AAWireless dongle that enables wireless Android Auto on wired units starts shipping out to customers

Android Auto is one of the most widely used systems to connect an Android smartphone to your car’s infotainment system. Despite its popularity, Android Auto has many compatibility issues, especially if either the car head unit or the smartphone is old. One of the limitations with older car head units, which do no support wireless transmission, is that Android Auto requires users to be tethered to it using a USB cable. The AAWireless dongle is a plug-n-play device that solves this problem by acting as a wireless interface between the smartphone and the car unit. The product was set up for crowdfunding on Indiegogo last year and has now started shipping out to the early adopters.

AAWireless is jointly developed by XDA Recognized Developer Emil Borconi and XDA Developer Chiel Prins. This simple plug-n-play dongle connects to the car’s entertainment system with a USB port and the smartphone over Wi-Fi. The journey to develop this dongle began over two years ago when Borconi first created an app called AAGateWay to perform a similar function. The developer even showed a proof of concept using a TV stick to establish a wireless connection between the smartphone and a car head unit.

Compared to the prototype, which required 30-40 seconds to start projecting a phone’s screen onto a car’s head unit, the final product takes about 25-30 seconds. Furthermore, the boot time has also been reduced to roughly 6 seconds. Borconi exclaims these are timed using a OnePlus 8 Pro running Android 11, and the duration for older phones might be slightly longer. The final unit also appears more compact than the prototype shown last year.

While the initial crowdfunding target for AAWireless was $200,000, the duo has been able to accrue nearly $1.3 million with more than 16,000 backers as of now. As per the latest update, nearly 3400 units are ready for shipping, out of which the first 100 should be on their way very soon. The others should start shipping as early as March 15th.

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