2018 Camry Using Open-Source Linux Infotainment

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rgMekanic

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Toyota has announced that as an option for the 2018 Camry, you can get "Automotive Grade Linux" as the backbone of the Infotainment system. Toyota is still using Entune branding, with AGL 3.0 forming the base for its latest Entune 3.0 system in the Camry.


This could be pretty interesting in my opinion, once modders and the like get their hands on it to play with, who knows perhaps we will be rooting our cars and installing custom software of our own. And depending on the hardware running the infotainment in these upcoming cars, we may be able to do a whole lot more. A few months ago we showed that you can run Doom on a Porsche 911, perhaps now we will have a more affordable option.

"The flexibility of the AGL platform allows us to quickly roll-out Toyota's infotainment system across our vehicle line-up, providing customers with greater connectivity and new functionalities at a pace that is more consistent with consumer technology," said Keiji Yamamoto, Executive Vice President, Connected Company of Toyota Motor Corporation. "Adopting an open source development approach has enabled us to focus resources on developing innovative new features and bringing them to market faster."
 
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Toyota's unwillingness to embrace android auto has caused me to rule them out for the next car I purchase in the next 1 or 2 years. I don't want their crappy system.
 
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I had a 2013 4Runner and Entune was absolutely awful, and the app was even worse. Anything is a better option than that pile of crap.
 
munkle said:
Toyota's unwillingness to embrace android auto has caused me to rule them out for the next car I purchase in the next 1 or 2 years. I don't want their crappy system.
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This right here. Their garbage system immediately ruled them out to replace my wife's totaled Grand Cherokee with a Highlander a couple months ago. We eventually bought a Honda Pilot.
 
otherweeb said:
here in WA state they passed a new 'distracted driving' law http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...eans-to-you-when-it-goes-into-effect-in-july/

and yet car makers are creating more distractions for us.

When I get pulled over Toyota is getting a bill!
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There are legal exemptions for the navigaton screen (non-interactive while the car is in motion; like the dashboard instruments). Everything else is on the driver. The driver has to choose to dick around with the radio, to play with the navigation while driving. Neither is necessary in the safe operation of a car. The driver has to make the conscientious choice to interact with the "infotainment" system.

That being said, Toyota's systems are already mostly locked out when driving. Some of the newer Lexus cars are almost completely locked out (cannot even change the radio station, for example).
 
Krazy925 said:
Two things one chevylink is really a piece of shit.

Two if I can't change my destination while not in park, it's a useless GPS.
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The Android Auto implementation in our Pilot allows voice-command navigation changes while vehicle is in motion. Quite convenient.
 
Grahamkracka said:
The Android Auto implementation in our Pilot allows voice-command navigation changes while vehicle is in motion. Quite convenient.
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I'll be either getting aftermarket or CarPlay next time.

These car manufacturer baked ones are trash. The jaguar one has problems as well as the Range Rover one too.
 
Krazy925 said:
I'll be either getting aftermarket or CarPlay next time.

These car manufacturer baked ones are trash. The jaguar one has problems as well as the Range Rover one too.
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We actually prefer Android Auto over Carplay. It's smoother and easier to use (not to mention doesn't use Apple Maps)... though it may just be the implementation in Honda's vehicles.
 
here I am perfectly fine with my 2001 fourrunner with a cassette adapter and a smart phone.

Watching the guys in this thread complaining about the software for their center console on a car makes me feel old as shit and I'm only 36 :)
 
I would love to be able to fix some stupid shit in the infotainment system in my Pacifica, so it'd be nice if it were open source, but I don't care enough to reverse engineer it...
 
Grahamkracka said:
We actually prefer Android Auto over Carplay. It's smoother and easier to use (not to mention doesn't use Apple Maps)... though it may just be the implementation in Honda's vehicles.
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In the volks IMO CarPlay works better. I have an iPhone, so android auto won't work for me either way.

Plus I know how the two handle updates.
 
How about the auto manufacturers stop wasting their development time on universally awful head units and embrace the streamed phone UI? "state of the art" in a brand new car is ~5 years in the past. Cars stick around for 10-15 years or more and by then it is comically out of date and riddled with security holes.
 
