DEV Community: Ankush Sharma

Your Own Wireless Android Auto Adapter with Raspberry Pi

Ankush Sharma — Sat, 16 May 2026 04:51:13 +0000

Most modern cars support Android Auto, but many still require a USB cable. If you’ve ever wished for a wireless connection, you don’t need to buy an expensive adapter. Thanks to open-source collaboration, you can build your own wireless Android Auto dongle using a Raspberry Pi.

Project Lineage

Original Author: nisargjhaveri

Creator of the WirelessAndroidAutoDongle project. He designed the buildroot system that generates SD card images for Raspberry Pi boards and established the foundation for DIY wireless Android Auto adapters.
Fork Author: ankush-ksharma

Forked the repo into WirelessAndroidAuto, preserving the same features and hardware support while making it easier for others to experiment and contribute.
ankush-ksharma / WirelessAndroidAuto

Use Wireless Android Auto with a car that supports only wired Android Auto using a Raspberry Pi.
Wireless Android Auto Dongle

DIY Wireless Android Auto adapter to use with a car that supports only wired Android Auto using a Raspberry Pi.

This repository consists of the buildroot setup to generate an sd card image to create your own Wireless Android Auto adapter.

Features
- Native Wireless Android Auto connection to the phone, no extra app needed on the phone.
- Passes through all Android Auto traffic without any modifications to ensure seamless and safe experience.
- Fast bootup, connection under 30 seconds.
- Supports multiple boards (Currently multiple Raspberry Pi boards).
Supported Hardware

This is currently tested and built for the following Raspberry Pi boards supporting USB OTG.
- Raspberry Pi Zero W
- Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W
- Raspberry Pi 3 A+ (Raspberry Pi 3 B+ is not supported)
- Raspberry Pi 4
In theory, this can be extended to more hardware in future with these basic requirements.
- The board should support USB…
View on GitHub

This fork is a good example of how open-source projects evolve and spread through community-driven efforts.

What Is WirelessAndroidAuto?

The project is a DIY wireless Android Auto dongle that:

Creates a native wireless connection between your phone and car.
Passes through all Android Auto traffic without modification.
Boots up quickly, usually connecting in under 30 seconds.
Supports multiple Raspberry Pi boards.

It’s essentially a plug-and-play solution for anyone tired of cables dangling in their car.

Supported Hardware

Tested on:

Raspberry Pi Zero W
Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W
Raspberry Pi 3 A+ (note: 3 B+ not supported)
Raspberry Pi 4

Requirements:

USB OTG support
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (external modules also work)
Operates on car-provided power

Setup Guide

Download the pre-built SD card image from the releases page.
Flash the image to your SD card.
Insert the card into your Raspberry Pi and connect it to your car’s USB port.
Pair your phone via Bluetooth (AndroidAuto-Dongle-*).
From then on, your phone will connect automatically via Wi-Fi.

Advanced users can also build their own image using the provided BUILDING.md.

Configurations

After flashing, the SD card mounts as a WirelessAA drive. Edit the aawgd.conf file to:

Set your country code
Enable SSH for debugging
Adjust Wi-Fi password and other preferences

Troubleshooting

Phone stuck at “Looking for Android Auto”

Check your USB cable (it must be data-capable) and ensure you’re using the correct OTG port.
Need logs?

Enable SSH, connect via Wi-Fi, and inspect /var/log/messages.

Contributing and Support

Report issues or improvements via GitHub Issues.
Submit pull requests to enhance compatibility.
Consider sponsoring the project to support ongoing development.

Limitations

Currently tested on a limited set of cars and head units. Compatibility may vary, so community feedback is important.

Why This Matters

Commercial wireless Android Auto adapters exist, but they can be expensive and limited in compatibility. This project empowers makers and car enthusiasts to build their own solution, learn along the way, and customize it to their needs.

Final Thoughts

This project is a great example of open-source collaboration:

nisargjhaveri built the foundation.
ankush-ksharma forked it to keep the momentum alive.
The community continues to test, contribute, and improve.

If you’re into DIY car tech, this is a project worth trying.

Your Own Wireless Android Auto Adapter with Raspberry Pi

Ankush Sharma — Sat, 16 May 2026 04:51:13 +0000

Project Lineage

Original Author: nisargjhaveri

Creator of the WirelessAndroidAutoDongle project. He designed the buildroot system that generates SD card images for Raspberry Pi boards and established the foundation for DIY wireless Android Auto adapters.
Fork Author: ankush-ksharma

Forked the repo into WirelessAndroidAuto, preserving the same features and hardware support while making it easier for others to experiment and contribute.

