Success! CarPlay/Android Auto fitted in Mk3 with original Touch 2 stereo

[preperationlaunch]

Just thought I'd put a quick post up with the success I've had with getting CarPlay/Android Auto through my stock headunit.

This is with touch support, keeping the hybrid monitor, reverse camera etc, and plumbed through the original USB ports for good measure. It took about 10 minutes to fit it.

The key is a little Russian/Chinese box, that's designed to sit where the factory sat nav unit would fit, and uses the same connectors. Cleverly, it has also been themed to look like the original unit in all the menus etc.

I'm using it with an off-the-shelf autokit dongle, to provide wireless/wired CarPlay as well as wired Android auto. The head unit already had the app installed for it.

The downsides are:

- As a standalone unit, it's middling, it's running an old version of Android (Android 6) on a slow processor. With CarPlay and Android Auto, this isn't an issue, as the phone does the heavy lifting for it. The unit itself can run Waze/Spotify etc. and tether from your phone for data. It will also happily play media from a USB stick.

- You're still tied to the responsiveness of the original touchscreen, which isn't amazing by modern standards.

- Video playback is again, okay. It's not going to set the world alight.

- Cost, they're about £280 at the cheapest I can find them shipped to the UK. So on par with a modern, reputable headunit. Plus the cost of a carlinkit dongle, which was £40 on a deal.

For me, I wanted CarPlay, preferably wirelessly, and without having to replace the headunit. This did it with minimal fuss. It all just worked.

In the near future, I want to do some digging into the system, to see how some of it works, and see whether I could in fact get DAB back too, though that isn't vital.

[Stopeter44]

I wouldn’t want to go to that trouble, but it’s nice to know that someone is delving into the possibilities of moving on from old stock units.

[preperationlaunch]

Ah no, it was less faff than changing the head unit. It all just worked once plugged in  

The worst part was fiddly connectors getting the old nav unit off than getting the new one on. 

It’s really designed for the touch 2 go systems that are more integrated and can’t have the whole unit swapped easily without looking strangely out of place. 

[Stopeter44]

1 hour ago, preperationlaunch said:

Ah no, it was less faff than changing the head unit. It all just worked once plugged in  

The worst part was fiddly connectors getting the old nav unit off than getting the new one on. 

It’s really designed for the touch 2 go systems that are more integrated and can’t have the whole unit swapped easily without looking strangely out of place. 

I'm a little confused, The head unit is stock, but the buttons and facia feed to another box ?

[flash22]

Never been one for these Chinese aftermarket boxes - they have been around a while - out of interest what OS is it running ?

the Touch 2 is the DA (display audio) its only the Nav module that makes it "GO" aka an extension box, these Addon boxes make use of the Touch2 interface what consists of a GVIF and data lines

[Stopeter44]

1 minute ago, flash22 said:

The Touch 2 is the DA (display audio) its only the Nav module that makes it "GO" aka an extension box, these Addon boxes make use of the Touch2 interface what consists of a GVIF and data lines

Ah ok, I understand now. The Touch 2 is a display/interface akin to a tablet, but let's say with no "gubbins" and that hands off to a processor in another box ?

[flash22]

Yes, that's the one

the aftermarket extension boxes work the same manner, Gvif - Gigabit Video InterFace

Car solutions offer a few products, inc usb based and directly connected units

[preperationlaunch]

58 minutes ago, flash22 said:

Never been one for these Chinese aftermarket boxes - they have been around a while - out of interest what OS is it running ?

the Touch 2 is the DA (display audio) its only the Nav module that makes it "GO" aka an extension box, these Addon boxes make use of the Touch2 interface what consists of a GVIF and data lines

It’s running Android 6 with a custom launcher that seems to be clever enough to swap the head unit into various modes as you go through the menus. I’m thinking I can probably add DAB back just by finding out how it’s doing that mode swapping. 

It’s on a cheap allwinner CPU with 1g of RAM so it’s not great for running all your apps itself, but it’s usable. Responsiveness is on par with the original Go unit. It does have access to the Play Store too. 

There are newer versions available, running Android 8.1 but they don’t have the same theming, and, more importantly, don’t list the Yaris as compatible. 

[sebek]

Hi,

Im interested buying this sort of unit to enable Apple Carplay. Any chance You could give a link to where to buy this extension box?

[preperationlaunch]

On 11/30/2021 at 7:31 PM, sebek said:

Hi,

Im interested buying this sort of unit to enable Apple Carplay. Any chance You could give a link to where to buy this extension box?

