[Car Thing][Developer] SDK for Spotify Car Thing

[manish181992]

Hi Team,

Car thing is very nice piece of hardware, specially the controls. I am sad to see it going away. I want to ask the team to release an SDK for it, so the homebrew developers can keep it alive for longer. Please consider it before killing the device support.

Thanks

[Alex]

Updated on 2022-10-02

Hello @manish181992,

Thanks for submitting your idea to the Idea Exchange!

We've gone ahead and marked this as a new suggestion. Spotify Staff will look into this idea once it reaches the necessary amount of votes.

More info on how your feedback reaches Spotify via the Idea Exchange can be found here.

Cheers!

[CarThingStan]

Make this happen! Would love to make it a media controller for my pc. It would be the perfect device.

[The_weird_homosapien]

This would be fantastic!

[manish181992]

P.S. Allow CarThing to change the "Current Device" for the Audio Output. This will increase the usability of the device when using as a media controller with a desktop computer.

[niko_spot]

Honestly, this would be amazing, as Spotify has nothing to lose. They're already shutting down production and instead of letting it become e-waste, let the community maintain it and give us root access into it! Im sure people could even get android auto or apple car play onto car thing which would be insane. 🙂

Edit: I made a lil mockup of what it could look like for the spotify team hehe

[Koltinb12]

Yes as PLEASE allow us access to the SDK. I want to add more functionality to it. I have a Raspberry Pi controlling 40% of the periferals in my vehicle as is for use with my own companion app, would be nice to add a custom dash panel that shows my OBD2 readouts and stuff. I would buy 3 more of these just for personalized dashboard utilities. Lol. I have also thought of some useful things it could be used for as an electrical tech for Ford Motor Company. Some small features as is that would be nice are using the big knob as a volume control. Also sometimes the shuffle, back, and next buttons on the touch screen do not let me click them but the voice commands still work for controlling those options. 

[mkulkarni]

I would love to see this. I really believe that this device (hardware) is perfect and with some software enhancements it could be super useful to many people especially in niche situations.

[niko_spot]

Totally agree!!! Esp w Android Auto / AppleCarplay the CarThing wouldnt really need to do any processing apart from just displaying what the phone gives it! For 30-90 bucks its such a spectacular piece of hardware. Would be a terrible shame to see it go to waste 😞

[anthonybro]

agreed!

[LittlestBits]

Already using this (and LOVING it!) with my desktop PC, would love to be able to build new functionality with SDK access!