Tesla Android Project for CarPlay and Android Auto

[earthwormjim]

Thanks @earthwormjim I figured out the issue. One last question when a new build is released how do you update the image? Do I just download the new image and then use raspberry pi image to reflash. By doing this it doesn’t erase anything?

Until Mike Gapiński adds an update system into his Android distro, the only way to update is to essentially perform a full reinstall. Flashing the SD card with the updated image, then going through the fastboot install process at a terminal/command line. You might be able to just flash the Android partition on the SD card, or copy files over manually, but you might be missing out on other stuff Mike has done in the other partitions, so I would not do that.

It's not a big deal for now, since most people are just using the Android Pi to stream Carplay or Android Auto. Neither one of which stores anything of consequence on the Android Pi.

SD card speed can make this much nicer to go through. The original SD card I was using took forever to unpack things and install Android. I swapped to a 30MB/s card, and it is so much faster.

 

[ElectricAnt54]

Can someone help me understand how this setup works? I'm very confused as to the functions of the different components. In particular:

1. The Geekworm TC358743XBG HDMI-CSI-2 - The hardware requirements say it's required for video capture. What video is it capturing -- output from the Pi? If it captures the output from the Pi, how does that get transferred to the car's browser?
2. How does the Pi get its connection to the Internet? Does it use my phone's Wifi hotspot?
3. Is the power output from the car's center console USB ports (mine's a 2022 M3) adequate for the Pi, its fan, etc?

Thanks for any light you all can shed on this!

1) On 10/31/2022 a new release will happen & geekworm won’t be needed. The hardware records the video output of the pi so it can be sent as a video stream through the web server app running on the pi which Tesla connects to via the car’s web browser. this is a summary..a lot more involved.

2) CarPlay & android auto use your phone for internet related data. However this is not shareable to the pi android os (yet). If you want android os to have internet you need the optional usb lte modem and a data plan for that modem. I got a $6 per month plan with 1TB data from tello . However due to bugs, the modem won’t be recognized by pi until the new 10/31/2022 release….or you can use the older dual pi setup. I’d wait for new release.

3) My usb-c powered my setup but everyone suggests a nice beefy cigarette adapter. That is what I use. I like it better since all wires end up under the center arm rest.

 

[George75]

It's impressive what people do just to get these features but ultimately it's sad people have to go to extreme lengths just to have what every other auto maker has as standard now. Carplay and Android Auto, you'd think considering the lack of any competition from Tesla themselves in this market they'd at least allow us the use of in my opinion better products oh wait Tesla is just like Apple.

 

[JohnnyCroy]

Can you link which dongle you bought? Which version of Tesla Android are you running, the two Pi one or the single Pi version?



Hook up a monitor to the HDMI output on the Pi to see what its doing.

Earthworm,

late to the response here, but up and running now. My dongle was the issue, repurchased the CPC200 version and happily running on the latest Halloween build.

 

[stopcrazypp]

It's impressive what people do just to get these features but ultimately it's sad people have to go to extreme lengths just to have what every other auto maker has as standard now. Carplay and Android Auto, you'd think considering the lack of any competition from Tesla themselves in this market they'd at least allow us the use of in my opinion better products oh wait Tesla is just like Apple.

The problem is it isn't a matter of "allow to use". They have to license those and integrate it into the system. They have zero incentive to do that when they have one of the few OEM infotainment systems that is actually decent. They likely feel the development resources are far better spent on improving their own system.

The other OEMs however really need Carplay or Android Auto because quite frankly their own systems completely suck.

 

[ElectricAnt54]

The problem is it isn't a matter of "allow to use". They have to license those and integrate it into the system. They have zero incentive to do that when they have one of the few OEM infotainment systems that is actually decent. They likely feel the development resources are far better spent on improving their own system.

The other OEMs however really need Carplay or Android Auto because quite frankly their own systems completely suck.

Apple doesn't charge carmakers in anyway to use CarPlay. They make it very very very easy to add as well. Tesla has a decent infotainment system? Hmm. Try pausing a podcast..switching to a different app for some music and then resume that podcast at the paused point. Do that without having some paid subscriptions to Spotify (if that even helps) , etc. Yup, that's just item #1 on the big list.

