Along the same route but slightly different, instead of a Windows stick PC what about a Pi to play middleman. At $30 it's probably cheaper than the Android stick and could have a lot more flexibility down the road for things like an external hard drive or logic like auto updating playlists when you get home.
[Android 4.1+]Proxy/GateWay for Android Auto
- Thread starter Emil Borconi
- Start date
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- Tags
- android auto wifi
Ok never heard of them before (not my cup of tea I guess) but I wouldn't call them "a little bit more expensive" I will call them "WAY MORE EXPENSIVE"
No promise for windows support, but you aren't going to be limited to a tv stick I just though of them due to small size, but in practice you could use an old phone if you want or a tablet, or whatever runs Android, I'm considering making it compatible with 2.3 as well not only 3.0 so the range of device which can serve as a Wifi antenna should be pretty big.
Probably after Android I will consider a Pi Zero W due to the very small size and inexpensive hardware, so Windows probably will need to wait a bit
Lol just replied mentioning the Pi
Well not really, Pi Zero W is about $9-10, and an sdcard and a case it's another $5-$10, so probably you are looking at around $20. I bought the device I used in the demo video last week brand new for £14.99 so about $18. I will say probably the same budget.
For me its WAY less expensive. I already have one.... [emoji23][emoji23].Ok never heard of them before (not my cup of tea I guess) but I wouldn't call them "a little bit more expensive" I will call them "WAY MORE EXPENSIVE"
No promise for windows support, but you aren't going to be limited to a tv stick I just though of them due to small size, but in practice you could use an old phone if you want or a tablet, or whatever runs Android, I'm considering making it compatible with 2.3 as well not only 3.0 so the range of device which can serve as a Wifi antenna should be pretty big.
Probably after Android I will consider a Pi Zero W due to the very small size and inexpensive hardware, so Windows probably will need to wait a bit
Old mobile phone sound good too. At least you have the screen to set it up.
Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
Hi there, I'm interested in the development here. So wifi is all that is needed? As my Ford Sync head unit has WiFi already. But no wireless Android auto.
Not quite. The idea is to us another android device as an auxiliary device fulfilling the role of a proxy/gateway between the car and the phone. To make it work in the ford sync directly we would need to rewrite/change the firmware on the Ford. Maybe ford will provide an update, but that is unknown at the moment. Not even sure if the ford sync is Linux or android based but I will guess the former one.
Good workaround. It might be crude to say the least, but if it works it works. Oh, and if you hit up aliexpress or alibaba you migh come across some of those usb mini PCs or a cheap android phone. Might hit up a store to see if they have them here in Japan and also track down a used android phone to sacrifice for use in the car.
One idea though, if you want to use another phone. uninstall ALL the apps, use a lightweight launcher (android doesnt boot without a launcher), get one of those Y cables to connect to the HU and to a 1A cheap car charger, and also modify the kernel to start when the car starts.
One idea though, if you want to use another phone. uninstall ALL the apps, use a lightweight launcher (android doesnt boot without a launcher), get one of those Y cables to connect to the HU and to a 1A cheap car charger, and also modify the kernel to start when the car starts.
Just installed a Pioneer AVIC 8200 and hate using the USB. Can't wait to see this come to fruition. Having it would allow me to use a qi charger for my phone. Really like andriod auto, but recently it has been so slow to load and use. Very slow Waze and Google maps loading. Hope this helps.
I'm definitely interested in this. I Just got 2 brand new 2018 cars and no way I'm replacing my 8inch factory touchscreens with expensive headsets just to gain wireless AA. Good stuff!
I see, well, I have an Android TV stick sitting in the drawer, along with a raspberry pi which could also run Android. I'm intrigued.
So this sounds awesome! But I'm not sure if I've understood if it will work with an older headunit that came with AA from the factory. I don't mean to use the cars wifi, just plug the USB stick it in to one of the USBs used to connect the phone to car.. Would this stick solution work for those kind of headunits or just aftermarket ones?
Absolutely interested!
Have the same XAV HU and I HATE having to mount my phone so it'll reach to the HU.
Thanks so much for working on this!!!
Have the same XAV HU and I HATE having to mount my phone so it'll reach to the HU.
Thanks so much for working on this!!!
Would love to get this working on my Civic Type R's factory HU... Any recommendations/links to an Android Stick I could purchase??
Well as said before I have a drawer full of android sticks, but future wise and for some new people here the pi-zero-wireless makes a lot of sense. You know it will be compatible if it works for 1. A downloadable image of some sort to put on an sd-card and a config file to alter.
