Volumio in the Car

There are some cars who need to renew their music systems. Many of them use third-party hardware to can use iPod, USB or things like that to reproduce some music. I propose to create a plugin that can acts like and iPod with this systems to be recognized and can see the info tracks in the screen of the car and, overall, to interact with the car buttons (play, next song, previous, album…).

For example exist this hardware who can give iPod and USB functionality to BMW, AUDI, MERCEDES and PORSCHE “old” cars. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD43TcOsz7U The name of the hardware is DENSION GATEWAY 500S.

Will be interesting to use even with new cars, who can be connected through USB to reproduce the mobile stored songs.

The idea is to be able the volumio system to works like a phone, to give info (folder, album, song, photo album…) to the car and to interact with it.

I don´t have enough knowledge, but if you are interested in this project I can help you with my limitations.

Imagine to reproduce Spotify songs (or another) in your car, controlled with the steering wheel.

That’s a great idea! Who’s interested to join?

I have been interested in this for a while now, but where does one start! An electronics course?

There is so much to consider. However my first concern would be clean power. Some sort of isolated board that can handle 3 amps and step down from 12v. Ultra low noise regulators would be sweet.

My second concern - perhaps related to power - is system resiliency. I’m not sure how protected the Volumio file system is from the up/down nature of a vehicle ignition. I currently have an OpenWRT router in my car and it handles power cuts like a boss. Never once failed, always boots up.

Then there is the audio interface as mentioned. A daunting task for sure!