In-Car Android Auto

[sirleechalot]

No, this is not another thread asking if/when it will happen. I decided to take matters into my own hands and started working on integrating it myself.

I've posted a video on reddit here: Android Auto in my Model 3. First test. : teslamotors

I know there are a lot of people who feel that AA is completely unnecessary, and I get why they think that. For me personally, I really wanted it. Some reasons:

• I find it a bit more flexible and honestly just love to tinker with things
• Tesla's navigation is great but recently it's been taking completely non-optimal routes on small local trips
• Waze has a few...features...that i miss
• Much greater support for music and other content apps
• I felt that i could do it in a relatively sleek way that wouldn't look too obtrusive/out of place

Some notes about the setup:

• It is powered by a raspberry Pi (note the little yellow power icon in the top right, the wiring is temporary, but will be completely hidden), and it's running OpenAuto by bluewave studio. That means it also supports phone mirroring if i felt like going that route instead.
• When i first touch the screen in the video, there was a little wobble. This was just a general fit-test, i'll be making the bracket more robust in future iterations.
• Audio plays through the car via bluetooth. No software trickery is needed.
• Can work with the car's built in phone dock, just need to find the best way to route the USB cable to wherever i'm eventually going to hide the Pi
• Power in this video is coming from the front USB ports, but i'm planning on switching to one of the switched power points so that it shuts down when the car does (no idle drain)
• In this video the AA screen sits behind the main screen. I'm planning on putting it in front eventually as it gets in the way of the panel that covers the phone dock currently.

Here's a photo of the current version of the 3D printed mounting bracket: Imgur

I started this thread as a bit of a build log and a way to bounce ideas around from others who may be interested in a similar setup.

 

[Watts_Up]

Really outstanding!
So you build a kind of collar around the base of the Tesla screen, that's a great idea.
Can you publish the list of the parts you used and a diagram of the installation?
Can you connect any additional video camera to your screen?

 

[sirleechalot]

The bracket is 3D printed, the screen is the official raspberry pi screen from element14 (for now), and it runs on a pi 3 at the moment.

I'm planning on releasing the 3d files for the bracket once i dial it in a little bit better. I'm definitely not the best when it comes to 3D modelling so if anyone here has some experience with it, i'm definitely open to other people working on it and improving it.

As far as video feeds goes, i know that openauto does have a way to input external feeds, but i'm happy with what is available on the tesla screen so i likely won't be doing any work with that.

 

[Watts_Up]

The bracket is 3D printed, the screen is the official raspberry pi screen from element14 (for now), and it runs on a pi 3 at the moment.

I'm planning on releasing the 3d files for the bracket once i dial it in a little bit better. I'm definitely not the best when it comes to 3D modelling so if anyone here has some experience with it, i'm definitely open to other people working on it and improving it.

As far as video feeds goes, i know that openauto does have a way to input external feeds, but i'm happy with what is available on the tesla screen so i likely won't be doing any work with that.

I don't have a 3D printer, so wonder if could make the bracket from PVC and drill holes to put some screws?

The Tesla rear view mirror display is great, but I wish I could keep it up when driving but you cannot use the map at the same time.
May be there will be some future release where the screen will be split halfway like on the Model S?

I have in fact a rear view camera with my dashcam that I can access with my phone using WiFi, but I cannot use then my phone.

 

[sirleechalot]

It's definitely possible to make one without a 3D printer, but i'm not sure how well it would work. The printed model conforms to the angles of the screen's mounting post (it's wider in the back and gets thinner towards the screen). Once the design is a bit more final, you can probably just have it printed by an online service and sent to you.

 

[Watts_Up]

I wonder if you can still close the phone charger door?

 

[sirleechalot]

In the version you see in that video you cannot, no. However i will be fixing that in the next version. My goal is to not have it get in the way of using the phone area.

 

[beachsideev]

How is aa on the pi? built an android tv with a pi and the experience was terrible. It was way too slow to be usable.

 

[sirleechalot]

So, i was using a piece of software called "OpenAuto" which emulates a card head-unit with AA on it, however it runs on raspbian as a base. Almost all of the UI rendering is done by your phone, the Pi is just handling things like audio routing, video playback, bluetooth connections. Because of that, performance was just fine. f1xpl/openauto
If you check the reddit link in my post you can see a video of it working.

 

[beachsideev]

I watched the video and the pi seems to be reasonably responsive running aa. Way different than what I experienced running atv.

I't isn't for me as I prefer a more integrated solution with fewer screens, but isn't my car so go for it!

However my obsession with improving homelink is a different story...

 

[sirleechalot]

Yeah all of the processing is done on your phone, the screen is basically just displaying a video feed and sending touch requests back. So it really depends on how powerful your phone is.