An Introduction to Android Automotive OS

Chris Simmonds
NDC Techtown 2021

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 1 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

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An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 2 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

About Chris Simmonds
• Consultant and trainer
• Author of Mastering Embedded Linux Programming
• Working with embedded Linux since 1999
• Android since 2009
• Speaker at many conferences and workshops

"Looking after the Inner Penguin" blog at https://2net.co.uk/

@2net_software

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/chrisdsimmonds/

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 3 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

Google and me

• I have no direct contact with Google

• I do not represent Google’s point of view
• I have not signed any NDAs with Google

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 4 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

Agenda

• Android and automotive

• Vehicle HAL
• Car service
• Exterior cameras
• Audio
• Conclusion

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 5 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

 The Polestar 2 is the first
vehicle with Android
Automotive OS

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 6 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

Android and IVI
• 2014: Android Auto
• https://www.android.com/auto/
• Screen cast from smart phone to head unit display
• An SDK integrated into the head unit (which is usually not running
Android)
• Apple CarPlay is a similar concept
• 2017: Android Automotive OS
• https://source.android.com/devices/automotive/
• Android running in the head unit
Android has been used in IVI for a long time, e.g. Honda (based on JB 4.2) and Hyundai
(based on GB 2.3).
An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 7 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd
The Android Open Source Project

• The core of Android is developed and released as the Android Open

Source Project (AOSP)
• Android Automotive OS is part of AOSP
• But, AOSP is not a production-ready solution
• You need front-end apps, a home screen, back-end services
• Google has a solution ...

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 8 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

Google Automotive Services (GAS)
• Non-free services on top of Android Automotive
• similar to Google Mobile Services in the smartphone world
• Includes
• Play Store
• Google Assistant
• Google Maps

• Per-unit license
• Must pass tests: CTS, VTS, ATS, ..
• Must install Google apps

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 9 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

No GAS

• Without GAS, you need to find alternative apps and services

• typically a combination of in-house and third party
• some tier one companies have SDKs that you can use

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 10 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

Architecture of Android Automotive
Car app

android.car.jar Car Manager

Java library (android.car.*)

ICar* AIDL interfaces

com.android.car
(persistent Car Service
application)

IVehicle HIDL interface

HAL service Vehicle HAL

Vehicle bus (e.g. CAN)

Vehicle ECUs

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 11 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

• Android and automotive
• Vehicle HAL
• Car service
• Exterior cameras
• Audio
• Conclusion

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 12 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

Vehicle HAL

• The Vehicle HAL stores information as Vehicle Properties

• Most properties are linked to signals on the vehicle bus, for example:
• speed: a float value in metres per second
• heating control setting: a float value in degrees Celsius
• Properties may be changed
• by the signal changing on the bus
• programmatically from an Android application

• The Vehicle HAL has an interface named IVehicle

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 13 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

System Property Identifiers
• System property identifiers are marked with
VehiclePropertyGroup:SYSTEM
• In Android 12 there are over 150, for example:
enum VehicleProperty: int32_t {
/**
* HVAC, target temperature set.
*
* @change_mode VehiclePropertyChangeMode:ON_CHANGE
* @access VehiclePropertyAccess:READ_WRITE
* @unit VehicleUnit:CELSIUS
*/
HVAC_TEMPERATURE_SET = (
0x0503
| VehiclePropertyGroup:SYSTEM
| VehiclePropertyType:FLOAT
| VehicleArea:SEAT),

Code: hardware/interfaces/automotive/vehicle/2.0/types.hal
An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 14 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd
Extending VehicleProperty

• You can add your own property identifiers marked with

VehiclePropertyGroup:VENDOR
Native code:
constexpr int VENDOR_EXAMPLE =
(int)(0x1001 | VehiclePropertyGroup::VENDOR
| VehiclePropertyType::INT32 | VehicleArea::GLOBAL);

Java:
private static final int VENDOR_EXAMPLE =
0x1001 | VehiclePropertyGroup.VENDOR
| VehiclePropertyType.INT32 | VehicleArea.GLOBAL;

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 15 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

IVehicle

• Functions defined in IVehicle

• getAllPropConfigs()
• getPropConfigs(props)
• get(VehiclePropValue)
• set(VehiclePropValue)
• subscribe(IVehicleCallback, SubscribeOptions)
• unsubscribe(IVehicleCallback, propId)

Code: hardware/interfaces/automotive/vehicle/2.0/IVehicle.hal

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 16 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

