A Supra owner who can't write C got AI to fit Android Auto into a BMW head unit: over 200 stars in three weeks

An American safety engineer who owns a 2022 Toyota Supra used AI to write an Android Auto program that runs on the factory iDrive 6 head unit, free and open source. Doing this used to cost 600 dollars for a box. The project started on a Supra owners' forum, but the stars really came from the much larger group of BMW owners. Below: why it gained 200+ stars in three weeks, where those stars came from, and where to go if you want a project that earns stars the same way.

A forum post that opened with an apology

On Oct 2026 22, Ronnie, username nanaisu, posted a thread titled "Native Android Auto Development Thread" on the Supra forum SupraMKV. In it he listed six milestones: mirroring the phone screen to the head unit, touchscreen, iDrive knob and audio, hooking into the factory menu, and auto-switching to the camera view when reversing. Nearly all of them were marked "Complete."

He opened with an apology: "This is a 100% AI-generated project. I don't have the skill to do this myself... Trust me, nobody hates this more than me. But it's doing what I can't." Then came the real motivation: "We need to build this before some shop tries to sell it. We've paid for MMI boxes for too long. Screw it, open source it."

The repo Sq00ky/Supra-iDrive6-Android-Auto was created on 10-17. The README's first paragraph carries the same heat: "Screw those companies that have made money off MMI boxes for years." As of 11-06, the repo had 213 stars and 58 forks (GitHub, 11-06), with 27 releases shipped in just over two weeks.

What it actually is

Lots of BMWs and MINIs from 2016 to 2020, plus the Toyota Supra from 2019 onward (its head unit is BMW-built), use the same generation of head unit: NBT Evo, also called iDrive 5/6. BMW officially offered only Apple CarPlay on this generation, not Android Auto, and didn't add Android Auto until iDrive 7 (after mid-2020). Android owners who wanted it had two options: buy an MMI box from a vendor like BimmerTech for $594 to $750 and go through an install, or pay a modding shop to activate it remotely for $200 to $250.

The project (the author calls it NBT-AAD, short for NBT Android Auto daemon) is a small program that runs inside the head unit. The head unit runs QNX on an ARMv7 chip. The author built it with QNX development tools from the 2010s and copied it onto the unit over SSH. Once the phone connects, the factory screen shows full Android Auto, and the knob, touchscreen, audio, and reverse camera all work.

The requirements are spelled out clearly: you need CarPlay already in the car, SSH access to the head unit, and a cable that converts OBD to Ethernet. The author states plainly that he doesn't do remote support: "I've tested maybe 60 to 90 rounds on my own car, and I can't help you over the internet." It's licensed under PolyForm Noncommercial, and the README says in bold: "If you paid for this, you've been scammed."

Why this one, and why now

Demand had been building for years, and the price gap is huge. People who wanted Android on this generation of car have always existed; the only solutions were expensive. Once a free version appeared, every owner saved a few hundred dollars, and that did more than any marketing could.

People had demoed it before, but nobody had shipped it. Back in March 2025, a prototype video of factory Android Auto had been posted on the BMW modding forum spoolstreet, and then nothing came of it. Ronnie shipped 27 releases in two weeks and attached a demo video to each milestone in the thread. Someone on the forum asked whether the screen could be made touch-enabled, and another replied "yes, link on the first post." That kind of exchange only happens when the thing actually installs.

AI let an outsider walk in. The author is a red team security engineer who knows how to get into systems but doesn't write C. Reverse-engineering a QNX head unit and writing a daemon for video streaming, touch, and Bluetooth used to take a team of embedded specialists a long time. Now one person with the car, patience, and willingness to test 90 rounds in the garage can do it. In the same period, projects like nbt-evo-toolkit ("use an AI agent to modify your NBT Evo," 47 stars) and bimmulator (a head unit simulator) appeared, and AI-assisted head unit reverse engineering is forming a small wave.

Where the stars came from: Supra first, then BMW

Daily stars (GitHub, from 10-28):

There was no single-day spike, no Hacker News front page, no big X account sharing it. I found no trace on HN, no X discussion in 30 days, and no press coverage. Its stars were built forum by forum.

Stop one was Supra owners. A string of posts on r/Supra traces the progress: "Android Auto running natively on the Supra," "native Android Auto project nearly done," "free native Android Auto, testers wanted." The dev thread on SupraMKV has 39 followers. Supra owners are few, but they know modding and like to tinker, which made them good first testers.

Stop two was BMW owners, and it was the decisive one. On 10-29, someone posted in the M3/M4 section of the BMW forum bimmerpost: "Has anyone tried native Android Auto on an F8x's NBT Evo? GitHub project," with the first reply saying "no box, no cost." By 11-06, the thread had 1,000 views and 23 replies, and the people replying drove F31, F34, F87, E93 M3, and 2019 M4CS models, one after another confirming it worked:

"Confirmed on my nbt5, runs flawlessly. Thank you so much." (SaNGRia, Florida, E93 M3 + F85 X5M)

"My 2019 F34 now has Android Auto!" (Madalin.Bim, Romania)

BMWs and MINIs running this generation of head unit outnumber Supras by one to two orders of magnitude. More than half of the repo's 118 issues and PRs were opened by BMW owners, covering models from F15 and F30 to G30, G01, and MINI F60.