This fork is a good example of how open-source projects evolve and spread through community-driven efforts.

What Is WirelessAndroidAuto?

The project is a DIY wireless Android Auto dongle that:

Creates a native wireless connection between your phone and car.
Passes through all Android Auto traffic without modification.
Boots up quickly, usually connecting in under 30 seconds.
Supports multiple Raspberry Pi boards.

It’s essentially a plug-and-play solution for anyone tired of cables dangling in their car.

Supported Hardware

Tested on:

Raspberry Pi Zero W
Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W
Raspberry Pi 3 A+ (note: 3 B+ not supported)
Raspberry Pi 4

Requirements:

USB OTG support
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (external modules also work)
Operates on car-provided power

Setup Guide

Download the pre-built SD card image from the releases page.
Flash the image to your SD card.
Insert the card into your Raspberry Pi and connect it to your car’s USB port.
Pair your phone via Bluetooth (AndroidAuto-Dongle-*).
From then on, your phone will connect automatically via Wi-Fi.

Advanced users can also build their own image using the provided BUILDING.md.

Configurations

After flashing, the SD card mounts as a WirelessAA drive. Edit the aawgd.conf file to:

Set your country code
Enable SSH for debugging
Adjust Wi-Fi password and other preferences

Troubleshooting

Phone stuck at “Looking for Android Auto”

Check your USB cable (it must be data-capable) and ensure you’re using the correct OTG port.
Need logs?

Enable SSH, connect via Wi-Fi, and inspect /var/log/messages.

Contributing and Support

Report issues or improvements via GitHub Issues.
Submit pull requests to enhance compatibility.
Consider sponsoring the project to support ongoing development.

Limitations

Currently tested on a limited set of cars and head units. Compatibility may vary, so community feedback is important.

Why This Matters

Final Thoughts

This project is a great example of open-source collaboration:

nisargjhaveri built the foundation.
ankush-ksharma forked it to keep the momentum alive.
The community continues to test, contribute, and improve.

If you’re into DIY car tech, this is a project worth trying.

Your Own Wireless Android Auto Adapter with Raspberry Pi

Ankush Sharma — Sat, 16 May 2026 04:51:12 +0000

Project Lineage

Original Author: nisargjhaveri

Creator of the WirelessAndroidAutoDongle project. He designed the buildroot system that generates SD card images for Raspberry Pi boards and established the foundation for DIY wireless Android Auto adapters.
Fork Author: ankush-ksharma

Forked the repo into WirelessAndroidAuto, preserving the same features and hardware support while making it easier for others to experiment and contribute.

This fork is a good example of how open-source projects evolve and spread through community-driven efforts.

What Is WirelessAndroidAuto?

The project is a DIY wireless Android Auto dongle that:

Creates a native wireless connection between your phone and car.
Passes through all Android Auto traffic without modification.
Boots up quickly, usually connecting in under 30 seconds.
Supports multiple Raspberry Pi boards.

It’s essentially a plug-and-play solution for anyone tired of cables dangling in their car.

Supported Hardware

Tested on:

Raspberry Pi Zero W
Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W
Raspberry Pi 3 A+ (note: 3 B+ not supported)
Raspberry Pi 4

Requirements:

USB OTG support
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (external modules also work)
Operates on car-provided power

Setup Guide

Download the pre-built SD card image from the releases page.
Flash the image to your SD card.
Insert the card into your Raspberry Pi and connect it to your car’s USB port.
Pair your phone via Bluetooth (AndroidAuto-Dongle-*).
From then on, your phone will connect automatically via Wi-Fi.

Advanced users can also build their own image using the provided BUILDING.md.

Configurations

After flashing, the SD card mounts as a WirelessAA drive. Edit the aawgd.conf file to:

Set your country code
Enable SSH for debugging
Adjust Wi-Fi password and other preferences

Troubleshooting

Phone stuck at “Looking for Android Auto”

Check your USB cable (it must be data-capable) and ensure you’re using the correct OTG port.
Need logs?

Enable SSH, connect via Wi-Fi, and inspect /var/log/messages.

Contributing and Support

Report issues or improvements via GitHub Issues.
Submit pull requests to enhance compatibility.
Consider sponsoring the project to support ongoing development.

Limitations

Currently tested on a limited set of cars and head units. Compatibility may vary, so community feedback is important.

Why This Matters

Final Thoughts

This project is a great example of open-source collaboration:

nisargjhaveri built the foundation.
ankush-ksharma forked it to keep the momentum alive.
The community continues to test, contribute, and improve.

