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Talk Intermediate

Android Automotive: Vehicle HAL Overview and Inner Workings

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Session Description

This talk aims to demystify the Android Automotive Vehicle HAL (VHAL), a critical layer that bridges Android applications with a vehicle's hardware. The talk will start with an overview of the VHAL and explain how app developers can use it to access vehicle data. Next, we will explore the inner workings and implementation of vehicle properties within the trout virtual Android Automotive OS device.

1. The App perspective: How to utilize the CarPropertyManager from within an Android app to interact with the vehicle. Showcasing how to read properties such as VehiclePropertyIds.INFO_MODEL or subscribe to changing properties like VehiclePropertyIds.CURRENT_GEAR.


2. The HAL Implementation: A walkthrough of the trout VHAL, revealing how the vehicle properties are implemented, where their data originates, and the reason for the presence of gRPC (a framework for Remote Procedure Calls (RPC)) within the HAL.

Key Takeaways

Gain an understanding of the AOSP Car Service and Vehicle HAL architecture.

Learn how to access Vehicle Properties from an app’s perspective.

Discover insights into the VHAL implementation of the trout virtual device.

References

https://source.android.com/docs/automotive/vhal
https://source.android.com/docs/automotive/virtualization/reference_platform
https://developer.android.com/reference/android/car/hardware/property/CarPropertyManager

Session Categories

Tutorial about using a FOSS project
Technology architecture
Engineering practice - productivity, debugging
Which track are you applying for?
Android Open Source Project (AOSP) Devroom

Speakers

David Zerulla
Software Developer | inovex GmbH

David Zerulla has been working as a Backend and Embedded Developer for Android and Linux. During this time, he has realized a variety of projects – from integrating sensor hardware into Android, to developing and integrating various services into the AOSP (Android Open Source Project), and implementing cloud backends for IoT applications in Go. Additionally, he conducts AOSP and AAOS (Android Automotive Operating System) training sessions.
David Zerulla

Reviews

The proposal doesnt have a good description and is not well thought out.

Reviewer #1 Rejected

I see merit in the abstract. Not many good docs available online, which talk about VHAL implementations in general. Cuttlefish is too complex at times to dig deep.

Reviewer #2 Approved

VHAL implementation is an interesting topic in AOSP with little information available. Very relevant session.

Reviewer #3 Approved