 

[mgapinski]

Apple does not charge for CarPlay? How is this the case when they require each headunit to have an MFI chip that does almost nothing? Only Android Auto is truly open, sadly

 

[ElectricAnt54]

Apple does not charge for CarPlay? How is this the case when they require each headunit to have an MFI chip that does almost nothing? Only Android Auto is truly open, sadly

Interesting that Android auto has lesss technical barriers associated with adoption due to no custom hardware requirements. shows that money is not the reason Tesla doesn’t offer at least the android auto infotainment alternative.

poster in #25 seemed to think apple (and others maybe) had a traditional licensing fee such as Apple or Google/Alphabet saying “Tesla pay us $100,000 “ for the privilege to use CarPlay/Android Auto.”.
Now that you bring up apple’s mfi chip requirement , I assumed the cost of Apple’s required carplay MFI chip is cheap but I have no info about that & can’t find any. Would be interesting to know true cost placed upon manufacturers. I see it costs $99 a year to be part of mfi program. Faqs .

 

[mgapinski]

There is nothing stopping Tesla from having Android Auto and CarPlay support, the current lack of official support is a result of their business decision

 

[Mark Bencze]

I'm glad that we can use Android auto just fine vis the browser. I made a thread last night about my latest tinker where I have YouTube, Disney plus and amazon prime working with Android auto and yes they can be used when the car is in motion. Although it's not a wise thing to do if you're the driver. It's for the passenger to enjoy while you're driving. I'm gonna try and get a few other streaming apps working with it tonight if I can. It will help me miss my carlinkit dongle a little less which I used in my Ioniq

 

[Buster's Dad]

1) On 10/31/2022 a new release will happen & geekworm won’t be needed. The hardware records the video output of the pi so it can be sent as a video stream through the web server app running on the pi which Tesla connects to via the car’s web browser. this is a summary..a lot more involved.

2) CarPlay & android auto use your phone for internet related data. However this is not shareable to the pi android os (yet). If you want android os to have internet you need the optional usb lte modem and a data plan for that modem. I got a $6 per month plan with 1TB data from tello . However due to bugs, the modem won’t be recognized by pi until the new 10/31/2022 release….or you can use the older dual pi setup. I’d wait for new release.

3) My usb-c powered my setup but everyone suggests a nice beefy cigarette adapter. That is what I use. I like it better since all wires end up under the center arm rest.

Thank you, ElectricAnt54!

 

[ElectricAnt54]

2) CarPlay & android auto use your phone for internet related data. However this is not shareable to the pi android os (yet). If you want android os to have internet you need the optional usb lte modem and a data plan for that modem. I got a $6 per month plan with 1TB data from tello . However due to bugs, the modem won’t be recognized by pi until the new 10/31/2022 release….or you can use the older dual pi setup. I’d wait for new release.

An update to my previous post. Alcatel USB LTE modem support is very random in USA right now. Doesn't seem to be any issues in Europe. Seems there might be a few revisions of the Alcatel N. American hardware & perhaps just one is supported now. However it has been difficult to determine which revision number is working etc as this info is not mentioned on the product or packaging..etc. However there are still active efforts to sort this out. That being said, I've not really needed the Alcatel USB LTE modem & I've been using Tesla Android for perhaps 1.5 months. It's more of a luxury. The Tesla-android will pass the cellular connection to the Tesla so you can use Tesla voice commands or portions of Tesla Nav which require an internet connection while Tesla android is active. So far all the CarPlay apps such as A Better Route Planner, Apple Maps, Apple Podcast, OverCast etc, have covered my daily needs.

 

[George75]

The problem is it isn't a matter of "allow to use". They have to license those and integrate it into the system. They have zero incentive to do that when they have one of the few OEM infotainment systems that is actually decent. They likely feel the development resources are far better spent on improving their own system.

The other OEMs however really need Carplay or Android Auto because quite frankly their own systems completely suck.

