Django with Smartcar API Integration

If you have a modern vehicle with telemetry installed and remote telemetry access via a mobile app, such as Toyota Connected Services or other similar apps, you can use the Smartcar API as a single entry point to retrieve data for all your remotely-connected vehicle(s).

I was asked to play around with the Smartcar API and I obliged. After a brief exploration, I found that the Smartcar tutorial comes with Python SDK samples that work with the Flask Web Framework. Having been a Djangonaut for the past several years, I can't help but create a miniature Django WIP (Work-in-progress) version for this.

GOALS

At the end of this article, you will be able to:

• run a local Django service to query a small sampling of the Smartcar APIs to return vehicle data with the OAuth2 web protocol.

Dev Environment Part 1

For this tutorial, I set up my development environment with Poetry and Pyenv. To begin:

• git clone this repo
• activate pyenv for python 3.12

pyenv shell 3.12

• configure poetry to use pyenv

poetry env use 3.12

• activate poetry's virtual environment

source $(poetry env info --path)/bin/activate

• run poetry install

Set up credentials at Smartcar

• Create a developer account at Smartcar
• Login to your developer account and copy the values for these 2 important credentials
  • SMARTCAR_CLIENT_ID
  • SMARTCAR_CLIENT_SECRET to be exported later to your development environemnt.
• Set the value of this credential
  • SMARTCAR_REDIRECT_URI to point to http://localhost:8000/exchange/

Dev Environment Part 2

• export the 3 smartcar credentials to your local environment
• don't forget to setup your DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE as well to django_smartcar.settings
• migrate your Django migration files

./manage.py migrate

• run your Django server locally

./manage.py runserver

• open up a browser and access your Django service at http://localhost:8000. This url will redirect you to this page to connect to your vehicle's connected service app.

• Click Continue and login to your vehicle's remote connect app
• You will be presented with a view like this (if you have a Toyota)
• Click on the Toyota to proceed to this page
• Since the data is fake, you might as well click Allow to proceed
• You are redirected to this Django endpoint that is created for this app, /localhost:8000/vehicles/ which list the vehicles that you alllowed for access
• If you are interested in only one vechile at a time, you can pass the id to this endpoint that I created for this app, /localhost:8000/vehicles/<str:id>/

Summary

There are 4 endpoints created for this Django app that integrates with the Smartcar API.

• /authorize/, which is redirected from http://localhost:8000/ to retrieve an authorization url
• /exchange/, is the redirect_url that is waiting to receive a code from the authorization url. This code is exchanged for an access code to be passed to subsequent queries for vehicle data
• /vehicles/, is the list endpoint that returns a list of allowed vehicles for viewing using the access code
• /vehicles/<str:id>, is a single retrieve endpoint for vehicle data based on its id and using the access code

Last but not least, you can extend this app to include a more comprehensive listing of Smartcar API endpoints and other supported brands and have fun. Happy Django!

An online demo for this app is available here. Enjoy!