Amazon Alexa and Nissan Leaf integration

KCross

There are a few folks in the UK who put together an Amazon Alexa skill to integrate with the Nissan Leaf.

It works pretty good. It is still, of course, based off of CarWings and the telemetry data that it sends, so if Nissan's servers are offline so is this skill.

The project and associated code, readme's etc is all here:
https://github.com/arussell/AlexaNissanLeaf


Its not an officially released and supported skill either so it has to be manually installed via the detailed instructions in the link above, so its not for the IT illiterate people but not that complicated either if you know your way around Amazon's products.

I'd recommend it if you are up for following the instructions and want to be able to initiate actions to the car from Alexa.

e.g.
Alexa, ask my car to preheat.
Alexa, ask my car if it's connected to power.
Alexa, ask my car how much charge it has.

Nedved85

KCross wrote: »

There are a few folks in the UK who put together an Amazon Alexa skill to integrate with the Nissan Leaf.

It works pretty good. It is still, of course, based off of CarWings and the telemetry data that it sends, so if Nissan's servers are offline so is this skill.

The project and associated code, readme's etc is all here:
https://github.com/arussell/AlexaNissanLeaf


Its not an officially released and supported skill either so it has to be manually installed via the detailed instructions in the link above, so its not for the IT illiterate people but not that complicated either if you know your way around Amazon's products.

I'd recommend it if you are up for following the instructions and want to be able to initiate actions to the car from Alexa.

e.g.
Alexa, ask my car to preheat.
Alexa, ask my car if it's connected to power.
Alexa, ask my car how much charge it has.

I’m in the Google Home world, wonder if I could create something similar myself

New side project I’d say

Ush1

Nedved85 wrote: »

I’m in the Google Home world, wonder if I could create something similar myself

New side project I’d say

Same, that would be very cool to have with Google Home.

I know there's a user on the Home Automation forum who created a link to a non supported smart heating system(Ember) through Home Assistant.

rolion

That will be my last ,really THE last thing on my list to give those data slurpers access to my car.
Imagine the history that they can create of my driving style and location and time spent at chargers.

You guys go ahead...you will receive notifications such as:
i saw that you spent one hour waiting at the "location".Do you want me to save it for you or you want to input some feedback !?
..or..
Seen that you visiting so often that "location",would you like to get notified of changes / updates ?
...or...
what the heck are you waiting here when that other "location" is empty ?
...or...
drive 5 km and take first left for the nearest empty charger /charging point free....oh,wait is not empty,is taken..or is offline !?
..or..
can't think of next legal challenge or simillar based on history or commands.

People of this planet ...use your common sense and don't forget to put your brain / memory at work... they will become redundant and addicted to "tell me what to do next" .
Be good.

Nedved85

rolion wrote: »

That will be my last ,really THE last thing on my list to give those data slurpers access to my car.
Imagine the history that they can create of my driving style and location and time spent at chargers.

You guys go ahead...you will receive notifications such as:
i saw that you spent one hour waiting at the "location".Do you want me to save it for you or you want to input some feedback !?
..or..
Seen that you visiting so often that "location",would you like to get notified of changes / updates ?
...or...
what the heck are you waiting here when that other "location" is empty ?
...or...
drive 5 km and take first left for the nearest empty charger /charging point free....oh,wait is not empty,is taken..or is offline !?
..or..
can't think of next legal challenge or simillar based on history or commands.

People of this planet ...use your common sense and don't forget to put your brain / memory at work... they will become redundant and addicted to "tell me what to do next" .
Be good.

You know that thing you have in your pocket? It is sending all of this data back already.

KCross

rolion wrote: »

That will be my last ,really THE last thing on my list to give those data slurpers access to my car.
Imagine the history that they can create of my driving style and location and time spent at chargers.

You guys go ahead...you will receive notifications such as:
i saw that you spent one hour waiting at the "location".Do you want me to save it for you or you want to input some feedback !?
..or..
Seen that you visiting so often that "location",would you like to get notified of changes / updates ?
...or...
what the heck are you waiting here when that other "location" is empty ?
...or...
drive 5 km and take first left for the nearest empty charger /charging point free....oh,wait is not empty,is taken..or is offline !?
..or..
can't think of next legal challenge or simillar based on history or commands.

People of this planet ...use your common sense and don't forget to put your brain / memory at work... they will become redundant and addicted to "tell me what to do next" .
Be good.

A bit of an over reaction rolion!

All this integration does is it allows you to use Alexa instead of the smartphone app that comes with every Leaf. Its not sending GPS data etc to Amazon.

I believe you have a Leaf.... it constantly sends its location and a bunch of other stats to Nissan servers already.... so you are already being tracked!

As Nedved85 said, if you have a smartphone in your pocket or the PC you are writing your boards posts on, are all gathering ALOT more information about you that you should be worried about.... this Alexa integration is not one of those!

And to be honest, if data collection really concerns you you should disconnect yourself entirely from the internet because tracking your activity and likes/dislikes etc is part of using the internet... as you put it yourself... "Be Good"!!

Calahonda52

I agree with Rolion here: the reality is that we don't know what is being collected, despite all the assurances etc so no need for an extra conduit, especially to Amazon

KCross

Calahonda52 wrote: »

I agree with Rolion here: the reality is that we don't know what is being collected, despite all the assurances etc so no need for an extra conduit, especially to Amazon

Its an open Github project. You can see what the code is doing if you wish to view it.... which I did before I installed it.