Stop three was someone making installation a two-minute job. TurboCode, a BMW modding shop in Croatia, offered free SSH access to project contributors and built a free Windows one-click installer that pulls files straight from the official release. The author listed it in the README as the only authorized packager. Someone forked an Android app (the mhmm-ok version) and bundled in the SSH unlock as well. On bimmerpost, an F87 owner wrote: "Just an Android phone and a cable, no need to unlock SSH first, the app handles everything. Two minutes." The release was downloaded about 8,900 times in just over two weeks, and the package used by the installer was downloaded 2,740 times (GitHub, 11-06, including duplicates and automatic pulls). More people were actually installing it than starring it.

The fourth source of traffic was paid copycats. Around 10-24, bimmer-remote started selling "NBT Evo factory wireless Android Auto activation" at $249.99, and easybimmercoding and oemnavigations were also selling it for $200 to $240. Forum users immediately replied that the free GitHub version did the same thing, and issue #43 had someone suspecting the paid versions were just this project repackaged (unverified). The author's line "if you paid, you've been scammed" turned every paid ad into free advertising for it. A Russian modding account on Instagram also posted a Reel introducing it, with the GitHub link attached.

Its weak spots, and room for latecomers

• It only covers the NBT Evo generation. Older NBT and CIC head units, and Audi, Mercedes, Porsche, and Lexus units that are similarly locked by the factory, are outside its scope.
• The bar is still high. You need CarPlay first, SSH, and a dedicated cable. Cars that were flashed from iDrive 4 to 6, or modified on a bench, are not supported by the author. Someone on the forum asked whether a flashed head unit works, and the answer was: "With 2GB of RAM, probably not enough to run it."
• The author offers no remote support. Compatibility depends on firmware version, and when something breaks, the community mostly handles it. Fortunately, an outside contributor, tom-pryor, has already submitted more than a dozen PRs adding GPS, audio, and USB modes, so the project is moving toward community-driven development.
• There are legal and firmware risks. Whether modifying factory head unit firmware is legal, whether the noncommercial license holds, and whether a future automaker firmware update will shut it down are all still unknown.

If it were you

Verdict: B. Worth a try. What it proves is clear: find a feature the automaker deliberately withholds where third-party hardware sells at a premium, use AI to build a free software version, launch it on owner forums, and stars will come steadily. And this path has only just opened. The barriers are real, though. You need that car and have to test it on the vehicle dozens of times. The audience is narrow (a couple hundred stars in three weeks, so the ceiling won't be very high), and the NBT Evo slot is already held by it and its forks.

Who it suits: people who own a car where the factory doesn't offer Android Auto or CarPlay, who know SSH, can do some reverse engineering on embedded systems, and can write C/C++ with AI help; security researchers and head unit modding enthusiasts.

Who it doesn't suit: people without a target car who only want to work on a PC (head unit code can't be debugged remotely, and the author tested 60 to 90 rounds on his own car); people who want to build a rebranded version of NBT-AAD (the license prohibits commercial use, and the community will treat you as a copycat).

How to do it, ranked by how worthwhile:

1. Do the same thing on a different head unit platform: look for a generation that similarly withholds factory Android Auto and can only be unlocked with a box, such as older BMW NBT units, Mercedes NTG 4.5/5 COMAND, Porsche PCM, Lexus, or Toyota Entune from 2016 to 2019. Start with the one you own, where the owner forum is active and the boxes sell for the most. Open-source versions for Audi MHI2Q and GM EV head units already exist, though their scale is unverified, so search first to see whether someone has taken the slot.
2. Fill the gaps NBT-AAD left: older NBT units, head units flashed beyond iDrive 6, wireless connection, and a simpler installer. You can submit PRs to the original project to build your reputation, which is exactly what tom-pryor's dozen PRs did. Or build a standalone companion tool.
3. Build the toolchain for "AI reverse engineering of head units": simulators, debugging environments, and head unit workspaces for AI agents. nbt-evo-toolkit's 47 stars show demand exists, but this path leans toward developers, and stars are harder to earn than by shipping a user-facing feature.

How to acquire users: follow its sequence. First, open a dev thread on the owner forum for your car, attach a real-car demo video to each milestone, and recruit testers. Once it works, post on the big-brand forums on the same platform with a title like "has anyone tried it on xx?" and let owners confirm in the replies. Bring in local modding shops early, since they make money from SSH and on-site installs and will be willing to help you build a one-click installer. Put "free, if you paid you've been scammed" on the first screen of the README.

When to move: the sooner the better, ideally before the first half of 2027. This generation keeps aging and owners are trading cars; the AI-assisted head unit reverse engineering wave has only just started, and whoever ships first in this slot will set the reference point.

What would signal you got it wrong: ① if your forum thread gets no replies and no testers two weeks after posting, the circle is too small or boxes are already cheap enough; ② if a single automaker firmware update shuts down NBT-AAD with no workaround, these projects have a shorter lifespan than expected; ③ conversely, if NBT-AAD passes 1,000 stars within two months, the ceiling is higher than estimated here, and you should move faster on switching platforms.

Data and sources

GitHub: Sq00ky/Supra-iDrive6-Android-Auto repo page, README, Release download counts and daily stars (10-28 to 11-06). SupraMKV "Native Android Auto Development Thread" (2026-10-22). bimmerpost F80 forum thread "Anyone tried native Android Auto on an F8x NBT Evo? GitHub project" (2026-10-29; views and replies as of 11-06). Reddit r/Supra post titles (search snippets). TurboCode installer page. Box and code-change prices on bimmer-tech.net, bimmerpost, and bmwi forums. Places marked "inferred" or "unverified" are inferences and unverified claims.