So you just bought an OpenXC vehicle interface? Let’s get it programmed and test it in a car with your laptop using Python and the OpenXC Python library.

If you have issues at any point in this process, check for similar issues in the Google Group and otherwise create a new post to ask for some assistance.

Program the Vehicle Interface

Visit the VI firmware page to find the right firmware for your VI and to learn how to re-program it.

Python Smoke Test

If you don’t have an Android device, or you want to write apps using Python, you can use a laptop to test.

1. Install the OpenXC Python library - don’t forget the USB backend if you want to connect to the VI via USB and not Bluetooth.
2. Attach the programmed VI to your computer with a USB cable, or pair with it via Bluetooth and open a serial terminal (the Bluetooth pairing process depends on your platform, so we leave that as an exercise for the user). On Windows, install the driver from the vi-firmware repository.
3. Run openxc-control version from the command line - it should print out the current version of the attached vehicle interface. If you instead get an error about not being able to find the USB device, make sure the VI has power (look for an LED).
   1. Did you get an error that there is no backend available? Go back to the Python library docs and make sure you installed a USB backend.
4. If the version check was successful, plug your VI into a running car and run openxc-dump to test that data can be streamed from the vehicle interface. It should return a stream of live vehicle data, and openxc-dashboard will show the vehicle parameters in a useful windowed display.