Chevy MyLink
Hi Emil,
I have Chevy Cruze 2015 with MyLink. Will your solution work for my system as well?
Please let me know.
Regards,
Rohan
Hi Emil,
I have Chevy Cruze 2015 with MyLink. Will your solution work for my system as well?
Please let me know.
Regards,
Rohan
@西村大一 - Agree it's crude but it's also plain simple, it's a "lifehack"
@bestaudioguy - Wireless or quick charging will be possible no problem there, it should not have any impact on Waze and Google maps speeds, but it might help some users who are facing difficulties connecting over USB for various reasons. Of course the whole thing will still require a USB connection from the car to the tv stick (or any other auxiliary device) but from what I have gathered it's the newer devices (mainly usb c) which have more problem and in many cases the problems are OS problems on the phones. Therefore older and simpler device might have a much better connectivity to the car, then you only depend on the Wifi between them.
@Tigerstown, @bradhoschar - Well just bare with me a bit more
@Toffidee - Correct
@docfong - For Grom Vline there is a solution (with wifi as well) quite a while ago, see my signature or look at this: https://xdaforums.com/general/paid-software/android-4-1-headunit-reloaded-android-t3432348
@zsamson _ I'm not expecting Google to shut this down, I'm using the same approach as a Developer will need to take when it develops apps for Android Auto, so if they shut this down, it means they have to shut down the development tool as well, which I don't expect to happen at any point.
@the1dynasty - Any should do (running Android 3.0+ or higher, I might backport it to 2.3 as well but not sure yet) , but I say first wait till the app is out, use an old phone to test it, you are happy with how it works spend money on buying a stick.
@murso74 - I haven't tried but should do.
@rohan26may - yes
@bestaudioguy - Wireless or quick charging will be possible no problem there, it should not have any impact on Waze and Google maps speeds, but it might help some users who are facing difficulties connecting over USB for various reasons. Of course the whole thing will still require a USB connection from the car to the tv stick (or any other auxiliary device) but from what I have gathered it's the newer devices (mainly usb c) which have more problem and in many cases the problems are OS problems on the phones. Therefore older and simpler device might have a much better connectivity to the car, then you only depend on the Wifi between them.
@Tigerstown, @bradhoschar - Well just bare with me a bit more
@Toffidee - Correct
@docfong - For Grom Vline there is a solution (with wifi as well) quite a while ago, see my signature or look at this: https://xdaforums.com/general/paid-software/android-4-1-headunit-reloaded-android-t3432348
@zsamson _ I'm not expecting Google to shut this down, I'm using the same approach as a Developer will need to take when it develops apps for Android Auto, so if they shut this down, it means they have to shut down the development tool as well, which I don't expect to happen at any point.
@the1dynasty - Any should do (running Android 3.0+ or higher, I might backport it to 2.3 as well but not sure yet) , but I say first wait till the app is out, use an old phone to test it, you are happy with how it works spend money on buying a stick.
@murso74 - I haven't tried but should do.
@rohan26may - yes
@西村大一 - Agree it's crude but it's also plain simple, it's a "lifehack"
@bestaudioguy - Wireless or quick charging will be possible no problem there, it should not have any impact on Waze and Google maps speeds, but it might help some users who are facing difficulties connecting over USB for various reasons. Of course the whole thing will still require a USB connection from the car to the tv stick (or any other auxiliary device) but from what I have gathered it's the newer devices (mainly usb c) which have more problem and in many cases the problems are OS problems on the phones. Therefore older and simpler device might have a much better connectivity to the car, then you only depend on the Wifi between them.
@Tigerstown, @bradhoschar - Well just bare with me a bit more
@Toffidee - Correct
@docfong - For Grom Vline there is a solution (with wifi as well) quite a while ago, see my signature or look at this: https://xdaforums.com/general/paid-software/android-4-1-headunit-reloaded-android-t3432348
@zsamson _ I'm not expecting Google to shut this down, I'm using the same approach as a Developer will need to take when it develops apps for Android Auto, so if they shut this down, it means they have to shut down the development tool as well, which I don't expect to happen at any point.
@the1dynasty - Any should do (running Android 3.0+ or higher, I might backport it to 2.3 as well but not sure yet) , but I say first wait till the app is out, use an old phone to test it, you are happy with how it works spend money on buying a stick.
@murso74 - I haven't tried but should do.
