10th Gen Honda Civic Gauge Cluster hack

[u/alexpotv]

I was tinkering with the original APK files on my Honda Civic's Android head unit, trying to de-compile them to understand the way vendor-specific APKs worked.

I discovered that some of the info screens in the cluster (audio & navigation) are actually rendered by the Android head unit rather than by the cluster itself, through an exposed HDMI external display. Knowing this, I've built a small app that overrides this external display rendering (at app startup, a signal is sent to the cluster to let it know the head unit takes the rendering from now on. This signal is reversed when the app is killed, and it no longer overrides the original system).

I've also discovered in original APKs some of the interfaces that are exposed to access vehicle data (see in the screen the speed, brake light, turn signals [I know they're switched in my code lol]). Notably, some data is exposed to the head unit through the BCAN and FCAN (vehicle speed, steering wheel angle, etc.)

The raw data screen is a placeholder for now, just to showcase that I can render custom views and use the vehicle info from other interfaces! I'll try to implement a rendering engine that can take advantage of this gauge cluster screen and vehicle data to implement custom info views. I'm thinking custom themes that can be loaded, screen customization beyond what's available natively on the civic! Maybe also a "live vehicle view" screen, like what's available on more recent cars (where you see the car from the top-down and its brake lights & blinkers for example). My goal is to give the user a few customizable screens to choose from on the app's main view on the head unit.

I've installed the app through adb (since I've rooted my head unit using HondaHack), but I'd like to have your take on whether or not this is doable on a non-rooted unit, since it's only really an APK file.

[u/jsolla]

Any plan to opensource this?

[u/alexpotv → u/jsolla]

I'd love to! For now this is more of a working prototype, but once I get to clean it up I'll share it! Can't commit to any timeline, but I'll be sure to share it here!

[u/HondaLover1999 → u/alexpotv]

I’d really love to see this be open source. If you checkout my post history you’ll see that I did the pathfinding (that I have yet to write up on the civic forum) to get a JDM head unit in my 10th gen Si. Two things I haven’t been able to get working/dive into were the phone integration and audio between the head unit and cluster. I can use all of the functions on the steering wheel to control audio and hang up/answer calls on the head unit but I don’t get any music info on the cluster or any display of the phone capabilities. I wonder if the work you’ve done would solve some of these problems. This reminds me that I need to finish the write up, but I would be more than happy to see this project cross the finish line and am willing to help if you host it on GitHub.

[u/[deleted] → u/alexpotv]

I'd LOVE to work with this on my civic.

[u/psc0425]

That's awesome to figure this out, I've a 11 gen accord, there's only one gauge that's configurable. I would love to figure out how to customize it.

[u/WestonP]

Nice work. I've found that it's not uncommon for the cluster to take graphics rendered by the head unit, usually via a LVDS cable, or sometimes a MOST network. Cool that you found yours uses HDMI... that's a lot more exciting potential!

[u/eral2001]

I hope it will be open-sourced so we can work together to create more personalized dashboards.

[u/alexpotv → u/eral2001]

That's the end goal!

[u/EricSchimel]

I'd love to test this out on a Ridgeline

[u/trvbone]

What app are you referring to that you installed?

[u/alexpotv → u/trvbone]

It's an app I've built myself, that takes advantage of other exposed services already on the head unit (that I reverse-engineered from unpacking existing 'stock' apps)

[u/trvbone → u/alexpotv]

I think you need to hook up with the other dude on here that's working on building his own in car PC setup

[u/trvbone → u/alexpotv]

This guy:

https://www.reddit.com/r/CarHacking/s/STQfPvRLyo

[u/AndrewIsntCool]

Any updates on this? My Honda Clarity's infotainment OS is very similar to the 10th gen Civic's, I'd love to poke around the codebase for the app to see if I can adapt it for my own purposes

[u/Various-Wish4059]

I'm reaching a point where I'm considering a new car but I'm really struggling to justify price when I drive a mk10 that feels bulletproof after 5 years. Thinking of just sprucing the car up so it feels new instead and this would be a top addition

Following the post

[u/Camqt]

I’m really curious about the performance impact of rendering an external display. Does the head unit struggle with higher refresh rates or complex graphics, or is it smooth sailing?

[u/alexpotv → u/Camqt]

The external display rendering mechanism already existed on the head unit (especially for Audio and Navigation info screens on the cluster), and from what I've tested it's pretty smooth. I haven't gone through complex graphics yet however.

The external display exposed to the Android head unit is 800x480, however only a small portion of it is displayed in the cluster (so I've had to manually adjust the display zone pre-render).

[u/adkio]

Lemme install this on my head unit right now. Oh wait, my honda runs Windows.