I got mine from a seller called navi174, the site is in Russian but the seller speaks English too.

[chrisk84]

So this is what that physically looks like, for that Chinese/Russian box, there's a video on it:

It looks like it's quite expensive and discontinued sadly. 🙁

[flash22]

iirc car solutions do one but they can be found on AliExpress cheaper

the newer style one plugs directly into the display ribbon cable

eg. https://car-solutions.com/en/carplay-for-toyota-with-system-touch2-entune-fujitsu/

For that sort of money you can get something half decent from pioneer

[preperationlaunch]

On 5/24/2023 at 12:46 AM, chrisk84 said:

So this is what that physically looks like, for that Chinese/Russian box, there's a video on it:

It looks like it's quite expensive and discontinued sadly. 🙁

I no longer have my Yaris, I still have the navbox though. I keep meaning to sell it and don't want much for it, as it's better than keeping it on a shelf.

[Janoflan]

Are you still selling this? Did you ever get the DAB radio working again?

[YarisHybrid2016]

If this alows all the built-in radio functionality (I use DAB quite a lot, as well as AM - LOL!), seeing as I didn't get the nav system, this looks a pretty interesting addition! I like the fact they interface with the existing system, too.

[preperationlaunch]

On 6/27/2023 at 10:14 AM, Janoflan said:

Are you still selling this? Did you ever get the DAB radio working again?

I've still got it.

It doesn't support DAB though unfortunately, I think it's a software limitation. It wraps the interface for the radio so you can't get to the 'regular' one with DAB.

[Janoflan]

I suppose if it's easy to install and remove I could see if I can live without it! How much are you asking for it?

[flash22]

It emulates a sat nav module when you have the sat nav it bypasses all the DA functions, FM and DAB are software defined as are the USB and BT, so It's purely down to the software on the external unit

[preperationlaunch]

On 6/28/2023 at 10:02 PM, Janoflan said:

I suppose if it's easy to install and remove I could see if I can live without it! How much are you asking for it?

Sending you a PM now 

[hogofwar]

On 5/24/2023 at 7:50 PM, flash22 said:

iirc car solutions do one but they can be found on AliExpress cheaper

the newer style one plugs directly into the display ribbon cable

eg. https://car-solutions.com/en/carplay-for-toyota-with-system-touch2-entune-fujitsu/

For that sort of money you can get something half decent from pioneer

Was looking at this (and the cheaper ali-express ones that look exactly the same) for my 2018 Yaris. I noticed it says "Please note! To enable audio output from a connected device, you need to have AUX input activated in your car.". As my yaris doesn't have aux input, would this still work for audio coming from android auto?

[preperationlaunch]

6 minutes ago, hogofwar said:

Was looking at this (and the cheaper ali-express ones that look exactly the same) for my 2018 Yaris. I noticed it says "Please note! To enable audio output from a connected device, you need to have AUX input activated in your car.". As my yaris doesn't have aux input, would this still work for audio coming from android auto?

It depends where it hooks in.

The one like the one I had used the car's official sat nav interface, which provides audio etc.

Some actually plug into just the screen and intercept what's going to it.

In that case, the stereo needs to be in aux mode, because they use the aux to pump the audio into it.

[flash22]

 All touch2's have AUX in, it just isn't wired on some models, The 2020 onwards yaris and/or grumpy has aux in

IIRC its pins 26, 27 and 28 on the 28 pin connector (touch, touch2 Gen1 and Gen2 up to 2020) you also have composite video in, making it A/V in

[hogofwar]

6 minutes ago, flash22 said:

 All touch2's have AUX in, it just isn't wired on some models, The 2020 onwards yaris and/or grumpy has aux in

IIRC its pins 26, 27 and 28 on the 28 pin connector (touch, touch2 Gen1 and Gen2 up to 2020) you also have composite video in, making it A/V in

Thanks for this info. Is it something like once the module has been plugged in aux will come up as an option?

[flash22]

Yes, it comes up as another source

this is a touch2, gen 3 screenshot, but you get the idea

[inteli7]

On 6/28/2023 at 8:45 PM, preperationlaunch said:

I've still got it.

It doesn't support DAB though unfortunately, I think it's a software limitation. It wraps the interface for the radio so you can't get to the 'regular' one with DAB.

Hi there. Do you still have it? 

 

I have a Toyota Yaris 2014 MK3 Hybrid with a genuine reverse camera fitted and a Toyota Touch 2 with Go.

Will this be compatible with Toyota Touch 2 with Go and work with the reverse camera that is fitted from Toyota?