After the successful Beta stage of my Car PC build I could not add anything much due to workplace commitments. However one thing that fascinated me was the introduction of Android Auto by Google.
Still the problem in adopting Android Auto into my setup was that it is compatible only with the Hardware manufactured by partnering manufacturers and there was no way to obtain details about developing a head unit app by an average person. Of course the community quickly began to reverse engineer the workings of Android Auto mobile app and the provided Simulators and quickly surfaced an open source head unit app for Android Tablets working in OTG mode. Going on that direction, I was almost about to put Android x86 and port that so called head unit app into x86. Yet a web search for that app suddenly pointed to a recently announced desktop head unit app by Google itself.
So I reinstalled the Windows 7 Embedded platform with required components (This time approx. 1.5GB image) installed JDK (which is a prerequisite for Android SDK) and Android SDK tools (which provides adb.exe) along with Android Auto desktop head unit app and Google USB drivers.
Still I’m using my old startup sequence of launching Centrafuse Auto from my own custom shell application. And made a batch script to forward tcp:5277 in adb and then launch the head unit app. I have then added this as an Application plugin titled as Android Auto to Centrafuce app. While in this video I have to accept the annoying Debug authorization prompt on my mobile
I have get rid of that by selecting the checkbox for "Always allow from this computer". Only caveat with this setup is that I have to click on Maximize button to adjust the head unit app to screen since I’m running at 800x600 resolution. It also has a title bar on top of the screen yet. But apart from that it’s almost as the authentic Android Auto experience from that point onwards. The method depicted in this post is only experimental and if you choose to follow the same you are fully responsible for any damages that may arise as a result. Also always stay fully aware of driving conditions and always obey applicable laws. In case system may become unstable and unresponsive do not try to handle you mobile while driving.
[Posted with Windows Live Writer™ 2012 on Windows 10 64bit]
