CarPlay solution for Tesla by Michal Gapinski using Raspberry Pi with Android

[Yipsan]

So, I just got it running! Thanks Michal!!!
after the failed install last night, I got up to see you all working hard to give feedback and Michal putting out 44.2, it was very encouraging.
i downloaded 44.2 single file, took my 2012 mbp a while to write to the 64gb sd card. Then, it took quite a while to boot up in the car for the first time. And like Michal mentioned on the installation notes, if cannot connect to the WiFi, give it some more time. My first try, was like last night, cannot connect……, then I clear browser history again and also rebooted car, second try right after, still no go. I waited, Michal said give it 5-10 minutes, then, I tried again and it connected. I offlined My phone ahead of time so it does not auto connect to car play, went into autokit settings to make sure things are set right. Afterwards, I turned phone bt and WiFi on and it connected. It’s now working and it is faster than 38.1, which was quite choppy in my case. i use Amazon music occasionally and it was too much for it on 38.1, now it seems quite smooth.

another note to fellas above, I have same lte stick and Tello sim, it is working in my case. Full blue light from very early on during the boot, also autokit was up and running quite early.
car updated this morning to 36.6, not sure if this made a difference but worth mentioning. Also my car is 21 Y with intel chip.
hope everyone got theirs running!
cheers,

also, powered by cigarette usb plug, usbA to usbc to rpi on off switch, to rpi4 4gb.

 

[Greybeard707]

I can’t get internet via Bluetoothn

Make sure "Internet" is enabled for your paired phone in the Pi's Bluetooth settings.

I think a script is needed to automatically enable that toggle.

When I enable the toggle it turn back off

 

[ElectricAnt54]

another note to fellas above, I have same lte stick and Tello sim, it is working in my case. Full blue light from very early on during the boot, also autokit was up and running quite early.
car updated this morning to 36.6, not sure if this made a difference but worth mentioning. Also my car is 21 Y with intel chip.
hope everyone got theirs running!
cheers,

also, powered by cigarette usb plug, usbA to usbc to rpi on off switch, to rpi4 4gb.

Interesting that Tello in Colorado works for you @Yipsan . I wonder if it is regional issue? I'm in Los Angeles, California area. @EMEV how about you?

Also does this LTE modem need any sort of setup? The instructions mentioned going a web server to perform configuration at 192.168.1.1 when the modem is plugged in to your computer...but this never worked. However, when I plugged modem in to windows, it worked. I wonder if the modem stick needs some config tweaks to work with android.

 

[EMEV]

Interesting that Tello in Colorado works for you @Yipsan . I wonder if it is regional issue? I'm in Los Angeles, California area. @EMEV how about you?

Also does this LTE modem need any sort of setup? The instructions mentioned going a web server to perform configuration at 192.168.1.1 when the modem is plugged in to your computer...but this never worked. However, when I plugged modem in to windows, it worked. I wonder if the modem stick needs some config tweaks to work with android.

I am in Saint Louis, so no rhyme or reason.

 

[ElectricAnt54]

@Yipsan & @EMEV & @timeshifter , do your Alcatel lte modems work in a Mac that is running a recent OS? Just curious. Mine doesn’t but works in windows 10.

 

[Yipsan]

@Yipsan & @EMEV & @timeshifter , do your Alcatel lte modems work in a Mac that is running a recent OS? Just curious. Mine doesn’t but works in windows 10.

when i got the lte stick and the sim card, the first use was in my 2012 mbp. i was trying to follow the installation instructions from Michal for version 25.1. Although the lte stick does not really request a pin setup, I put it into my mbp thinking I needed to do it in order for smooth implementation on the rpi3. My mac runs 10.15.7
Last night when the 44.1 install failed to connect with Tesla, my ipad can still connect to the rpi4 hotspot and access the internet.
Is there a way to reset the lte stick?

also, after the 1st use which i reported earlier, i turned it off, left the car for about 15 minutes, then return with my wife's phone (same model, 13 mini), which has not connect to the 44.2 version rpi. after boot up, took maybe 1.5 minute, car connected to rpi smoothly, wife's phone connected with carplay to rpi quite quickly as well, but the display on tesla was very pixelated, i refreshed the browser a few time, but it only improved a little. Then, I offliined her phone and turned mine online, which the carlinkit found and connected, the display was clean and clear, then I offlined mine and put hers back online. It connected to hers automatically and now the display is clear. So, maybe it has something to do with how far down in the boot process? not sure, just some observations to share.

 

[earthwormjim]

I can’t get internet via Bluetoothn

When I enable the toggle it turn back off

Hmm you're right, since upgrading to 2022.44.2 from 2022.44.1 I cannot share internet via Bluetooth.