That's an interesting take on things while Musk just pissed away how much on Twitter and now the egotistical @sshole fired how many people in order to balance the books. But I yes it's about licensing and costs, definitely.

 

[ml.3sr]

Hi y’all,

I attempted this project last night.
Installed version 44.2 according to the standard setup steps and appears to have completed installing on the raspberry pi.

When I go to deploy it in the car, it loads and broadcasts it’s network; however, the “Android OS” never officially loads after loading the URL (9.9.0.1)

There’s no settings menu in the top left and I can’t navigate the touch display.

What am I possibly missing?
Only thing is that I was only able to get my hands on a 2GB raspberry pi 4…

Thanks in advance!

 

[ElectricAnt54]

Hi y’all,

I attempted this project last night.
Installed version 44.2 according to the standard setup steps and appears to have completed installing on the raspberry pi.

When I go to deploy it in the car, it loads and broadcasts it’s network; however, the “Android OS” never officially loads after loading the URL (9.9.0.1)

There’s no settings menu in the top left and I can’t navigate the touch display.

What am I possibly missing?
Only thing is that I was only able to get my hands on a 2GB raspberry pi 4…

Thanks in advance!

Hi you might want to post the question in the tesla-android discussion forum on GitHub if we can not help. Discussions · tesla-android/issue-tracker

After entering the web address if screen is pure white, push the browser’s refresh icon once, wait a few seconds, try again. clearing browser cookies fixes this for a while If you find that refresh helped.

if your pi is in a metal case, remove the top of case to help determine if signal blockage is a cause.

it would be helpful to post a screenshot of what your browser looks like after entering the ip address.

 

[ml.3sr]

Hi you might want to post the question in the tesla-android discussion forum on GitHub if we can not help. Discussions · tesla-android/issue-tracker

After entering the web address if screen is pure white, push the browser’s refresh icon once, wait a few seconds, try again. clearing browser cookies fixes this for a while If you find that refresh helped.

if your pi is in a metal case, remove the top of case to help determine if signal blockage is a cause.

it would be helpful to post a screenshot of what your browser looks like after entering the ip address.

Oh sweet. Didn’t realize there was a discussion forum.

Thank you!

I might start with a reinstall and reflash of the OS

 

[ElectricAnt54]

Oh sweet. Didn’t realize there was a discussion forum.

Thank you!

I might start with a reinstall and reflash of the OS

Browser refresh tip didn’t help? If not, yeah reinstall is good option. Perhaps you missed a step. I thought I saw on twitter that developer said 2GB ram should be fine but official www page says 4GB ram.

 

[ml.3sr]

Browser refresh tip didn’t help? If not, yeah reinstall is good option. Perhaps you missed a step. I thought I saw on twitter that developer said 2GB ram should be fine but official www page says 4GB ram.

All sorted! Now to wait for the CarPlay dongle!

Thanks!!!

 

[ElectricAnt54]

Only issue I'm having is that Waze alerts permanently pauses the Podcast app in iOS no matter what settings I check. It doesn't do this in cars with native Carplay support, so I'm not sure what the cause is.

carlinkit coc200-ccpa had firmware update around late November 2022 which corrects the issue of nav voice pausing music & podcast but not restarting audio. Now music volume is lowered when nav speaks & then raised. podcast audio is paused and resumed for nav audio.
you also need to update autokit. Same actions happen for Siri voice.
I do not use waze but the above update made Apple Maps behave better
Here is a guide about updating autokit & carlinkit box/dongle firmware.

 

[ElectricAnt54]

An update to my previous post. Alcatel USB LTE modem support is very random in USA right now. Doesn't seem to be any issues in Europe. Seems there might be a few revisions of the Alcatel N. American hardware & perhaps just one is supported now. However it has been difficult to determine which revision number is working etc as this info is not mentioned on the product

update, we know how to identify the variants of North American & European Alcatel usb modems which don't work plug n play with tesla-android. We also know how to make them work. A future update of tesla-android will make the modems work automatically. Here is info on how to identify the problematic variants & how to make them work.