If you’re into DIY car tech, this is a project worth trying.

Building a Smart Weather Station with Raspberry Pi Zero W

Ankush Sharma — Sat, 16 May 2026 04:45:09 +0000

So I've been wanting to do something with my Raspberry Pi Zero W that's been sitting in my drawer for months, and I finally got around to it last week. The idea was simple: build a little weather station that shows temperature and humidity on a tiny OLED screen. Sounds easy, right? Well, turns out there were a few gotchas along the way, but that's what made it fun.

What I Built

The setup is pretty straightforward - a DHT22 sensor (those blue ones you see everywhere) hooked up to a Pi Zero W, with a small 128x64 OLED display. The sensor reads temperature and humidity, the OLED shows the current readings along with some stats, and everything gets logged to CSV files for later analysis. Oh, and I added a web dashboard because why not.

Hardware Shopping List

Here's what you'll need if you want to build this yourself:

Raspberry Pi Zero W - The tiny one with WiFi built-in
DHT22 sensor - About INR 200-300 online. There's also a DHT11 version but the 22 is more accurate
SSD1306 OLED display - 128x64 pixels, I2C version. Got mine for around INR 300
Jumper wires - Female-to-female works best, ewhile buying I did not get these so I had to buy them saperately
MicroSD card - 8GB minimum, but I used a 16GB I had lying around

Total cost if you already have the Pi? Maybe $15-20. Not bad.

The Wiring Part

I'm not gonna lie, I always get nervous about wiring stuff wrong and frying components. But this one's pretty forgiving:

For the DHT22:

Red wire (VCC) → Pin 1 (3.3V)
Yellow wire (Data) → Pin 7 (GPIO4)
Black wire (Ground) → Pin 6 (Ground)

For the OLED:

VCC → Pin 1 (3.3V)
GND → Pin 6 (Ground)
SCL → Pin 5 (GPIO3)
SDA → Pin 3 (GPIO2)

Pro tip: Double-check your pin numbers before powering on. I mixed up GPIO numbering with physical pin numbers once and spent an hour debugging. Not my proudest moment.

The Software Side

This is where it got interesting. I started with the basic idea of reading the sensor and updating the display, but quickly realized the DHT22 is... let's say "temperamental." Sometimes it takes 2-5 seconds to respond, sometimes it just doesn't feel like working.

The Threading Challenge

My first version was single-threaded and it showed. The clock on the OLED would freeze every time the sensor was being read. Super annoying. So I split things into two threads:

Sensor thread - Runs in the background, reads the DHT22 every 10 seconds, logs to CSV
Display thread - Updates the OLED every second with the latest data

This way the clock stays smooth and the sensor can take its sweet time without blocking everything.

Dealing with Sensor Noise

The DHT22 can be noisy. Like, really noisy. One reading says 24°C, the next says 26°C, then back to 24°C. After some research, I implemented exponential moving average (EMA) filtering:

def _ema(self, previous, new, alpha):
    """
    Smooth out sensor noise using exponential moving average.
    """
    if previous is None:
        return new
    return alpha * new + (1 - alpha) * previous

Set alpha to 0.2 and boom - smooth, stable readings. Much better.

Features That Made It In

Once I had the basic setup working, I kept adding stuff:

1. Daily Statistics

The display shows min/max temperature and humidity for the day. Resets at midnight automatically.

2. Comfort Metrics

Because reading "23°C, 65%" doesn't tell you much, I added:

Heat Index - What it actually feels like
Dew Point - For the weather nerds
Comfort Zone - Labels like "Comfortable", "Muggy", "Dry", etc.

3. Data Logging

Every reading gets saved to a CSV file named by date (like 2026-05-16.csv). This means I can go back and see trends over weeks or months.

4. Web Dashboard

Built a simple Flask app that serves a web dashboard. You can check the current readings from your phone while you're in another room. Added some charts using Chart.js to visualize the historical data.

Access it at http://<your-pi-ip>:5050

The OLED Display

The little OLED screen cycles through different pages:

Page 1: Current temp, humidity, and time
Page 2: Daily min/max stats
Page 3: Comfort metrics
Page 4: Sensor health status
Page 5: Custom notes (yes, you can add text notes through the web interface)

It auto-rotates every 8 seconds, or you can configure it to stay on one page.

Preventing Burn-in

Fun fact: OLED screens can get burn-in if you display the same thing forever. So I added a subtle pixel shift every 5 minutes. The whole display moves by 1 pixel in a random direction. Barely noticeable but helps extend the screen's life.