@rohan26may - yes
@bestaudioguy - Wireless or quick charging will be possible no problem there, it should not have any impact on Waze and Google maps speeds, but it might help some users who are facing difficulties connecting over USB for various reasons. Of course the whole thing will still require a USB connection from the car to the tv stick (or any other auxiliary device) but from what I have gathered it's the newer devices (mainly usb c) which have more problem and in many cases the problems are OS problems on the phones. Therefore older and simpler device might have a much better connectivity to the car, then you only depend on the Wifi between them.
@Tigerstown, @bradhoschar - Well just bare with me a bit more
@Toffidee - Correct
@docfong - For Grom Vline there is a solution (with wifi as well) quite a while ago, see my signature or look at this: https://xdaforums.com/general/paid-software/android-4-1-headunit-reloaded-android-t3432348
@zsamson _ I'm not expecting Google to shut this down, I'm using the same approach as a Developer will need to take when it develops apps for Android Auto, so if they shut this down, it means they have to shut down the development tool as well, which I don't expect to happen at any point.
@the1dynasty - Any should do (running Android 3.0+ or higher, I might backport it to 2.3 as well but not sure yet) , but I say first wait till the app is out, use an old phone to test it, you are happy with how it works spend money on buying a stick.
@murso74 - I haven't tried but should do.
@rohan26may - yes
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114Background
- Couple of years ago Google have launched Android Auto, but up till recently the only way to connect your device to the car/head unit was to plug in a USB cable. As of 2018 this starts to change, BUT it looks like you will need to get new hardware for this and older cars/head units won't be upgraded to support this, neither phones with older OS.
Concept
- Since many of us will like to have this wire free but not ready / willing or have the possibility to upgrade the units/cars/phones I have thought of a way to achieve this, by using a small auxiliary device, like for example a very cheap and basic Android TV stick, which can be plugged in/mounted in the car and which can fulfil the roll of a Wifi antenna for your car.
This app should allow you to transform any android powered device into a Wifi receiver for your Android Auto compatible Car/Headunit. Please do not confuse Android Auto, with Android powered headunit (usually Chinese, like MTCB, MTCD, Joying, etc).
AAGateWay Documentation.
Beta released (04.01.2020)
What is it?
AAGateWay is a an app which should allow you to use an auxiliary (slave) device to connect your existing Android Auto compatible car to your phone (master) using a hotspot created on your phone.
How to use it?
SLAVE SETUP
1) Install the app using XDA Labs (Only on SLAVE) : https://www.b3itlabs.com/prod.php?id=3
2) Configure
- FOR BOTH ROOTED AND NOT-ROOTED SLAVES
- CASE 1: Master is running Pie or higher
- Pair Master and Slave over BT (do this from the normal BT settings)
- Open app
- If slave is ROOTED and ONLY if you are using a TV STICK convert the app to system app. (if app not visible after conversion, reboot device)
- Enable the start tethering option (If asked make sure you manually configure the hotspot, to have the name HUR and the password AndroidAutoConnect)
- Select the masters phone BT MAC
- Exit
- Pair Master and Slave over BT (do this from the normal BT settings)
- CASE 2: Master is running Android 8 or lower
- Create a Wifi hotspot from the master
- Connect slave to it
- Reopen AAGateWay and select the masters hotspot from the "Phone Wifi SSID" list
- Create a Wifi hotspot from the master
- CASE 1: Master is running Pie or higher
- Slave is ROOTED - This will give a much bigger compatibility with cars, it should work with any car/unit (but depends a lot on the slave used, read below)
- Slave is NOT ROOTED - This mode won't work on all cars and it has caveats.
MASTER SETUP
- CASE 1: Master is running Pie or higher
- Install WiFi Launcher for HUR (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.borconi.emil.wifilauncherforhur)
- Make sure WiFi Launcher is version 2.1 or higher!!!
- Open WiFi Launcher
- FOR Android 10, set permission location to ALWAYS!!!!!!
- Select slaves BT from the BT list and exit
- DO NOT ENABLE ANY OF THE OTHER OPTIONS!!!!
- Install WiFi Launcher for HUR (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.borconi.emil.wifilauncherforhur)
- If you do not want to use WiFi Launcher you can use the following Tasker task to launch AA on any condition you want: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UO-Z5P0oQpHEdrQjYqvSM48L1TI-K5g8/view?usp=sharing
- CASE 2: Master is running Android 8 or lower
- Open Android Auto, go to Settings, scroll down tap the version 10 times, then from the 3 dotted top right corner select start headunti server.
- Exit Android Auto
- Leave the Headunit Server running
- When you get into the car turn on the hotspot on the master (or use Tasker, automate or anything else do that for you)
- Open Android Auto, go to Settings, scroll down tap the version 10 times, then from the 3 dotted top right corner select start headunti server.
