[fspeed100]

Wireless Android Auto Dongle for Your Car Using Raspberry Pi Zero W

Practically all cars these days support Android Auto, but most of the time, it needs to be connected via a wire. Personally, I find it a cumbersome, more so with my Nexon, since it supports only wired Android Auto. In my search for Wireless Android Auto Dongle, it was found that they are quite expensive, upwards of Rs. 6000, and that not having very good reviews. So I looked for other solutions, and after some searching, I got a way to set up Wireless Android Auto using a Raspberry Pi Zero W.

Things Required:

• Raspberry Pi Zero W

A Raspberry Pi Zero W is a very small, cheap model with on-board Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Its easily Available on Amazon or any other Ecommerce Portal. I bought it from Silverline Electronics at the Price of Rs. 1240.

• Any OEM Mirco USB cable is fine.

• SD Card of Any size of card is fine, as more or less, we need 32 MB space. You will also need an SD card reader.

• The head unit shall support a wired Android Auto and shall have a display screen.

Step-by-Step Guide

Download the Image File for the board from Github

-filename = raspberrypi0w for Raspberry Pi Zero W

The Image file size is around 32MB in size.

Now its time to Flash image to the Raspberry Pi Zero W Board

Download and install BalenaEtcher. It's a tool that will help you flash the image to the SD card.

Connect the SD card to your PC using an SD card reader.

Launch BalenaEtcher and select the 'Flash from File' option. Choose the downloaded image file.

Now select the SD card from the list and hit 'Flash'.

Click on "Flash!" to start loading the image onto the SD card. The process will take a maximum of one to two minutes.

Once it has finished flashing, unplug the SD card, and then plug it into the Raspberry Pi board.

Installation in the Car:

Attach your Android phone to the car head unit using a USB cable and then make sure the Android Auto connection opens up on the display inside your car.

Unplug the Android phone from the car's head unit.

Connect the Raspberry Pi board to the car's head unit using the USB cable. Make sure that the SD card flashed is inserted properly on the Raspberry Pi Zero W board itself.

Wait for around 10-20 seconds for the green LED on the board to glow.

On your Android phone, go to the Bluetooth settings, and you will find "AndroidAuto-Dongle" or "AA Wireless Dongle". Pair with your phone and give permissions if needed.

Then, on the Wi-Fi settings on your phone, you shall find "AAWirelessDongle". You just connect to the password

ConnectAAWirelassDongle

Android Auto should appear wirelessly on your car screen.

Technically, this setup worked flawlessly for my Raspberry Pi Zero W. I got absolutely all the features of the Android Auto on my Nexon. I have not tested it in another car yet, but it should work as long as the head unit supports wired Android Auto.

One may use the cover type that can accommodate a heatsink for the board to stay cool during operation. The best-recommended type is the cover with space for a heatsink which is easily available in Amazon or any other ecommerce site.

The entire expenditure is as below:

• Raspberry Pi Zero W: Rs. 1240
• SD Card: Old Card lying around. (Rs.250 by value)
• USB Cable: Old cable lying around. (Rs.100 by value)
• Cover with Heat Sink: Rs.350

Total Costs upto Rs. 1940

Techniclly, we are having a DIY Wireless Android Auto Dongle under Rs.2000.

Enjoy


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Note from Mod

Cross-linking to another Wireless Android Auto DIY Thread.

[TROOPER]

Thank you so much for this fspeed100

This is the only one feature I've felt missing in my 2019 Hexa, which came with wired AA and Carplay. Since it works with your Nexon, which has a similar kind of HU, I assume it should work with the Hexa too.

Thanks again!

[kvamshi04]

Originally Posted by fspeed100

Wireless Android Auto Dongle for Your Car Using Raspberry Pi Zero W

This is impressive , after reading this, I want to give it a try, the only problem is, I am from a non-tech background. Is it possible for you to share the links. Thank you ��

[fspeed100]

Originally Posted by kvamshi04

This is impressive , after reading this, I want to give it a try, the only problem is, I am from a non-tech background. Is it possible for you to share the links. Thank you ��

You can get the Raspberry Pi Zero W from the following Link

https://www.silverlineelectronics.in...erry-pi-zero-w

Also the case can be bought from Amazon

https://amzn.in/d/9RUyqOK

[MahiDesai]

Absolutely great thread. Kudos to your DIY Keeda, and I am sure this saves the to the tune of 4 to 5K easily.