Lessons Learned

The DHT22 is slow - Budget 2-5 seconds per reading. Plan your code accordingly.
I2C can be finicky - Make sure I2C is enabled in raspi-config. Run i2cdetect -y 1 to verify your devices show up.
Threading is your friend - For anything real-time with sensors, separate your concerns.
Error handling matters - Sensors fail. Network drops. Files get corrupted. Add retries and fallbacks.
Start simple - I tried to do everything at once initially and got overwhelmed. Build it piece by piece.

The Results

It's been running for about a week now and I'm pretty happy with it. The display looks clean, the data is logging consistently, and I can check the web dashboard from anywhere in my house.

Some random observations from the data:

My room gets surprisingly humid at night (70%+)
Temperature swing is about 3-4°C throughout the day
That "stuffy" feeling in the afternoon? Heat index was reading 28°C when actual temp was 25°C

What's Next?

I'm thinking about adding:

Push notifications when temperature goes outside a certain range
Integration with Home Assistant
Maybe a second sensor for another room to compare
Cloud sync to Google Sheets or something

But honestly, it does what I need for now.

Code & Resources

The full code is available on GitHub: https://github.com/ankush-ksharma/Temp_Humidty_Raspi

Feel free to clone it, modify it, break it, fix it - whatever works for you. The README has detailed setup instructions.

Key Dependencies:

adafruit-circuitpython-dht - For DHT22
adafruit-circuitpython-ssd1306 - For OLED
Flask - For web interface
Pillow - For drawing on the OLED

Final Thoughts

This was a fun weekend project that turned into something actually useful. The Pi Zero W is surprisingly capable for these kinds of tasks, and seeing the data visualized on the little OLED is oddly satisfying.

If you're looking for a beginner-friendly IoT project, this is a solid one to start with. The components are cheap, the wiring is simple, and there's enough complexity to keep it interesting without being overwhelming.

Plus, you end up with something practical. Win-win.

Questions? Suggestions? Found a bug? Drop a comment or open an issue on the repo. I'm always curious to see how others modify these kinds of projects.

Building a Smart Weather Station with Raspberry Pi Zero W

Ankush Sharma — Sat, 16 May 2026 04:45:09 +0000

What I Built

Hardware Shopping List

Here's what you'll need if you want to build this yourself:

Raspberry Pi Zero W - The tiny one with WiFi built-in
DHT22 sensor - About INR 200-300 online. There's also a DHT11 version but the 22 is more accurate
SSD1306 OLED display - 128x64 pixels, I2C version. Got mine for around INR 300
Jumper wires - Female-to-female works best, ewhile buying I did not get these so I had to buy them saperately
MicroSD card - 8GB minimum, but I used a 16GB I had lying around

Total cost if you already have the Pi? Maybe $15-20. Not bad.

The Wiring Part

I'm not gonna lie, I always get nervous about wiring stuff wrong and frying components. But this one's pretty forgiving:

For the DHT22:

Red wire (VCC) → Pin 1 (3.3V)
Yellow wire (Data) → Pin 7 (GPIO4)
Black wire (Ground) → Pin 6 (Ground)

For the OLED:

VCC → Pin 1 (3.3V)
GND → Pin 6 (Ground)
SCL → Pin 5 (GPIO3)
SDA → Pin 3 (GPIO2)

Pro tip: Double-check your pin numbers before powering on. I mixed up GPIO numbering with physical pin numbers once and spent an hour debugging. Not my proudest moment.

The Software Side

The Threading Challenge

My first version was single-threaded and it showed. The clock on the OLED would freeze every time the sensor was being read. Super annoying. So I split things into two threads:

Sensor thread - Runs in the background, reads the DHT22 every 10 seconds, logs to CSV
Display thread - Updates the OLED every second with the latest data

This way the clock stays smooth and the sensor can take its sweet time without blocking everything.

Dealing with Sensor Noise

The DHT22 can be noisy. Like, really noisy. One reading says 24°C, the next says 26°C, then back to 24°C. After some research, I implemented exponential moving average (EMA) filtering:

def _ema(self, previous, new, alpha):
    """
    Smooth out sensor noise using exponential moving average.
    """
    if previous is None:
        return new
    return alpha * new + (1 - alpha) * previous

Set alpha to 0.2 and boom - smooth, stable readings. Much better.

Features That Made It In

Once I had the basic setup working, I kept adding stuff:

1. Daily Statistics

The display shows min/max temperature and humidity for the day. Resets at midnight automatically.