Edit:
I resolved this by forgetting the phone on the Pi and forgetting the Pi on the phone. Then when repairing, I kept the Bluetooth screen open on my iPhone, and initiated the pairing from the Pi. When the code popped up, I confirmed on the Pi then on the iPhone. Now I'm able to have internet access sharing.

I think the issue is that initiating the pairing from the iPhone first, puts the Bluetooth connection in a null state, so it never technically connects at all, let alone for internet sharing.

 

[EMEV]

@Yipsan & @EMEV & @timeshifter , do your Alcatel lte modems work in a Mac that is running a recent OS? Just curious. Mine doesn’t but works in windows 10.

Have not tested on mac but on both the Windows and micro-router I had to set the APN for it to work. On the Tesla Android there is not such option so I was assuming it has to be set by the internal Tesla Android configuration. Not sure how both of us does not work with the same Alcatel modem and Tello network but Yipsan works???

@Yipsan did you configure anything on Tesla Android or the modem for it to work or just plugged in?

 

[EMEV]

Have not tested on mac but on both the Windows and micro-router I had to set the APN for it to work. On the Tesla Android there is not such option so I was assuming it has to be set by the internal Tesla Android configuration. Not sure how both of us does not work with the same Alcatel modem and Tello network but Yipsan works???

@Yipsan did you configure anything on Tesla Android or the modem for it to work or just plugged in?

Just tested on linux (Ubuntu) and the same thing happened. Did not work just plugging in but after I set the APN it is working fine. So at least in my case it works everywhere I tested after setting the APN (but not just by plugging in). It would be great if Tesla Android had on its config file a place to put the APN. It would be like setting the overclock but in this case setting any APN needed any place in the world.

 

[EMEV]

@Yipsan & @EMEV & @timeshifter , do your Alcatel lte modems work in a Mac that is running a recent OS? Just curious. Mine doesn’t but works in windows 10.

@ElectricAnt54, just tried the Alcatel modem on a mac with maOS Ventura (the latest). The modem is not recognized by the network interface so I cannot set the APN - the blue lights blinks.

 

[Yipsan]

Have not tested on mac but on both the Windows and micro-router I had to set the APN for it to work. On the Tesla Android there is not such option so I was assuming it has to be set by the internal Tesla Android configuration. Not sure how both of us does not work with the same Alcatel modem and Tello network but Yipsan works???

@Yipsan did you configure anything on Tesla Android or the modem for it to work or just plugged in?

After first plugging in to Mac when I received it and the SIM card, I did not change anything. I don’t recall having to set apn on that first plug in. I turned off my mac’s WiFi and used the lte stick just to make sure it works, then took it out. No changes was made to the lte stick during all the new versions. I also just plug it into one of the usb2 ports, while using one of the usb3 port for the carlinkit. do you have another sim to test?

 

[EMEV]

After first plugging in to Mac when I received it and the SIM card, I did not change anything. I don’t recall having to set apn on that first plug in. I turned off my mac’s WiFi and used the lte stick just to make sure it works, then took it out. No changes was made to the lte stick during all the new versions. I also just plug it into one of the usb2 ports, while using one of the usb3 port for the carlinkit. do you have another sim to test?

@Yipsan thank you, Not sure that I have another sim to test since besides this one I use Verizon which is not compatible with this modem.

 

[evNewbee]

I pulled the trigger and got the Alcatel. Will have to wait until next Monday to receive and test it. I cannot utilize Internet over Bluetooth as after 10 minutes of usage, Pi's bluetooth just turned off, got into null state and could not be turned on again unless a reboot. If this doesn't work out then I'll have to get one of the micro LTE router/modem with 1 NIC so it can share internet to both the Pi and the phone (I have a jailbroken iPhone to use mainly for Youtube for my passengers). This way, I don't have to pay for 2 lines

 

[mgapinski]

My Alcatel modem works fine on Mac, Linux, Windows and Android. All I had to do was to connect it, a USB ethernet interface shows up in the OS and I can access the web panel to configure my SIM card(PIN code apns)

4 possibilities:
- there are two operation modes in the Modem that can be configured somehow.
- there is a firmware update to the modem that will solve this.
- this is a different variant of the modem that is not plug and play for Android.
- it needs usb_modeswitch like the Huawei to enable the usb ethernet mode(that's why I asked about the lsusb output)

2022.44.2 doesn’t recognize Alcatel IK41UC lte modem · Issue #114 · tesla-android/issue-tracker

2022.44.2 doesn’t recognize Alcatel IK41UC lte modem. Car is in California, USA. Lte modem works fine on my windows machine. If this is hard to debug due to hardware being restricted to North Ameri...