I had the easy route and ended up ordering this particular device at 4K (did not have the confidence that it will work, but it did and how!).

For the lesser mortals like me who cannot spend time building the Raspberry pie setup, here is the link. I think its currently unavailable, but pls keep a watch and I have seen it appearing few times.

https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B0D...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Cheers
Mahi

[MountainGuy]

Originally Posted by fspeed100

Wireless Android Auto Dongle for Your Car Using Raspberry Pi Zero W

Thanks much for this.

One question, once you turn off the car and have to connect again next time - do we need to again connect phone first via usb, then unplug it and connect Rasperry pi vis same usb as you mentioned in the post? And any frequent disconnection issues noticed so far?

[fspeed100]

Originally Posted by MountainGuy

Thanks much for this.

One question, once you turn off the car and have to connect again next time - do we need to again connect phone first via usb, then unplug it and connect Rasperry pi vis same usb as you mentioned in the post? And any frequent disconnection issues noticed so far?

I have been using for last one week Till now its working fine without connecting my phone. Haven't faced any disconnection issue. But, sometime I had a lag in music playback, but disconnecting and reconnecting does the job.

[MountainGuy]

Originally Posted by fspeed100

I have been using for last one week Till now its working fine without connecting my phone. Haven't faced any disconnection issue. But, sometime I had a lag in music playback, but disconnecting and reconnecting does the job.

Thanks. So it seems one only needs to connect phone to car via usb the one time for the setup, and not again. Is that understanding correct? If yes, how do we connect next time wirelessly?

[fspeed100]

Originally Posted by MountainGuy

Thanks. So it seems one only needs to connect phone to car via usb the one time for the setup, and not again. Is that understanding correct? If yes, how do we connect next time wirelessly?

Yes. That correct, you only need to connect the phone once. After that you can connect to the wifi name AAWirelessDongle. Enjoy

[saikishor]

I have a small query, I ordered a RSP zero 2W from silverline and a zero W case from amazon. Will the zero W case fit the zero 2W? I couldn't find a RSP zero W when I was ordering on silverline, hence ordered the zero 2W. I want to cancel it now but cannot find an option.

[mukeshgoel]

Originally Posted by saikishor

Will the zero W case fit the zero 2W?

Yes, see the video from 1:45.

https://youtu.be/Qxcyb5z2HDM?si=qa90Cu9Jbp_jtYMY&t=105

[hardilip]

Thanks for the great and useful DIY.

For sometime now, I wanted to get a wireless Android Auto / Car Play from amazon but all those models that I have seen the reviews weren't so convincing. They all had one or other issues (lag / some features weren't working etc) also I wasn't sure to spend 5 - 6K on a product that wasn't reliable / identifiable by a known brand name.

I am sure this will be far better than those products within (max) 1.5K price range. So thanks for this.

Have got couple of questions hope you don't mind answering them,

1. Apart from the lag you mentioned was there any feature that didnt work with this setup (like phone calls receiving / answering or navigation etc)

2. Can we use 2W instead of W will the performance be better? Will there be any changes to the above procedure when we use 2W

3. Was there any overheating issue and device being non responsive kind of an issue?

Thanks in advance and thanks once again for the DIY.

[Downshift98]

Any possibility for getting wireless CarPlay?

[amritpal2489]

I am more interested in knowing how's the performance of this wireless vs the actual wired connection now that you have been using this set up for a while. Can you please elaborate on this?

[abnalx]

Worked flawlessly in Kia Carens's system. Used raspberry Pi zero2w so needed to take a different image file from github. The interface looked little compressed in quality and little lag in scrolling. But everything else seems same as the wired connection for now. Only tested for 5 minutes but pi is getting little warm so might need to a get a case with heatsink and also maybe a way to fix near ac vents in future.

Thanks a ton fspeed100 for this awesome guide.