Show HN: I built a system to drive my RC car from anywhere in the world

6 points

5 months ago

Wanted to share a project I've been working on. Basically lets you drive an RC car remotely over the internet with live FPV video. I'm arranging outdoor time attack tournaments with friends, somewhere in woods or in the open field.

The setup:

    - Raspberry Pi Zero 2W mounted on the car with a wide-angle camera
    - ESP32 on the transmitter generating joystick voltages (needed because ARRMA's 2-in-1 ESC/receiver has no accessible inputs)
    - Cloudflare for the networking magic (TURN, Tunnel, Workers)
    - Browser-based controls - works on phone or desktop

What it does:

    - ~100-200ms control latency over internet (10-15ms on LAN)
    - 720p @ 30fps live video
    - Touch controls on mobile, keyboard on desktop
    - Admin dashboard for race management
    - Token-based access so I can let friends drive
    - Auto-stops if connection drops (safety first)
    - Adjustable throttle limits
    - Optional re-streaming to YouTube

Built it because I thought it'd be cool to let people drive the car without being physically present. Currently running it on my 4G modem and it works surprisingly well.

The whole thing is open source if anyone wants to check it out or build their own. The thing is, it's obviously not easy to get up and running for an average user. But maybe you'll find this useful.

Total hardware cost is around $75 (Pi + camera + ESP32) assuming you already have the car and transmitter.

Some features are work in progress:

    - Speedometer
    - GPS and track position
    - Gates system (will probably use short-range Bluetooth beacons)

Here's a a technical article about the project that reveals a bit more of under the hood thinking https://romanliutikov.com/blog/building-internet-controlled-...

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