2. Comfort Metrics

Because reading "23°C, 65%" doesn't tell you much, I added:

Heat Index - What it actually feels like
Dew Point - For the weather nerds
Comfort Zone - Labels like "Comfortable", "Muggy", "Dry", etc.

3. Data Logging

Every reading gets saved to a CSV file named by date (like 2026-05-16.csv). This means I can go back and see trends over weeks or months.

4. Web Dashboard

Access it at http://<your-pi-ip>:5050

The OLED Display

The little OLED screen cycles through different pages:

Page 1: Current temp, humidity, and time
Page 2: Daily min/max stats
Page 3: Comfort metrics
Page 4: Sensor health status
Page 5: Custom notes (yes, you can add text notes through the web interface)

It auto-rotates every 8 seconds, or you can configure it to stay on one page.

Preventing Burn-in

Lessons Learned

The DHT22 is slow - Budget 2-5 seconds per reading. Plan your code accordingly.
I2C can be finicky - Make sure I2C is enabled in raspi-config. Run i2cdetect -y 1 to verify your devices show up.
Threading is your friend - For anything real-time with sensors, separate your concerns.
Error handling matters - Sensors fail. Network drops. Files get corrupted. Add retries and fallbacks.
Start simple - I tried to do everything at once initially and got overwhelmed. Build it piece by piece.

The Results

It's been running for about a week now and I'm pretty happy with it. The display looks clean, the data is logging consistently, and I can check the web dashboard from anywhere in my house.

Some random observations from the data:

My room gets surprisingly humid at night (70%+)
Temperature swing is about 3-4°C throughout the day
That "stuffy" feeling in the afternoon? Heat index was reading 28°C when actual temp was 25°C

What's Next?

I'm thinking about adding:

Push notifications when temperature goes outside a certain range
Integration with Home Assistant
Maybe a second sensor for another room to compare
Cloud sync to Google Sheets or something

But honestly, it does what I need for now.

Code & Resources

The full code is available on GitHub: https://github.com/ankush-ksharma/Temp_Humidty_Raspi

Feel free to clone it, modify it, break it, fix it - whatever works for you. The README has detailed setup instructions.

Key Dependencies:

adafruit-circuitpython-dht - For DHT22
adafruit-circuitpython-ssd1306 - For OLED
Flask - For web interface
Pillow - For drawing on the OLED

Final Thoughts

Plus, you end up with something practical. Win-win.

Questions? Suggestions? Found a bug? Drop a comment or open an issue on the repo. I'm always curious to see how others modify these kinds of projects.

DEV Community: Ankush Sharma

Your Own Wireless Android Auto Adapter with Raspberry Pi

Project Lineage

ankush-ksharma / WirelessAndroidAuto

Use Wireless Android Auto with a car that supports only wired Android Auto using a Raspberry Pi.

Wireless Android Auto Dongle

Features

Supported Hardware

What Is WirelessAndroidAuto?

Supported Hardware

Setup Guide

Configurations

Troubleshooting

Contributing and Support

Limitations

Why This Matters

Final Thoughts

Your Own Wireless Android Auto Adapter with Raspberry Pi

Project Lineage

What Is WirelessAndroidAuto?

Supported Hardware

Setup Guide

Configurations

Troubleshooting

Contributing and Support

Limitations

Why This Matters

Final Thoughts

Your Own Wireless Android Auto Adapter with Raspberry Pi

Project Lineage

What Is WirelessAndroidAuto?

Supported Hardware

Setup Guide

Configurations

Troubleshooting

Contributing and Support

Limitations

Why This Matters

Final Thoughts

Building a Smart Weather Station with Raspberry Pi Zero W

What I Built

Hardware Shopping List

The Wiring Part

The Software Side

The Threading Challenge

Dealing with Sensor Noise

Features That Made It In

1. Daily Statistics

2. Comfort Metrics

3. Data Logging

4. Web Dashboard

The OLED Display

Preventing Burn-in

Lessons Learned

The Results

What's Next?

Code & Resources

Key Dependencies:

Final Thoughts

Building a Smart Weather Station with Raspberry Pi Zero W

What I Built

Hardware Shopping List

The Wiring Part

The Software Side

The Threading Challenge

Dealing with Sensor Noise

Features That Made It In

1. Daily Statistics

2. Comfort Metrics

3. Data Logging

4. Web Dashboard

The OLED Display

Preventing Burn-in

Lessons Learned

The Results

What's Next?

Code & Resources

Key Dependencies:

Final Thoughts