[grobelny]

The basic use case for Kodi is to make a TV 'smart'. In this case Kodi provides all the smartness and TV becomes 'simple' I/O device.

I was wondering if the same idea could be used to make a 'smart' car. The idea is that a headunit supporting Android Auto would be a 'simple' I/O device. Of course that is the whole point of connecting your mobile to your car via AA so one may say this is nothing new. But the same way you don't connect mobile to your TV every time you enter the room (and you use already connected Kodi STB) you might not want to do the same when entering your car. Obviously I know about Wireless AA (pretty new), but some of the smartness may still require connection (eg. connected camera, CAN bus).

In this idea I see some similarities (smartness in external device + simple IO device), but I also see significant differences (eg. media output is not the main point in cars).
Now the question is: would this idea be of any interest to Kodi team in any way? Do you think Kodi could be used in such a scenario? Any other projects that might fit this scenario better?

[jools5000]

I'm trying to work out what you're proposing here.  As a Kodi and Android Auto user, I'm struggling to see your idea

The AA interface imposes a lot of technical restrictions on apps (and no way video playback would be allowed or legal in most jurisdictions)  Plex does support it for audio only

Not to mention there are a lot of restrictions around the platform specification - it isn't a properly open platform

Kodi is already struggling on Android support and I see a very limited use case for trying to access you library when on the road.  In case of other features I think its very restricted to what an AA headunit can see of the car's systems.   In the past I've had a full Anrdoid head unit and via a Bluetooth OBD connection, been able to access the vehicle telemetry while on the move, but this is way out of Kodi's use-case

[enen92]

I can see the point on the proposal but I doubt the effort is worth for someone to take.
Maybe you can have a look into openauto which will run on the raspberry PI and support both Android Auto (usb and netowrk) and Kodi as a possible dock application : https://github.com/f1xpl/openauto

GUI won't be handled by kodi though

[grobelny]

Wow, seems I wasn't notified of the replies, hope you will be :-) If none of you replies I will post again.

As for the restrictions - they are there only if you run it using Google's software. How about implementing the protocol yourself? See a project of mine here: https://github.com/tomasz-grobelny/AACS and here https://opensource.com/article/20/12/and...pen-source - it can stream any video to headunit, steering wheel buttons are in progress, audio is pending.

As for the idea - as I see similarities, but also significant differences. Anyway, I thought I would look around for people interested in this idea here (idea of other similar communities most welcome!). Maybe also some code for the UI could be shared, who knows :-)

For the effort - indeed it is not easy, but doable as you can see :-)

I am aware of openauto, but it implements the other side of the protocol (headunit, not client). It is very helpful in implementing my project.