IntelliDrive — ESP32 + W5500 Commercial Gate Controller with MQTT, BLE & Web UI
Commercial ESP32 gate/drive automation firmware by Reisinger GmbH. Two variants: W5500 Ethernet+WiFi or WiFi-only. MQTT, BLE, WebUI, OTA, OLED. Open-sourced.
Overview
IntelliDrive is a commercial-grade gate and drive automation controller firmware developed by Reisinger GmbH (Germany) and open-sourced on GitHub. Built on ESP32 with Arduino framework and PlatformIO, it ships in two variants: one with WIZnet W5500 Ethernet + WiFi, and one with WiFi only. The firmware provides a complete automation control stack including HTTP web frontend, BLE connectivity, MQTT integration, OLED display, OTA updates, and persistent parameter management.
Hardware variants
Two independently buildable PlatformIO projects cover wired and wireless-only deployments. Both share the same feature set except for the Ethernet driver.
Key features
- HTTP/Web frontend — AsyncWebServer + AsyncWebServer_ESP32_W5500 for Ethernet variant
- BLE — BlePlugin + BleReceiverPlugin for wireless proximity/remote control
- MQTT — PubSubClient for Home Assistant, Node-RED, openHAB integration
- OLED display — Adafruit SSD1306 + GFX for local status
- Drive state management — IntelliDriveState FSM with OutputState
- OTA update — HTTPClient-based remote firmware update
- mDNS — ESPmDNS for local network discovery
- Persistence — EEPROM, SPIFFS, FS for settings storage
Build and flash
Both variants are standard PlatformIO projects. Flash via the included Windows batch helper or standard PlatformIO CLI on any OS.
Drive state machine
The firmware implements a clean FSM for gate/drive control — accepting commands from MQTT, BLE, or the web UI, and publishing state changes back to all connected clients.
FAQ
Q1. Why two variants?
The Ethernet variant targets hardware with W5500 for wired reliability. The no-Ethernet variant is for simpler WiFi-only deployments.
Q2. Is this usable for DIY?
The firmware is open-sourced as a reference. Use outside Reisinger GmbH requires explicit written permission per the LICENSE file.
Q3. How does MQTT integration work?
PubSubClient handles publish/subscribe. Gate open/close commands arrive as MQTT messages; state changes are published back — enabling Home Assistant automations.
Key takeaway
IntelliDrive shows how a commercial German automation company builds production IoT firmware on ESP32 + W5500 — integrating Ethernet, WiFi, BLE, MQTT, and Web UI into a single deployable system. A valuable real-world reference for ESP32 + W5500 multi-connectivity product design.
Source code: https://github.com/ReisingerDriveSystems/IntelliDrive
-
IntelliDrive