As already said, the data you two are concerned about is already being transferred everytime you sit into the car, to the Nissan servers. Are you not concerned about that?

Maybe you two are just up to no good!
In that case you need to get rid of your Leaf's and your smartphones!

hawkeye_bmr

I have set this up on my Alexa yesterday, there are a few small steps missing from the guide,minor issues like saving the project at a certain point to get to the next step, plus the zip file wouldn't upload. I managed to open the files and paste the code into the online editor.

Took roughly half hour, but it's brilliant!

Time to take out your phone, open the app, wait for it to load, press the pre heat option, wait, press on button, wait...then hope it works... this takes probably a good minute...

vs

Alexa, ask my car to warm up.....just a moment while I talk to the car....ok, your car is heating.. probably take 10seconds...

KCross

Indeed, and ironically the Nissan app is currently broken so you cant even interact with the car via the app but the Alexa integration still works!


One important thing to remember is that when you ask Alexa for status information it reads the latest data that the Nissan servers have. It doesnt go to the car for it. If you, for instance, want to know what % the battery is at or if the car is plugged in you need to first ask "Alexa ask the car for an update", wait for that data to come back from the car via its SIM data connection and THEN ask Alexa what the status is as the Nissan servers will then be up to date. This is also how the app works but might be something you'd miss with Alexa since she doesnt tell you how old the data is.

If you just want to start pre-heating or start a charge session then just ask that directly and you're done, as thats an instant command rather than a request for data.

Batesy

I followed the instructions but getting a 'You are not allowed to use this service' error from Alexa in the test environment.

hawkeye_bmr

Batesy wrote: »

I followed the instructions but getting a 'You are not allowed to use this service' error from Alexa in the test environment.

Can you go back to the part where you uploaded zip, you may need to change the version of the code, the guide doesn't mention this but I think it's 4.3 or similar...

Batesy

I’ll revisit it this evening but I’m nearly sure I selected Node 4.3.

Do you leave the region at NE?? I tried IE, Ireland etc too.

Ush1

Just googled and this functionality is actually available and supported for Google Home but only for Leaf owners in the US. Bit annoying.

KCross

Ush1 wrote: »

Just googled and this functionality is actually available and supported for Google Home but only for Leaf owners in the US. Bit annoying.

I think thats a paid service that Nissan USA provide?

KCross

Batesy wrote: »

I followed the instructions but getting a 'You are not allowed to use this service' error from Alexa in the test environment.

From a quick scan of the code that error message appears to be related to the "applicationId" part of the procedure.

I'd go back to that point of the procedure and check you have done that correctly. Note it is case sensitive so that capital I is important..... "applicationId"

Double check you have the correct Id copy/pasted also.

KCross

Nedved85 wrote: »

I’m in the Google Home world, wonder if I could create something similar myself

New side project I’d say

I dont have Google Home so I dont know how good/bad or indifferent the Google Home integration is, but this might be worth reading as a good starting point...

https://www.speakev.com/threads/google-home-ok-google-heat-up-the-car.91921/

Batesy

KCross wrote: »

From a quick scan of the code that error message appears to be related to the "applicationId" part of the procedure.

I'd go back to that point of the procedure and check you have done that correctly. Note it is case sensitive so that capital I is important..... "applicationId"

Double check you have the correct Id copy/pasted also.

Got it working! Had the wrong applicationId specified. I had the short 'Nissan_Leaf' entered rather than the long ID.

Also changed the region back to 'NE'

Really cool skill to have.

rolion

KCross wrote: »

Its an open Github project. You can see what the code is doing if you wish to view it.... which I did before I installed it.

As already said, the data you two are concerned about is already being transferred everytime you sit into the car, to the Nissan servers. Are you not concerned about that?

Maybe you two are just up to no good!
In that case you need to get rid of your Leaf's and your smartphones!

Thats a new low and very disapointed...
You told me to get rid of the phone while unkel told to get rid of the car...something not right here with you two guys...too bored at work !?
I was thinking to bring you the card to your office and to unkel too...but you two are off my Christmas card list now...for good ! :cool:

Regarding the smarty think and accepting with your "open" eyes and mind all the latest buzzy tech words Terms and Conditions...well in my programming language world called "R35P3C7" that action will be labelled as ID 10 Ts.
Please keep it to yourself and dont fcukign try to persuade or convince,worse,to label other people that are having a different view of today's modern life interactions different !!!

Anyway,i highly advise to watch a movie,with a nice bottle of red wine and not alone,i hope.
Movie is called "IDIOCRACY" and is a good one.
I can setup a scheduled listing view on your Netflix account,if you dont know the movie,let's say this Saturday after !?

Be good... a good person is a happy person.

PS
I stopped accepting Nissan dashboard t&c immediately after i got the prompt to change my password...and despite change it and i was able to login with the previous one...not sure why i had to update it ,apparently for a new server or system upgrade... I keep a very close eye to that particular email address used only for the portal...as soon as that appears on underground,i can say i will have a new Leaf waiting to be collected from the local dealer.

KCross

You'll need to rewrite that without the wine on board rolion! I have no idea what you are saying to me!