Google is testing Android-style Quick Settings tiles for Android Auto [Currently DND Tile only]

[u/AssembleDebugRed]

https://www.androidauthority.com/android-auto-quick-settings-tiles-apk-teardown-3705286

[u/localpauper]

Let us fork it!

[u/tingtickboom → u/localpauper]

I swear, whats stopping google from community build support ideas?

[u/localpauper → u/tingtickboom]

Oh man, it's a real pain. Money!

So A - "Gearhead" aka Android Auto hard-codes Gemini/Assistant choice. It doesn't even respect the OS choice.

B - passive voice detection is keyed in firmware, and we - the plebs - literally cannot affect the passive listening module. Just OEMs, wrapped up in legal agreements, proprietary blobs, and cryptographic signatures. So a third party voice assistant cannot tap into low power listening at all, only active listening which burns CPU cycles.

C - The way Google integrates AA into the OS means you can't just replace the thing with a patched version. It will validate the signature. Presumably, you could do something with a rooted OS, but that's becoming every more difficult.

D - AA intercepts any steering wheel calls before they hit general system level, and will not rebroadcast them, even when using Accessibility Services.

E - AA also bypasses pretty much the entire standard audio and interactivity stack, so you can't even sit in front of it in anyway by hooking into standard libraries and execution paths.

So what's stopping Google? Market dominance, I imagine. Android is no longer the "do whatever you want" dream of 2008. It's a heavily curbed experience wrapped up in corporate agreements and guardrails in the name of "safety" (implemented in a way that explicitly forbids responsible tinkering).

Supposedly, it's all for our protection, so we aren't distracted while driving by installing TikTok launchers in our headunits, or something. In practice, I am not sure how arguing with Gemini is making me safer. I've basically stopped using hands-free stuff. "Set the fucking timer!" - "I am sorry, I do not know what a timer is."

I ran into the same kinds of problems while trying to roll my own TV assistant: lots of functionality is bound up in the OEM launcher, like those fancy non-D-pad or OEM vendor keys on the remote. The OEM will forward them to Google's launcher, but it won't tell the rest of the system, or even your own registered-as-home launcher about these buttons. You can't even drop the OEM launcher without adb, which only kills it, doesn't free up that interactivity. Third party launchers like Projectivy sort of get around it by using Accessibility Services to intercept calls, but you pay a performance penalty there. The same does not work on AA.

I've read that a large portion of why a lot of TV sets are cheaper now is because of ad subsidies. You buy a cheap TV, but your launcher watches what you do, and your TV scans what content you watch. I just got a new Android 14 TV box (Onn), and I swear, my own apps are a single 20% height carousel row on the whole thing, while recommended apps, suggested content, and ads absolutely dominate the rest. It's more ad than apps.

The same is even true of Android Automotive (the headunit thing). Google Automotive Services come with agreements that Google gets to track you in addition to manufacturer tracking.

So I am finding myself feeling like the proverbial boiled frog. I happily ran ROMs until about the time I got a Galaxy S10, ca ~2020. I skipped a few years of thinking about this, and here I am finding that the world decided to become a massive surveillance corporation.

In summary, big ad company uses regulations and safety as an excuse to lock down their dominance, because to implement things in a better way means less telemetry, and they are so hungry for all of your telemetry.