CONNECTING
- Go to the car, plug in the slave to the car's USB and start the car
- Slave is ROOTED
- Nothing should happen, car should NOT detect the phone (SLAVE) at this stage. If the car does detect the slave being connected, it means your slave doesn't allow a proper USB toggle, in which case you should try enabling non-root mode.
- Master is Pie and above
- If you selected to tether from the slave, at this point you should see the slave turning on the hotspot, otherwise you might see the slave trying to connect to a Wifi network.
- Slave will notify master
- Master will automatically start WiFi Launcher
- Master will connect to slaves hotspot
- Master will start AA on the phone and notifies slave
- If you selected to tether from the slave, at this point you should see the slave turning on the hotspot, otherwise you might see the slave trying to connect to a Wifi network.
- Slave will enable USB
- If you are using a phone as slave you will get a prompt if you want to use AAGW as the default app for this action, make sure you select ALWAYS ans yes. (TV stick should work automatically)
- Projection should start
- Nothing should happen, car should NOT detect the phone (SLAVE) at this stage. If the car does detect the slave being connected, it means your slave doesn't allow a proper USB toggle, in which case you should try enabling non-root mode.
- Slave is NOT-ROOTED (or running in non-root mode)
- You will get a prompt to use AAGateWay for this action, make sure you select always.
- Car should display a splah-screen saying waiting for master. (on some car's screen you might see a scrambled image)
- After splash-screen is displayed, the slave will start tethering, or will try to connect to the masters hotspot depending on the setting.
- Once a network connection is established between the 2 devices, you will see the AA icon turning on on the master and Android Auto should be displayed on the car's screen. It is possible that the screen will stay /turn black, if that happens, you can try to press the home button on the infotainment system, then re-open Android Auto on it.
- You will get a prompt to use AAGateWay for this action, make sure you select always.
Troubleshoot and getting help
As the thread has so much information it will be really nice if we can try to stick to one format of troubleshooting, by using one of this 2 templates:
- Master is running Pie or above and slave is tethering:
- Running in root mode: (Yes/No)
- If running in non-root mode, is the splashscreen visible on the car: (Yes/No)
- If running in non-root mode, did you set the masters BT inside AAGW app?: (Yes/No)
- Did the slave actually turned on the hotspot on the slave: (Yes/No)
- On the master did you select the slaves BT in the Wifi Launcher app?: (Yes/No)
- When the master connected to the car's BT did the Wifi launcher app started up?: (Yes/No)
- Did the master connected to the slaves hotspot?: (Yes/No)
- Did the AA icon appeared on the master at all (in the notification bar)?: (Yes/No)
- Master is running Oreo or below and master is tethering:
- Running in root mode: (Yes/No)
- If running in non-root mode, is the splashscreen visible on the car: (Yes/No)
- If running in non-root mode, did you set the masters BT inside AAGW app?: (Yes/No)
- Did you select the masters hotspot name in AAGW?: (Yes/No)
- Have you started the Headunit server on the master?: (Yes/No)
- On the master did you select the cars BT in the Wifi Launcher app?: (Yes/No)
- When the master connected to the car's BT did the Wifi launcher app started up (notification bar)?: (Yes/No)
- Did the master turned on the hotspot?: (Yes/No)
- Did the slave connected to the masters hotspot?: (Yes/No)
- Getting rid of all automation and manually starting it all (regardless of Android version on master and slave):
- Uninstall AAGW on the master
- Start the headunit server from within Android Auto on the master
- Create a hotspot on the master
- Open AAGW on the slave and make sure it's not set to tether
- in AAGW make sure you select the masters hotspot
- If AAGW is set to non-root mode make sure you select the masters BT (just press the button AAGW will do a BT scan of nearby devices and you can pick it from the list)
- Go to the car and plug the slave in
- Start the car
- If slave is running in ROOT mode, slave will first try to connect to the masters Wifi and you will see a notification on the master that AA is running, only then the car should recognise a plugged in device.
- If the slave is running in non-root mode, first you will see a splash screen on the car, then you will see slave connects to masters Wifi (if not already connected), then you will see AA starting on the master.
- How do I collect a bug report / logcat
- Open Settings > About phone.
- Scroll down to the Build number.
- Tap the Build number 7 times in quick succession until "You're now a developer" appears.
- Return to the Settings menu and select Developer options.
- At the top of the screen, make sure 'Developer options' is set to On (green).
- Scroll down to Debugging and enable both USB debugging and Bug Report Shortcut on (green).