Properties
Car app

Car Service

IVehicle::subscribe

VHAL daemon

ECU
-

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 17 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

Properties
Car app

Car Service

IVehicleCallback::onChange

VHAL daemon

ECU
-

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 18 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

Properties

ChangeMode:
STATIC Never changes
ON_CHANGE Signal event when value changes
CONTINUOUS Constantly changing: notified at sampling rate set
by subscriber

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 19 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

• Android and automotive
• Vehicle HAL
• Car service
• Exterior cameras
• Audio
• Conclusion

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 20 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

Car service
• Wraps Vehicle Properties and presents them as a number of APIs
useful to applications
• Implemented as a system service in a persistent, system app named
com.android.car
• Service name is car_service
• Interface android.car.ICar
• Dump command dumpsys car_service
• -h for a list of options
Code: packages/services/Car/service

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 21 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

Car Manager

• In Android, the API to a service is implemented as a manager

• Car Manager consists of the android.car.* classes, which form the API
for Android Automotive
• https://developer.android.com/reference/android/car/classes

• Car Manager is a platform library which is installed on the device in

/system/framework/android.car.jar

Code for Car Manager: packages/services/Car/car-lib

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 22 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

Car Manager
• Car Manager provides 23 interfaces:
CAR_INPUT_SERVICE PROPERTY_SERVICE
INFO_SERVICE PROJECTION_SERVICE
APP_FOCUS_SERVICE BLUETOOTH_SERVICE
PACKAGE_SERVICE TEST_SERVICE
AUDIO_SERVICE CAR_DRIVING_STATE_SERVICE
CAR_NAVIGATION_SERVICE CAR_UX_RESTRICTION_SERVICE
CAR_OCCUPANT_ZONE_SERVICE OCCUPANT_AWARENESS_SERVICE
CAR_INSTRUMENT_CLUSTER_SERVICE CAR_CONFIGURATION_SERVICE
DIAGNOSTIC_SERVICE CAR_MEDIA_SERVICE
CAR_TRUST_AGENT_ENROLLMENT_SERVICE CAR_BUGREPORT_SERVICE
CAR_WATCHDOG_SERVICE STORAGE_MONITORING_SERVICE
POWER_SERVICE

The next slides expand on just a few of these: PROPERTY_SERVICE, INFO_SERVICE,

and CAR_UX_RESTRICTION_SERVICE

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 23 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

Digression: Android permissions
• Applications need to be granted permissions to access services
• Car Service has only a few that can be granted to 3rd party apps
CAR_INFO
READ_CAR_DISPLAY_UNITS
CONTROL_CAR_DISPLAY_UNITS
CAR_ENERGY_PORTS
CAR_EXTERIOR_ENVIRONMENT
CAR_POWERTRAIN
CAR_SPEED
CAR_ENERGY
• The others are marked as signature | privileged
• which are only granted to apps built by the OEM and shipped as part of
the platform

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 24 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

PROPERTY_SERVICE (CarPropertyManager)

• A simple wrapper for Vehicle HAL properties, has methods to

enumerate, get, set and listen to any property
• Permissions are checked per property
• e.g. to access vendor properties, apps need
PERMISSION_VENDOR_EXTENSION, level "signature|privileged"
Code: packages/services/Car/car-lib/src/android/car/hardware/property/
CarPropertyManager.java

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 25 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

INFO_SERVICE (CarInfoManager)

• Retrieves various static information from the car (VID, model, year, fuel
type, etc.)
• Permission PERMISSION_CAR_INFO, level "normal"
Code:
packages/services/Car/car-lib/src/android/car/CarInfoManager.java

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 26 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

CAR_UX_RESTRICTION_SERVICE
(CarUxRestrictionsManager)

• Indicates whether there is a requirement to be Distraction Optimized.

Uses information from CarDrivingStateManager
Code: packages/services/Car/car-lib/src/android/car/drivingstate/
CarUxRestrictionsManager.java

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 27 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

Car apps
• Demo apps are in packages/apps/Car/* and packages/services/Car/*
• Examples:
Name description
CarLauncher Car home screen
CarHvacApp Heating, ventilation and A/C
CarRadioApp Radio
CarDialerApp Car dialer
CarMapsPlaceholder Navigation would go here!
LocalMediaPlayer Media player
CarMessengerApp Messages and notifications
CarSettings Settings
EmbeddedKitchenSinkApp Lots of demos!

