OpenDash

An open-source car head-unit UI that treats the driver like a person, not a spec sheet.

Clean, big-touch, two taps deep — and yes, it finally has a delete button. Built in the languages real car stereos actually run.

▶ Live demo — the web preview, running in your browser.

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Why more than one build

Modern car stereos have incredible hardware bolted to software UX that looks like it "compiled, so ship it." OpenDash is the opposite: a touch-first head-unit interface designed like someone has to use it while driving.

But a good design is only half the point — it has to be buildable in the stacks real head units ship in. A single HTML file only represents Tesla's web UI and aftermarket browser wrappers. So OpenDash ships the same UI implemented in the languages the industry actually uses:

Build	Language	Where this stack ships	Status
qt/	C++ + QML (Qt Quick)	OpenAuto/Crankshaft (Pi dashes), most QNX & Automotive-Grade-Linux OEM head units	✅ QML renders + lints clean; C++ reviewed
android/	Kotlin + Jetpack Compose	Android Automotive OS — Volvo, Polestar, GM, Ford, Honda, Renault	✅ Builds a debug APK (gradle assembleDebug)
flutter/	Dart (Flutter)	Toyota 2026 RAV4 IVI, BMW apps, Automotive Grade Linux; runs on a Pi via flutter-elinux	📝 Written & reviewed; not compiled in-session (Flutter SDK didn't bootstrap on the build box) — run flutter analyze
preview/	HTML/CSS/JS	Tesla's touchscreen UI; aftermarket web wrappers	✅ Runs in any browser (the shared visual spec)

Every build shares one design, one palette, one set of behaviours — the web preview/ is the reference, and the three native stacks implement it.

Screenshots

From the Qt build, rendered by the real Qt Quick scene graph:

Now Playing	Media	Climate	Day mode

The design (shared by every build)

• Now Playing — album art, large transport, scrubbable progress, volume, source switching (USB / Bluetooth / Radio), and a prominent Delete button.
• Media — the USB library as a flat, scannable list; tap to play, one tap to delete, live "now playing" equalizer.
• Climate — dual-zone temperature, 6-speed fan, A/C · Auto · Recirculate · front/rear defrost, and 3-stage seat heaters.
• Phone — Bluetooth call surface (placeholder).
• Settings — Night/Day instrument themes, brightness, °F/°C.
• Live clock, simulated playback, and a single "instrument at night" visual world (amber-on-charcoal) with an in-app Day mode.

Design principles

1. Two taps, max. Anything you need while moving is one or two touches away.
2. One accent. Amber instrument lighting carries state; semantic colors are separate.
3. Big targets, high contrast. Legible at a glance, at speed, in daylight.
4. Reversible by default. Nothing destructive without an undo path — starting with the delete button.
5. Yours. No account, no cloud, no data leaving the car.

Build & run

Each stack has its own README with build instructions:

• Qt — cd qt && cmake -S . -B build && cmake --build build (details)
• Android — open android/ in Android Studio, or ./gradlew assembleDebug (details)
• Flutter — cd flutter && flutter create --platforms=android,linux,web . && flutter run (details)
• Web — open preview/index.html, or python3 -m http.server in preview/

On a real head unit

• Raspberry Pi double-DIN — the Qt build (like OpenAuto/Crankshaft) or the Flutter build via flutter-elinux, fullscreen on EGLFS / Wayland.
• Android head units / AAOS — the Android build, or the Flutter build.
• Any Linux dash with a browser — the web preview/ in Chromium kiosk mode.

Roadmap

• Real audio backend (USB/MTP indexing, gapless playback)
• Undo/restore for deletes (trash with a timeout)
• CAN-bus bridge for real climate + vehicle data
• Reverse-camera and CarPlay/Android Auto handoff
• Voice ("skip", "delete this", "72 degrees")
• Theming API + community skins

Contributing

PRs welcome — see CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

MIT © 2026 Shane Sipe. Do what you like — just don't design a UI an engineer would.