It’s been a while since I’ve been on here - got busy at work and then got back into my other hobby - home control/automation. My home control system had been suffering the long painful demise of smartthings. After about a month of rebuilding all the basics back in Febuary/March (lights, fans, outlets, TVs, etc), I got into the fun stuff - including my 2021 4runner; primarily because I got sick of the Toyota app forcing me to log back in every couple weeks, but from there I decided I wanted to do more than just ask Siri to unlock or start my truck. I figured I’d share some of the 4runner automations I currently have running. I'll post screenshots/pictures when I figure out how I did it with Google Drive before.

I won’t get into the details of how to set this up, but there are existing projects out there to help anyone interested. I built on one of those projects for my own setup - just because I was having issues with incorrect door open and lock status reporting. And, OFC, you have to pay the $80/yr to Toyota for the remote connect service.

Morning Shower automation:
When I get out of the shower, a couple automations run. The HA system knows it’s me if my phone and/or my watch are on the bathroom counter - using cheap BTLE presence sensors (espresense on ESP32 boards) mounted under the 2 counters.
First, if the time is before 9:30 AM, and the weather is below 45F, and the truck is at home and has more than 30 miles of fuel in the tank, wait 15 minutes then start the engine.
Second, anytime within 15 minutes of me turning off the shower, if either of my closet lights turns on, the computer in my closet comes on and pops up a dashboard showing me the current weather, a local traffic map, my calendar and status/control of the truck’s miles to empty, door locks and remote start control. Turning the closet lights off then closes the dashboard and activates the screensaver.

Simple Keyless Unlock (for the wife):
My wife needs to get into my truck sometimes, but she has to come find me to get the keys then return them when she’s done. So, I decided to add a code to the garage entry door smart lock for her. When she enters that code at the door, if the truck is at home, it unlocks. This makes it easy for me as well if I’m in the garage or out in the yard and need to get something out of the truck without my keys or phone handy. I did also set up another code to remote start the truck as well.

Truck Status Annunciation:
I installed a dimmer on either side of our bed that we use as scene controls, but I also programmed the brightness indicator LEDs to annunciate different device statuses based on led color. The bottom LED on my side of the bed turns yellow when my range is less than 50 miles to empty, magenta when tire pressure is low, red when the truck’s unlocked and flashing red if any doors are open. This is helpful when I go to bed - I can clearly see if I left my truck unlocked. Of course a triple tap on the bottom paddle will then lock the truck - the LED then flashes green while locking and then when confirmed locked, turns back off (or yellow or magenta based on fuel level or tire pressure conditions above). In the morning, the yellow light reminds me I have to stop for gas.

Siri, Find My Truck:
I set up a Siri shortcut that triggers when I say “Siri, find my truck”. This triggers a virtual button at home which then flashes the hazards on my truck and text messages me a Google maps link. Clicking the link opens the Google Maps app and immediately starts walking directions from my current location to the Truck’s current coordinates. BTW, I did this through a virtual button because aside from HomeKit (see below) I didn’t want to allow any direct control of my truck from outside my home network. The virtual button triggers the hazards. I figured if anyone managed to hack in and trigger that button, the worst they could do is drain my battery.

HomeKit Integration:
On my HA system, I exposed the 4runner to Homekit as Door Lock and Door Status Devices. This allows status/notification for locked/unlocked or door(s) open/closed, as well as control of the locks. HomeKit provides its own layer of security for door locks, so I’m not too concerned there.

OFC, Siri, Start My Truck:
Since I no longer sign into the Toyota app, I had to at least get this going again. I did this with the same virtual button as above, but different button number. Again, if someone hacks this button, they may be able to start my car… but the advantage of still having the Toyota app even though I’m not signed in, it still pops up notifications when the truck is remote started… as well as all the other notifications it has always popped up while logged into the app.

How Does it Know if my Truck is Home?
Since I wanted most of these automations to only run when the vehicle is home, I needed a more reliable approach than the coordinates that Toyota reports. So I use non-discoverable ibeacons in each vehicle along with presence sensors (see above) to know when they are home. So, if both vehicles happen to leave and the garage door(s) is open, I get a text notifying me, with a link I can click to close the garage. Of course, the garage entry door automatically locks in that scenario.