Neobotics Foundation Inc.
Wi-Fi can't connectNEORACER DOCS
NEORACER DOCS
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TROUBLESHOOTING / NETWORK

CONNECTING TO THE CAR'S WI-FI.

The car is its own access point. It broadcasts a network named neoracer-[Car ID] that you join from your laptop, then reach the car at racecar@neoracer. When that fails it's almost always one of three things, and there's a wired fallback (ethernet) that works regardless. See networking for the full access walkthrough.

~0 minutesCar is its own APEthernet fallback
// YOU SEE
The neoracer-[Car ID] network never shows up in your Wi-Fi list, joining it fails, or ssh racecar@neoracer hangs once you're on it.
// WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN
You join neoracer-[Car ID] with password neobotics, then connects within a second and drops you at the racecar@neoracer:~$ prompt. The car stays quiet otherwise, since there's no inbound port mapped by default.
01 / IS IT JOINING OR ROUTING?

JOINING VS ROUTING.

Two kinds of failure look alike from the user's side. The split is whether your laptop can join the car's Wi-Fi at all or whether, once joined, it can reach the static IP (routing).

bash
# Test 1: is the car broadcasting and did you join it?
# Look for "neoracer-[Car ID]" in your Wi-Fi list (Car 1 = neoracer-1)
# and join it with password "neobotics".

# Test 2: once joined, can you reach the car's static IP?
# Car ID 1 = 192.168.1.101, Car ID 2 = 192.168.1.102, etc.
ping 192.168.1.101

# Reachable IP == you're in; ssh racecar@neoracer (or racecar@192.168.1.101).
# No IP after joining == wrong Car ID or the car hasn't finished booting.
02 / WHAT ACTUALLY BREAKS

THE FAILURE MODES.

01

Can't see or join the Wi-Fi

The neoracer-[Car ID] network never appears.
The car broadcasts its own access point only once it's powered and booted, which takes a minute or so. If neoracer-[Car ID] still isn't in your Wi-Fi list after that, confirm the car is on, then re-scan. Join it with password neobotics.
ssid: neoracer-1 · pw: neobotics
02

Joined but can't reach the IP

You're on the network but SSH hangs.
Each car has a static IP at 192.168.1.[100 + Car ID] (Car 1 = 192.168.1.101). If a ping to that address times out, the car may still be finishing its boot. Wait, re-ping, then ssh racecar@neoracer.
ssh racecar@192.168.1.101
03

Wrong Car ID

You joined a different car's network.
The and the IP both encode the Car ID, so they have to match. If you joined neoracer-2 but ping 192.168.1.101, nothing answers. Use the ID printed on the car: SSID neoracer_N, IP 192.168.1.(100+N).
neoracer_N → 192.168.1.(100+N)
03 / FALLBACK

THE ETHERNET FALLBACK.

The Jetson has a real ethernet port on the rear of the chassis. Running a cable from there to your laptop or a router gives you a reliable path that doesn't care about the Wi-Fi radio or which access point the car is broadcasting.

bash
# Direct laptop-to-car cable, no router in the middle.
# The Jetson auto-assigns a link-local IPv4 on eth0 if it can't find DHCP.
sudo nmap -sn 169.254.0.0/16          # find the car's link-local IP
ssh racecar@<link-local-ip>           # then SSH straight to it