I bought a Subaru Forester last year. They have some knock off system with a touch screen. It's awful! It tries to pair with your phone to run apps you have to download (like Pandora) and often doesn't work (tried with iPhone and Android phones - no difference).
It has it's own voice recognition system - that sucks donkey balls. It's god awful. Doesn't have a map, music navigation is cumbersome and frustrating, builtin "apps" suck. I think they might be offering Android Auto and CarPlay for some models.
Good news - it does have regular BlueTooth. I use my phone's built-in voice assistant and whatever map program I'd like. Had I known my hate for the system was this bad, I would have shopped around some more.
 
Id rather have windows in my car, don't want to have to compile drivers to play a new audio format next month and would rather not have to deal with all the security and spying issues of linux.
 
I've owned a lot of different makes of cars over my lifetime (computers, too, beginning with a TI 99/4A). I've owned four Toyota vehicles in this time. Two of which I still say I never should have sold, one was stolen, and my Tundra...well they'll just have to bury me in it.
Every other make I've owned has fucked me repeatedly. Never Toyota. They just work and they work great. The non essentials like infotainment...meh whatever. Not useful to me personally so I wouldn't prioritize it if I were to go vehicle shopping now. Until they have Augmented Reality windshields or similar, it doesn't really make sense to have a bunch of shiny things for the talking monkey at the wheel to play with.

...and furthermore I disagree with the notion that they are boring or have no personality. Every one I've owned has put a huge smile on my face and had its idiosyncrasies and peculiarities; but unlike some other makes, who shall remain nameless, they never amounted to me being stranded.
 
liveload said:
I've owned a lot of different makes of cars over my lifetime (computers, too, beginning with a TI 99/4A). I've owned four Toyota vehicles in this time. Two of which I still say I never should have sold, one was stolen, and my Tundra...well they'll just have to bury me in it.
Every other make I've owned has fucked me repeatedly. Never Toyota. They just work and they work great. The non essentials like infotainment...meh whatever. Not useful to me personally so I wouldn't prioritize it if I were to go vehicle shopping now. Until they have Augmented Reality windshields or similar, it doesn't really make sense to have a bunch of shiny things for the talking monkey at the wheel to play with.

...and furthermore I disagree with the notion that they are boring or have no personality. Every one I've owned has put a huge smile on my face and had its idiosyncrasies and peculiarities; but unlike some other makes, who shall remain nameless, they never amounted to me being stranded.
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I've been extremely happy as a toyota owner. I absolutely understand people who has personal preferences to a certain make, brand, model, etc...but I do know that if someone is quick to say "That car sucks" over "That's not my preference" they probably have some internal growing up to do.

This thread does remind me of my old self though. As mentioned I'm happily driving an 18 year old car, and the "new" car is 10 years old. I remember back when I was in my early 20's that a car seemed old when it was 3 years or older. Funny.
 
stephen2002 said:
How about the auto manufacturers stop wasting their development time on universally awful head units and embrace the streamed phone UI? "state of the art" in a brand new car is ~5 years in the past. Cars stick around for 10-15 years or more and by then it is comically out of date and riddled with security holes.
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A perfect description for most phones, especially outside of the Apple world.

Though I agree with you on the first part. Automakers are wasting their time. At least Honda finally wised up and went the FCA route, both now get Navi from people who actually know what they are doing.
 
trentchau said:
here I am perfectly fine with my 2001 fourrunner with a cassette adapter and a smart phone.

Watching the guys in this thread complaining about the software for their center console on a car makes me feel old as shit and I'm only 36 :)
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Haha, same here in my old '05 Altima and a shitty aftermarket Pioneer DD head unit with BT 2.0 and a phone dock that seems to work better than any new car's proprietary "infotainment" system. I run the Android Auto app and have pretty seamless voice controls to play whatever I want and send/reply to any message I want. Car OEMs just need to either skip their shitty resistive touch displays and leave that space empty for a phone dock or only use Android Auto/Carplay compatible head units in them. I wish I could rip the shitty factory nav system out of my Yukon Denali because my phone does an exponentially better job at whatever its trying to do.
 
I can't help but feel that this is no more than an attempt to get around Android or iOS licencing fees regarding their obviously superior implementations with the attitude that "The customer won't know the difference".
 
BulletDust said:
I can't help but feel that this is no more than an attempt to get around Android or iOS licencing fees regarding their obviously superior implementations with the attitude that "The customer won't know the difference".
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They know the customer knows the difference. The fees are not likely as important as who gets the car data, which automakers have been very reticent to share with Google and Apple.
 
jeremyshaw said:
They know the customer knows the difference. The fees are not likely as important as who gets the car data, which automakers have been very reticent to share with Google and Apple.
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Do you mean telemetry data? I'm not too sure Apple and Google would be too interested in OBD data?
 
jflail2 said:
I had a 2013 4Runner and Entune was absolutely awful, and the app was even worse. Anything is a better option than that pile of crap.
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I have a 2013 Camry with the lower grade NAV unit (not the JBL system), and it's fine.