github.com

 

[EMEV]

My Alcatel modem works fine on Mac, Linux, Windows and Android. All I had to do was to connect it, a USB ethernet interface shows up in the OS and I can access the web panel to configure my SIM card(PIN code apns)

4 possibilities:
- there are two operation modes in the Modem that can be configured somehow.
- there is a firmware update to the modem that will solve this.
- this is a different variant of the modem that is not plug and play for Android.
- it needs usb_modeswitch like the Huawei to enable the usb ethernet mode(that's why I asked about the lsusb output)

2022.44.2 doesn’t recognize Alcatel IK41UC lte modem · Issue #114 · tesla-android/issue-tracker

2022.44.2 doesn’t recognize Alcatel IK41UC lte modem. Car is in California, USA. Lte modem works fine on my windows machine. If this is hard to debug due to hardware being restricted to North Ameri...

github.com

This is fantastic that you responded to this forum! Thank you!

As I mentioned on my previous posts - Besides the Android Tesla Project raspberry pi (blue light blinks), I tested the Alcatel modem on Windows, Ubuntu, Netgear TL-WR902AC router, and macOS Ventura. Besides the macOS Ventura where I cannot access the modem configuration (the modem blue light blinks), all other OS (Windows, Ubuntu, and the TL-WR902AC) just had the blinking blue light when I plugged in the modem. After I set the APN information on those OSs the modem got the solid blue light and worked perfectly.

As you mentioned some Alcatel could have different firmware/hardware. In any case, a possible solution since it worked on other OSs including linux Ubuntu, is to put in the config file or in another file the possibility to set the modem parameters including all APN settings. Then the Tesla Android could use those settings to configure the modem.

 

[ElectricAnt54]

@EMEV

My Alcatel modem works fine on Mac, Linux, Windows and Android. All I had to do was to connect it, a USB ethernet interface shows up in the OS and I can access the web panel to configure my SIM card(PIN code apns)

4 possibilities:
- there are two operation modes in the Modem that can be configured somehow.
- there is a firmware update to the modem that will solve this.
- this is a different variant of the modem that is not plug and play for Android.
- it needs usb_modeswitch like the Huawei to enable the usb ethernet mode(that's why I asked about the lsusb output)

2022.44.2 doesn’t recognize Alcatel IK41UC lte modem · Issue #114 · tesla-android/issue-tracker

2022.44.2 doesn’t recognize Alcatel IK41UC lte modem. Car is in California, USA. Lte modem works fine on my windows machine. If this is hard to debug due to hardware being restricted to North Ameri...

github.com

When I bought the Alcatel IK41UC it said gsm unlocked. I wonder if the unlocking process has changed the behavior Of the hardware. Most of the used sales add say unlocked in description. Also the box has the correct model number but says alcatel linkkey. very interesting. No USB Ethernet device appears in my Mac (ventura 0s I think). I tired on my MacBook Pro from 2010 too, amazing it still works.

 

[EMEV]

@EMEV

When I bought the Alcatel IK41UC it said gsm unlocked. I wonder if the unlocking process has changed the behavior Of the hardware. Most of the used sales add say unlocked in description. Also the box has the correct model number but says alcatel linkkey. very interesting. No USB Ethernet device appears in my Mac (ventura 0s I think). I tired on my MacBook Pro from 2010 too, amazing it still works.

I believe all Alcatel modems to work with a network besides the one it was originally set needs to be "unlocked" so the vast majority of the folks using this modem has been unlocked (or else it will only work on the original cellular network sim). As far as I know there is only one unlocking process. Also believe that all Acatel IK41UC are "LinkKey" which is their marketing name for this device.

I think @mgapinski assumptions are correct - some variance on hardware, firmware, or even cellular service area - is creating the problem. At least for me the way to fix in all OS that I can access the modem interface was to set the APN settings. Once that is done my modem works fine.

 

[timeshifter]

This is fantastic that you responded to this forum! Thank you!

Agreed! Thanks @mgapinski for stopping by. We're all huge fans of your project and greatly appreciate all you've done!

 

[Greybeard707]

Anyone figure out a way to have the wifi turn off automatically on the pi vs unplugging?

 

[mgapinski]

Since the modems vary in hardware configuration my buying this piece of hardware might actually result in getting the "good one" and not being able to help.

I'll try to figure something out and share a few commands with you to test...

BTW: Wild guess... Did anyone try this app: https://m.apkpure.com/pl/link-key-manager/com.tcl.link.keymanager Link Key Manager sounds promising to me

The dongles support firmware updates also, maybe the newer one working in Android out of the box. Don't know how to get them updated