OpenAuto makes car smart with Raspberry Pi DIY hack

By Chris Burns/Feb. 23, 2018 10:15 am EST

Android Auto can be installed on a Raspberry Pi unit with relative ease – and the results are pretty neat. Based on the DIY project we're having a peek at here today, the next generation in DIY automotive tech appears to be here. This system was made possible by XDA Developers user f1x, maker of an open source Android Auto head unit emulator.

The creator of the head unit you're about to experience had his own display and Raspberry Pi, and it requires a small microSD card. The user who created this experimental build used an 8GB microSD card. This user worked with his own unique setup based on setup instructions from Github as created by f1xpl. That's the same person as is behind f1x on XDA.

OpenAuto takes what Google's made in Google Auto, and turns it into something the whole developer/DIY community can use. Instructions listed on Github aren't for everybody, but they make the process relatively simple for the folks that have at least a tiny bit of experience working with Raspberry Pi. OpenAuto currently features all of the following:

• 480p, 720p and 1080p with 30 or 60 FPS

• RaspberryPi 3 hardware acceleration support to decode video stream (video stream up to 1080p@60)

• Audio playback from all audio channels (Media, System and Speech)

• Audio input for voice commands

• Touchscreen and buttons input

• Bluetooth

• Automatic launch after device hotplug

• User-friendly settings

The work that's gone into OpenAuto is extraordinary. It works with code from Boost libraries, works with CMake, code from the Broadcom ilclient from RaspberryPi 3's firmware, and bits from aasdk library and Qt library. OpenMAX IL API was also utilized – one big bash of codes, of that you can be certain.

The example of this action isn't yet installed in a vehicle, but that bit of the process is probably the easiest of all. Users can make this system work right this minute if they wish – just head out and get a Raspberry Pi, and you're well on your way! Let us know if you've run OpenAuto for yourself!