk"

Personally I'd rather capture use of the voice button the turn signal stalk. Use that to trigger the input. Like the button on an Amazon Tap. It'd be much more secure and less likely to be abused. Free voice recog is great when you're not near the device. But when driving you're already close enough to be able to use the stalk button to trigger inputs.

More importantly have you figured out if it's possible to tie the Amazon device into the PCM via Bluetooth and have it be able to interrupt other audio sources? I've tried and it won't pair at all.