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 28 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

Instrument cluster display

• The instrument cluster is a separate display, usually behind the

steering wheel
• Uses Android Presentation API to display content
• Managed by InstrumentClusterService, covered in a later chapter
An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 29 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd
Instrument cluster display
Head unit
Instrument cluster
app
Cluster controller
ClusterRenderingService() Ethernet/
HDMI/
Car Service LVDS Safety-critical
OS
Virtual
display

Instrument
60 km/h cluster
display 50%
100 km

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 30 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

Third party apps

• Apps in Play Store for Auto and Automotive can’t access the system
APIs
• Apps are very restricted so as to minimize driver distraction
"Important: Google takes driver distraction very seriously. Your app must meet specific
design requirements before it can be listed on Google Play for Android Automotive OS and
Android Auto"

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 31 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

Third party apps
• Supported app categories:
• media (audio) apps
• messaging apps, using text-to-speech and voice input
• navigation, parking, and charging apps (new in 2021)

• References:
https://developer.android.com/training/cars/start
https://developer.android.com/docs/quality-guidelines/
car-app-quality
https://developer.android.com/training/cars/navigation

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 32 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

Developing for Automotive

• Android Studio has automotive SDKs for R/11 but not yet S/12
• Requires Android Studio version > 4.2
• Note: the stable version of 4.2 was released in May 2021: prior to that it
was only available on the "canary" channel

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 33 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

Automotive AVD
• SDK: Android 11.0 (R), Automotive with Play Store Intel x86 Atom
System Image
• AVD: Automotive (1024p landscape) API 30

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 34 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

• Android and automotive
• Vehicle HAL
• Car service
• Exterior cameras
• Audio
• Conclusion

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 35 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

Exterior cameras

• Problem: the rear view camera must be able to display images within 2
seconds of starting the ignition
• But, Android takes 10’s of seconds to boot
• Solution: the Exterior View System (EVS)
• EVS is a self contained application written in C++
• has few dependencies on the Android operating system
• so, EVS can be active within 2 seconds, long before Android has
finished booting

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 36 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

Architecture

Reference: https://source.android.com/devices/automotive/camera-hal
An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 37 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd
Typical control flow

Reference: https://source.android.com/devices/automotive/camera-hal
An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 38 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd
Display sharing

• EVS has priority over the main display (usually the centre console)
• It can grab the display whenever an exterior camera needs to be
shown
• e.g. when reverse gear is selected

• There is no mechanism that allows EVS and Android to display content

at the same time

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 39 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

• Android and automotive
• Vehicle HAL
• Car service
• Exterior cameras
• Audio
• Conclusion

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 40 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

What is special about audio in vehicles?

• Many audio channels with special behaviours

• Critical chimes and warning sounds
• Interactions between audio channels
• Lots of speakers

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 41 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

Automotive sounds and streams

Reference https://source.android.com/devices/automotive/audio
An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 42 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd
Audio contexts

MUSIC Music playback

NAVIGATION Navigation directions
VOICE_COMMAND Voice command session
CALL_RING Voice call ringing
CALL Voice call
ALARM Alarm sound from Android
NOTIFICATION Notifications
SYSTEM_SOUND User interaction sounds (button clicks, etc)

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 43 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

Physical streams, contexts and buses

• AudioFlinger uses the context to mix logical streams down to to

physical streams called a buses
• Many to one: several logical streams may be mixed into one bus
• IAudioControl::getBusForContext maps from context to bus
• A bus is an output channel, typically fed to the car mixer/amplifier
• For example, the NAVIGATION context could be routed to driver’s side
speakers

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 44 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

Chimes and warnings

• Regulatory chimes and warnings are not played through Android

• Android does not have an early audio path
• Android is not a safety critical operating system

• Regulatory sounds must be generated outside Android and mixed later

in the output chain

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 45 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

• Android and automotive
• Vehicle HAL
• Car service
• Exterior cameras
• Audio
• Conclusion

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 46 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

Conclusion

• Android Automotive is Android adapted for the car

• New VHAL, Car Service, and Car Manager
• New services for external cameras
• Additions to audio, including zones (buses) and context based routing
Slides at https:
//2net.co.uk/slides/EW21/introduction-to-aaos-csimmonds-ew-2020.pdf

Embedded Android+Automotive: a 5-day deep dive into Android Automotive

https://2net.co.uk/training/embedded-android-automotive

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 47 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd

 Questions?

Slides at
https://2net.co.uk/slides/introduction-to-aaos-csimmonds-ndctechtown-2021.
pdf

@2net_software

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/chrisdsimmonds/

An Introduction to Android Automotive OS 48 Copyright © 2011-2021, 2net Ltd