ADC (the software of the Aiways Drivers Community) replaces and extends parts of the head unit's software: Bluetooth, CarPlay and the connection menus run on our own code instead of the manufacturer's. It is installed from a USB stick and can be removed again completely. It doesn't install a new operating system; it's more or less an update of the existing firmware. It runs on app builds 052, 060 and 104 (how to find yours: see “Before you start” below). Whether it also works with other builds, we don't know yet. If you try it and nothing works any more, there's no way back for you for the time being, until we've made a firmware stick for your original version. If nothing works at all, you may have to take off the plastic trim on the passenger side to get at the USB hub and remove it, or you may even need an extra cable for your head unit. So better not try it, unless you're brave and can live with your head unit not working for a few weeks. Most likely everything can be fixed, because the bootloader is never overwritten, but a) that isn't certain and b) it can take a while.

Status: alpha. Version 0.14.14 (15 October 2026) lets the screen go darker: the brightness slider has five new steps below the former minimum — for night driving, tried on our test head unit. Also from 0.14.13: turn-by-turn in the instrument cluster with lane arrows (tried in our daily car). The package itself has not been installed on any device yet; its parts ran on our test head unit and in our daily car (see the changelog). Use at your own risk, see the disclaimer.

What changed from version to version: Changelog.

This is an ALPHA!!! version. Lots of things are still difficult, weird and untested. It may well be that “handsfree” stops working, or some audio formats can't be played, or the microphone doesn't work, and so on. Only install this version if you know what you're doing and feel like taking part in the development process. Comments like “my audio doesn't work” don't help. Bug reports are detailed descriptions of what you did in which order, on which device with which firmware version, with an exact description of the fault. We don't provide support if you can't cope, and we won't come round if you can't use your head unit any more because something went wrong But we're happy to use your feedback and bug reports to improve the firmware. If you've already installed your own apps, they may be gone afterwards or stop working. They may also collide with this firmware, so that something doesn't work. Not our problem — just uninstall them and try again. And we fix bugs when we have the time and feel like it. Nagging won't make it faster… trust me.

• Wireless CarPlay over the car's 5 GHz hotspot. The CarPlay tile on the home screen shows which phone is connected. To connect, tap connect under Settings > Connect > CarPlay, then on the phone find the car under Settings > General > CarPlay and tap it.
• Smoother CarPlay should now run at about 30 Hz
• Wireless Android Auto (experimental): switch it on under Settings › Connect › Android Auto. The phone needs the Android Auto app with “Wireless Android Auto”. Only one runs at a time: Android Auto or CarPlay.
• Connecting Android Auto: pair the Android phone the normal way via Bluetooth (in the head unit's Bluetooth menu). With Android Auto switched on, it then starts by itself. Going through the CarPlay menu works too, because that also pairs Bluetooth — but that is not what it is meant for.
• Two-finger zoom in Android Auto (new in 0.14.9): maps zoom with two fingers. Rotating does not work — Android Auto apparently does not allow it on the car screen.
• Turn-by-turn in the instrument cluster (since 0.14.12, lanes new in 0.14.13): while a CarPlay navigation app (e.g. Apple Maps, ABRP) or Android Auto navigates, the cluster's right-hand display shows the arrow, the distance, the road or direction, the exit and — when it follows soon — the next instruction. At junctions with several lanes the lanes replace the arrow: white the ones to take, grey the others. It disappears when the navigation ends. Tried with CarPlay in our daily car.
• CarPlay hotspot password (new in 0.14.12): Settings › Connect › CarPlay shows, at the bottom, the name and password of the hotspot the iPhone joins.
• Darker screen (new in 0.14.14): the brightness slider in Settings › Display and in the panel that drops down at the top right of the home screen has 15 steps instead of 10 — the lower five are darker than the former minimum, the upper ten are the former steps. The slider deliberately never switches the screen off completely.
• Switching phones: tap a paired phone in the Bluetooth menu: it connects and starts CarPlay or Android Auto, and the previous one is disconnected.
• Bluetooth — pairing, music with track info and controls, hands-free calls with call audio, phone book. Might also work in parallel with CarPlay, but that's untested.
• Home screen — the CarPlay tile with the connected phone, an Android Auto tile (dark while Android Auto is off) and the network status (hotspot, mobile data, Ethernet).
• USB sticks with new firmware — plug one in and the Connect app shows what's on it, with the matching action: install an ADC update, copy the 3D parts catalogue or go back to the stock firmware.
• SSH: an up-to-date SSH server (dropbear 2026.94) with scp and sftp
• Self-test — after every start a short report is written to /sdcard/OpenAiways/selftest.txt.

