This three-year-old tablet runs Android Automotive

Android enthusiast Mishaal Rahman has managed to make Android Automotive, the smart operating system for cars, work on his tablet. That’s a Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e. Rahman wants to share the software so that everyone can give their tablet a second life.

Android Automotive on tablets

In June, Google drew a lot of criticism after it pulled its Android Auto app for smartphones from the Play Store. The app was an easy tool with which you could turn an old smartphone or tablet into a handy helper for the car. To make matters worse, Google doesn’t have a widely available replacement yet.

Mishaal Rahman of the Android developer site Esper is not giving up. In a tweet we see how he makes Android Automotive work on his Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e. Android Automotive is Google’s car operating system that works like the infotainment system. Google is working with car manufacturers to personalize a version of Android Automotive for their cars. We explain the difference with Android Auto here.

Soon for everyone

Rahman admits in his series of tweets that the software still does not work flawlessly, and there are still problems with the GPS in Maps. The weather widget also doesn’t work and a watermark is visible on the screen. Still, Rahman hopes to make Android Automotive work smoothly. In fact, as soon as he is done with his work, he also wants to share the software. He will do that in the form of a gsi, or a generic system image. That is a specific build of Android that you can flash on your devices.

Do you have an old Android tablet or phone lying around that does nothing but collect dust? Then take a look at these 8 things you can do with the device. Are you ready? Here you have 6 more ideas. Do you want to run Android Auto or Android Automotive on your old tablet? Let us know in the comments.