All I use it for is navigation, AM radio, playing MP3's from a thumb drive, and occasionally answering a call on my cell.
That's all I need from a car radio, and it works as expected.
 
liveload said:
I've owned four Toyota vehicles in this time. Two of which I still say I never should have sold, one was stolen, and my Tundra...well they'll just have to bury me in it.
Every other make I've owned has fucked me repeatedly. Never Toyota. They just work and they work great.
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I'm on my 3rd Toyota, and I agree with you. Maybe it's because I'm getting old, but my number one concern is reliability. My last previous Toyota was 11 year old and had never been in the shop, except for oil and tire changes. Did the brakes myself at 70K miles and the few other minor issues (motor mount and Air conditioner relay) which were easy fixes. Most reliable car I've ever owned.
Wife's Toyota is now 11 years old and, and has a similar history. We decided to just keep driving it after California raised the cost of car registrations. Cheaper to just keep driving the old car and put the saving into our retirement fund.
 
Yeah I've owned 4 cars in my life, and I've been driving almost 30 years now, my first car was a hand-be-down from my mom, 1983 corolla station wagon (for some reason they don't make those anymore :D), it was good enough to get me to school and back, and Tahoe, and even though it did have some issues here in there (fuse panel was located in such a spot that a leaky window toasted most of it), I got a 92 or 93 Corolla (used in 95) and that lasted me until 2006 when I decided I wanted a Prius (primarily for the car pool stickers when I worked in such a place where I was on bay area freeways) and 11 years later still going strong, then I bought my wife a Rav4. So yeah, bitch and moan about infotainment the fuckall do I care about that (yeah the Rav4 has Entune) I've been sold on Toyota having cars that last for more than a decade without too many problems, and hope the Rav4 continues the trend (most expensive Toyota I've bought to date).
 
trentchau said:
here I am perfectly fine with my 2001 fourrunner with a cassette adapter and a smart phone.

Watching the guys in this thread complaining about the software for their center console on a car makes me feel old as shit and I'm only 36 :)
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i feel the same way as you, i just drive old beater mid/late 90's SUV's/trucks because i just don't care and they're cheap. i just need to get from point A to point B, i don't need all the other shit. as long as it gets me to and from work for at least 4 months the vehicle paid for it's self. but i tried to drive my parents prius while i was visiting a year ago, never could figure out how to use the radio or even get to the GPS, lol.
 
BulletDust said:
My in car entertainment consists of the scream of a Borg Warner TD05 turbocharger...
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Hells yes. My symphony starts at the cai making a nice deep hollow air rushing noise backed up with the constant spin of the td06 building to a whoosh whoosh whoosh of the 3 port boost controller. Finalising the piece is the stu-do-do of throttle close snap.
 
"I have a performance / beater / old / offroading / base trim vehicle so I don't need this" yadda yadda. Good for you.:rolleyes:

I have a big V8 (with a blower waiting for installation) that suites my personal vehicular entertainment purposes, and a Volt for my commute...but the family hauler's (Honda Pilot) convenience features had better damn well work like I want them to if I'm paying so much for a fat boring vehicle. Toyota failed here miserably.

Also, while Toyota may be mechanically reliable...in my experience their interior fit and finish is just fuckin cheap. Even the 3 brand new ones we test drove earlier this year were rattling plastic hell. Don't even get me started on my wife's old Corolla we got rid of a few years ago...ran well (until the exhaust manifold cracked), garbage interior drove me nuts.
 
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jeremyshaw said:
They know the customer knows the difference. The fees are not likely as important as who gets the car data, which automakers have been very reticent to share with Google and Apple.
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Negative. This is all about branding and not wanting their systems to look like everyone else's (which Android Auto / Apple Carplay tend to do).
 
MV75 said:
Hells yes. My symphony starts at the cai making a nice deep hollow air rushing noise backed up with the constant spin of the td06 building to a whoosh whoosh whoosh of the 3 port boost controller. Finalising the piece is the stu-do-do of throttle close snap.
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Grrrrr! Shit yes! :D
 
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