- Tab on Logger buffer sizes: Default setting is 256K. Select 16M to help capture more information for debugging. Of note, it can affect the apps performance especially with lower spec phone, so change it back after you have finished submitting bug reports.
- On slave make sure you enable debugging inside AAGW, on master open Android Auto go to developer settings and make sure force logging is enabled.
- Reproduce the problem
- Hold the Power button down until the menu appears.
- Select Take bug report. and wait for the device to capture the bug report.
- Tap the 'Bug report captured' notification when it appears.
- Send the bug report by email to borconie@gmail.com
Know problems, workaround:
- - Latency & lag. This will be really down to the devices you are using. I have tested it with a MK808B Plus, it work’s ok most of the time but occasionally you will get the odd lag. I’ve also tested it with a Nexus 7 tablet, and there was no lag at all, so device does matter, as well as probably ROM.
- - I get random disconnection. There can be 2 causes for this, one the USB connection fails between the car and the auxiliary device, or the Wifi fails between the phone and the auxiliary device. In my tests I saw a few Wifi disconnections without any reason on the MK808, but non on the Nexus. Changing the tethering option from WPA2 to Open did help with this.
- - App is closed without error or reason. The app runs in a background process, with a minimal interaction with the foreground, some devices/OS will kill background apps. I saw this happening on Nokia and I saw this happening on OnePlus as well. Try disabling battery optimisation for AAGateWay, that might help.
- - I just cannot get it to work… Try using a phone, that will at least give you some visual guidance. Make sure that your device connects to the phone Wifi hotspot, make sure that AA Headunit server is running on the phone (try to force stop Goolge Play Services, stop and restart the headunit server)… All fails contact me
- - Nothing happens on the master, using Wifi Launcher for HUR app. In this case, try to manually start the headunit server on the master, and manually turn on a hotspot, then reconfigure you're slave to connect to the masters hotspot (even if the master is running Pie or higher).
Device compatibility:
Master:
Any phone which normally works with Android Auto
Slave with ROOT:
- - Tested and know to work: - MK809V, Nexus 7 (depending on rom), Sony X Compact (depending on rom)
- -Tested and not working as expected: Pixel 2, MK808B
- - While root is necessary, not all phones can toggle USB port on and off by software. And there can be other problems, for example on some devices when you turn off the USB the phone loses the ability to detect the power connection as well, which is use as trigger to start the whole process. It is almost impossible to predict if a phone will be a good slave candidate or not.
Other things
- Xiaomi phones (MIUI makes a mess), try not to use it for Slave
- Generally older phones (pre oreo) are more likely to work fine as a slave device.
Any suggested slave?
- Yes, use an MK809V TV stick, as the experience with it, is pretty slick and it should work out of the box. If you get a MK809IV try to get the one with Android 5.1.1 as the one with Android 7.1 has problems with the tethering.
FAQ.
Guarantee or Warranty
- Due to the fact that there are so many possibilities and combinations of cars, head units, slave and master devices, there is no way for me to test all of them, however if you did purchase the software and you are not able to get it to work for any reason, please email me on borconie@gmail.com and I'm more then happy to refund the purchase.
Teaser:
24Good news, I've made the breakthrough I needed on the slave side, waiting for more confirmations but looks very promising.
If all goes well I should be able to update the app on the next week or so, possibly to RC or stable state.22Updates from the Netherlands, CP & EB IT is officially opened next week I will start the work on the promo video then Kickstarter campaign is on....21Just got off the phone with the guys who are going to shoot the promo video, we should have that by no later then 23rd of August done, so I really hope that by that day the kick-starter will be live.21Hi guys.
Sorry to be radio silent, indeed I was relatively busy with HUR and OBD2AA as well as other non Android Auto related work. Today I have finally managed to push out a stable release for HUR, and obd2aa is also doing pretty well, so in the next period I will continue to develop the AAGateWay, that being said my schedule looks like this:
- This weekend, working all weekend, preparing photos from 5 different events across the UK so that will tied me up till Tuesday
- Wednesday morning hitting the road (travelling to Romania - 3 days road trip)
- I'm not sure how much I will be in Romania
- October 20 I'm flying to the States for 2 weeks.
So as you can see I will be quite a lot on the road, but I will take my Sony headunit and some dev tools with me to Romania and will carry on working, my target is to have a stable version of this app before I fly to the states.
I will try to put together a list of most common problems I saw here and wishes tomorrow so you can all see and know what's happening as well as input new ideas if you have any. - FOR BOTH ROOTED AND NOT-ROOTED SLAVES
