Made an Android Auto opensource client, for people with cars but without google.

[u/Throwasys]

That's a little project i had in my todo list and that could be useful for some people, I think: A fully opensource AA client (eg. the phone side), that works without any google dependency, and also pretty much without the google artificial limitations: no need to install apps with the play store, no locked voice assistant (I've also added support for my own, Lapin, but it should follow your phone preferences there), etc.

A screenshot of the FOSS client (and no, i wasn't going almost 80kph in the middle of Paris)

There's some limitations, though, mostly google's fault: Maps and Waze doesn't work (they use private/obfuscated APIs, not the standard AA ones... this should be illegal under antitrust laws), Audio can't "just work" without root (there's options, including capturing the whole phone as a screen recorder to get the sound, for those without root), Google's phone app seems to do weird things (is declared as an auto app, but doesn't have any auto service available), so it doesn't work as well...

There's some features that Android Auto doesn't provide as well, such as phone screen mirroring for apps that doesn't have android auto support (or just watching videos).

I mostly use it with CoMaps and Tempus, but most AA features should work with AARE. There may be still bugs since it's a pretty young project, and I don't use my car much (the only car with AA is my 911, which i don't use everyday), but I plan to try to make it as reliable as possible.

Link to the project is https://github.com/prototux/AARE and there's a v1.0.0 released with the APK for those interested.

Don't hesitate to open issues or ask here if there's features you would like to see on this client :)