• WLAN has to be off for CarPlay or Android Auto. It's really only good for debugging, and not really for that either.
• An Ethernet-over-USB driver is now included. If you plug in such an adapter, you also get to the head unit's command line while CarPlay is on.
• You can put your SSH key on the unit either via ADB, or switch on the web server for a moment under Settings > Connect > SSH and paste your ssh public key into the field on the web page.

The switches are under Settings › Connect. An update keeps what you have set.

• Your head unit must have firmware MX64_V2.01.0051.05-9-R-210326 — it's shown under Settings › About. The installer checks this itself and refuses any other firmware without changing anything.
• Your app build must match: under Settings › About tap the version entry about 5 times; then the System, MCU and AP version are shown. The AP version must end in _052, _060 or _104 — that is your app build. The firmware number 0051 doesn't tell you: it belongs to the operating-system part, which is the same on all three builds. Which versions belong together: Head unit versions.
• On app builds 052, 060 and 104 ADC installs the core (Bluetooth, CarPlay, Android Auto, the Connect app) and the modified Settings with the home screen. Other app builds (e.g. 076 or 086) are untested: the installer checks several of the build's files, among them the Bluetooth app. If it doesn't know them, it stops and installs nothing; if it does, you get only the core without the new menus, and the end screen says “UPDATE INCOMPLETE”.
• ⚠️ Check first, then reset: on a car without ADC the installation starts with the factory reset, and that runs before the check. If the installer then refuses (other firmware, other app build), paired phones, Wi-Fi networks and settings are already deleted.
• About 50 MB must be free on the internal storage (SD card): the installer backs up the original apps it replaces there.
• Installing on a car without ADC needs a factory reset: paired phones, Wi-Fi networks and settings are deleted. ADC itself survives a later factory reset. The only way back is the stock firmware.
• A USB stick formatted FAT32 (MS-DOS FAT). The head unit can't read exFAT sticks.

Unzip the download and copy the four files — update.zip, update_os.zip, ota_update.ini and OpenAiwaysConnect.apk — to the top level of the stick, not into a folder. Nothing else on this stick, above all no files of the stock firmware (imx6.ini, imx6.bin, imx6ap.bin).

1. Switch the car on and plug the stick into the USB port in the centre console.
2. Open Settings › About › Factory Reset and confirm.
3. The car restarts, deletes its data and installs ADC: first a reset message, then about 25 seconds of black screen, then the installation progress. About 2–3 minutes in total.
4. The installation may stop and start over once or twice (it did twice on our test head unit) — just let it run and only pull the stick when the end is shown.
5. When the firmware has finished installing, pull out the USB stick; the head unit then reboots automatically. The first start takes a bit longer than normal.

1. Plug in the stick. The Connect app opens a window with a row ADC 0.14.14 — press Install.
2. It copies the update into the car and then asks you to pull out the stick. As soon as it's out, the car restarts and installs. Paired phones and settings are kept.

• Back to the stock firmware (everything as delivered, all data deleted): see Stock firmware 0051. On a car with ADC the Connect app offers Revert as soon as the stick with the stock firmware is plugged in. From 0.14.7 on only if the stick's apps fit your car's MCU; otherwise it refuses (“Stock version _104 denied. Incompatible with MCU _060.”) and changes nothing. ⚠️ The check only covers this button. If the head unit restarts while the stick is plugged in, it flashes it without any check — for example after a factory reset, and on cars without the USB hub already when you switch on. So pull out a refused stick straight away.
• Remove only ADC: the rollback stick puts back every file ADC replaced, from the backup the installer made at the first installation. Prepare it like the install stick, plug it into the front USB port and run Settings › About › Factory Reset. The rollback ran successfully on a community member's car in October 2026 (version 0.14.2, app build 060); if in doubt, go via the stock firmware.

• Every installation writes a log to /cache/oa-install.log; the backup of every replaced file is under /sdcard/OpenAiways/backup/.
• ADC lives on the system and vendor partitions and therefore survives restarts and factory resets; a factory reset only resets its settings.
• Android Auto is experimental and switched off after installation.
• CarPlay's frame rate is capped by max_fps in /sdcard/aiwayscp.conf (default 30). A value you enter there yourself is left alone by every update.

The firmware is an ALPHA version, a lot is still untested, you'll have to experiment a lot and some things don't work.