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opendbc

  • Software
  • Cars
  • Library

A Python library for reading and controlling a car's steering, gas, brakes and other functions over its CAN bus, mainly to support openpilot's driver-assistance features.

Made by comma.ai, United States (checked on github.com/commaai (opens in a new tab)).

Source on GitHub: github.com/commaai/opendbc (opens in a new tab). Facts read at commit 06ade56 (opens in a new tab).

Licenses

Code
MIT (opens in a new tab)

Read by Robotheca from LICENSE (opens in a new tab) (MIT) at commit 06ade56 (opens in a new tab), on 16 Oct 2026.

Commercial use
Yes

What it does

  • Provides a Python API to read vehicle state such as speed and steering angle, and to send steering, gas and brake commands.
  • Holds a collection of DBC files that describe the CAN messages used by supported cars.
  • Includes a library that parses and builds CAN messages from those DBC files.
  • Contains a high-level car interface layer and per-brand code for porting new cars.
  • Includes safety firmware for the panda board that restricts which CAN messages can be sent.
  • Ships example programs, including one that lets a joystick control a car.

Written by Robotheca from the project's README (opens in a new tab) at commit 06ade56.

Getting started

Difficulty
Advanced

Maintenance

Status
Active: a commit in the last 90 days
Newest commit
15 Oct 2026 on master
Latest release
Release 0.3.1 (22 Apr 2026)

Checked on GitHub on 16 Oct 2026.

Links

Robots on Robotheca that use it

No robot on Robotheca is linked to it yet. Links come from a robot's robot.yaml, from its dependency files read as text, or from Robotheca's editors.

Robotheca lists software as a reference: nothing is hosted or run here, and every fact links to where it was read.