[cyberax]

> Android Auto sucks.

No, it doesn't. It's a very simple streaming protocol.

It's literally a gRPC-encapsulated stream of h264 frames over a USB connection. With touch events and some car-related telemetry streamed back. You can implement it in a weekend: https://github.com/mrmees/open-android-auto

You can create whatever you want, including just streaming videos onto the head unit or making it play Doom while driving (with steering wheel for input).

[BeetleB]

Maybe I'm being imprecise.

What I mean is: When I enable Android Auto on my phone and on my car, and connect the two, I get something that has a poor UI and sucks.

[cyberax]

What exactly is poor?

[BeetleB]

Not sure if you're asking relative to other options, or just in the absolute. I'll respond to the latter.

Some of my complaints below may have remedies - please feel free to inform me!

When Android Auto loads up, it shows me a tile with the current weather. In Fahrenheit. I want it in Celsius. Everywhere on my phone I've set it to Celsius. In the Settings (I think multiple ones). In the actual weather app. But AA will show it in Fahrenheit.

And why show me that tile at all? I don't want to see it. I can't disable it. In my Android Auto settings, I removed it from the list of apps. It still shows up. Why can't I control what apps launch?

Why is there always a navigation app loaded? I don't want it on by default if I'm just going to listen to stuff. Nothing should be loaded by default except the launcher menu. I should be able to configure on my phone what I want autolaunched.

It eats up too much battery. Why does it need to eat so much battery if all I'm using it for is to listen to podcasts? With regular Bluetooth, it barely consumes battery.

Waze sucks on AA compared to just plain Android. I can't, for example, send an ETA via AA. I can't even do it on my phone while connected to AA.

Why does the air vent fan speed drop dramatically when I get a call? Why does the climate system even know I'm getting a call?

If I connect my phone via USB cable, why does it insist I connect via Bluetooth? I can go to Android settings, have Bluetooth forget my car, and when I plug in the USB and launch Android Auto, Android will connect to Bluetooth. I Googled and apparently this is intentional. I find it very hostile.

That's all from the top of my head. I'm sure I can come up with plenty more.

[cyberax]

> When Android Auto loads up, it shows me a tile with the current weather. In Fahrenheit. I want it in Celsius. Everywhere on my phone I've set it to Celsius. In the Settings (I think multiple ones). In the actual weather app. But AA will show it in Fahrenheit.

I don't think I ever saw this behavior?

> Why is there always a navigation app loaded?

I think this is the default? I have OsmAnd+ instead of Google Maps by default.

> It eats up too much battery. Why does it need to eat so much battery if all I'm using it for is to listen to podcasts? With regular Bluetooth, it barely consumes battery.

This is because your phone needs to encode the contents of its display as h264 stream.

> Why does the air vent fan speed drop dramatically when I get a call? Why does the climate system even know I'm getting a call?

AndroidAuto can notify the car that it wants reduced noise.

> That's all from the top of my head. I'm sure I can come up with plenty more.

This is all fixable in software on Android. Nothing from your list is a problem on the _car_ side.

Given that the protocol is now documented and available, it doesn't even need to be implemented in Android. You can have a KDE desktop running on your car!

I actually played with that about 10 years ago: https://github.com/Cyberax/aauto/tree/master

[BeetleB]

> I think this is the default? I have OsmAnd+ instead of Google Maps by default.

Ok. How do I make it not load any of them?

> AndroidAuto can notify the car that it wants reduced noise

How do I get it not to notify the car?

> This is all fixable in software on Android. Nothing from your list is a problem on the _car_ side

Which is why my original comment said Android Auto sucks.

My complaint about the car manufacturer is that they allow the driving experience to be degraded with it.

[cyberax]

> Ok. How do I make it not load any of them? > How do I get it not to notify the car?

Get the Android Auto app and patch away the notification. It's just an app, after all. Running on your own hardware.

> Which is why my original comment said Android Auto sucks. > My complaint about the car manufacturer is that they allow the driving experience to be degraded with it.

So your default car navigator can do everything in your list, including launching a non-default app from your phone? That's some mighty car navigation system.