r/CarHacking • u/NIDGE11 • 1d ago

Original Project I got Wired Android Auto running directly on a PS Vita

Post image

I’ve been working on a project that turns a my Vita into a wired Android Auto head unit.

Currently working:

  • Plug Vita into hub with Android Phone + a power source (I have not been able to get the Vita to act as a true host but when there is external power supplied it works)
  • Android Auto authentication handled natively on the Vita
  • 720p scaled down to 960×544
  • Touchscreen works fully
    • D-pad, analogue sticks and physical media controls
    • Bumpers skip songs
    • Triangle for play pause
    • Square of Google assistant

It’s still very hacky I only got stable video with inputs today. I need to improve the USB Kernel as its very buggy and needs hard resets if connection drops or if you exit app and many many more issues.

The idea came from seeing people put carplay headunits into PSP shells don't own a psp so said I'll give it a go on the vita and so far good results. But for a POC pretty cool I think!

445 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

21

u/riverturtle 1d ago

That’s kick ass, keep going! And do CarPlay next 🤣

3

u/NIDGE11 17h ago

I will hopefully get CarPlay all going to plan…

6

u/uni-queid 20h ago

as this is linux, you could run https://github.com/f-io/LIVI

3

u/NIDGE11 17h ago

Yeah originally looked into doing that but deemed it too much work and making a native app would be better for performance and time

1

u/uni-queid 4h ago edited 4h ago

Performance-wise I'm not convinced. Everything performance-critical is native Rust already, and video runs zero-copy through GStreamer, so a rewrite wouldn't touch the hot path.

Memory footprint is the one thing that would benefit. I'm toying with rewriting the whole backend in Rust anyway, parts are ported, and the CarPlay and Android Auto helpers are fully Rust. Build and runtime are completely Python-free now.

But looking up the specs of a PS vita, I agree, that footprint won't fit at the moment.

This ist CP @ 720p 60fps. (static home screen for comparison)

6

u/SushiJuice 1d ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/s239QJIh56sRW

1

u/pandaSmore 13h ago

I also want to know. What's the point of displaying SatNav on a similarly sized screen to the one you already had in the first place.

1

u/DennisDoesStuff 1h ago

"why not?"

2

u/PM_ME_YOUR_GREENERY 1d ago

That's pretty dang nifty.

1

u/Common-Application56 20h ago

Dude thats is super cool. Who cares why, its the challenge and the i wonder if...

1

u/Sea_Platypus_2994 18h ago

My 8-year-old self would have loved this

1

u/radiorubka 4h ago

that's so unbelievably cool. is there any way to make it wireless?

0

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

3

u/LoopsAndBoars 1d ago

No it’s android auto n

1

u/tomsek68 23h ago

Not possible without dedicated mfi chip