CarPlay Full Screen with NTG6

[Adeel]

Has anyone managed to get CarPlay to work full screen on NTG6? My W213 has a wide screen but CarPlay only shows half the screen with black borders on both sides.
Has anyone managed to solve this problem using coding?
I saw on the internet that some people recommend an external USB box on AliExpress to achieve full screen and wireless CarPlay playback with Baidu CarLife. It looks like it's an option along with Android and CarPlay on Mercedes.
I only want to go this route when the coding option is not possible.
We look forward to hearing from experts in this field.

 

[mattehardware]

It is true. It is not possible to make CarPlay full screen by coding. The best option is an external A/V box (AliExpress), which is not an official MBUX mod, but another source that streams CarPlay full screen.

 

[Adeel]

How to enable Baidu CarLife by coding? It seems to be the way to get native support with full screen CarPlay. Any other option also requires replacing the head unit. Baidu CarLife is usually for the Chinese market I believe.

 

[mattehardware]

Baidu is not Mercedes software. No coding required. It is a simple A/V device that needs to be installed in MBUX and it will add this feature (CarPlay full screen). This device needs to be purchased from China. It is plug and play, no coding required after installation.

 

[Adeel]

Based on my research and understanding from reading several forms on this topic, there are two options.

Install a box (Android) that provides full screen CarPlay, but people have problems with steering wheel controls and sound quality when using CarPlay.
Some people also complain about the screen being blurry and slow.

Use Baidu CarLife option, similar to CarPlay and Android Auto. Your MBUX system must support this and requires NTG6/081 or higher. It appears that this feature is only available in the Chinese region. In this case, you can connect a USB-C box to your car. This will allow you to use the wireless full screen CarPlay feature with Baidu CarLife software. Not sure if this will work if the phone is connected via a wired USB-C port.

I prefer the last option as it provides built-in support for all MBUX features, but it can only work once your MBUX system shows this option. The question is whether the smart minds on this forum can figure out how to enable this option.

 

[lordmetro]

I researched this last year, Baidu CarLife is like AMG Track Pace/Dashcam/Smartphone Integration, it can only be activated via MB or if you know how to activate the system with VeDoc device key and block communication with Hermes. Not worth it.

Virgin HU6, you can read the device key, after activation this device key is deleted.
Alternatively you can edit the EEPROM with VVDI Clip to communicate with RH850. I think the device key is stored in this MCU.
There are several Remote UI parameters, I tried to edit them, but without success. There are several, for example, Europe, China, Japan, TEST-CARPLAY.

If Baidu CarLife can be enabled, then you can purchase Baidu CarLife CarPlay adapter on Taobao/AliExpress with api_level 81 (FUP2?) update, it will be widescreen.

 

[x167]

Do we need to block communication with HERMES so that HU cannot read entitlements from the "source" (presumably the MB/Daimler backend) and overwrite locally provisioned data?

 

[lordmetro]

I thought about it, it's not hard, just code the HU communication in HERMES. The HERMES module communicates via a hidden 5 GHz AP, the SSID/Passphrase is sent via CAN, a parameter in the DTS for HERMES allows us to prevent this communication.

I'm not sure if this works, I haven't tried it. If it does, then next question. Will changing the settings in "System Activation" be reflected automatically or do we need to use the "Device Key" procedure after changing the settings to perform the activation?

The MB DTS projects translated from German assume that the device key is captured automatically OTA via the HERMES unit when performing "System Activation". That's why when we change the parameters in "System Activation", a new error always appears stating that the system activation is invalid.

My car didn't originally have a working HERMES. I did the "System Activation" changes, but it didn't work. So I think the last piece of the puzzle is to find a way to get the "Device Key".

I read in the DTS project that it can be found in VeDoc, once we have this key the process will look like this:

• Block Hermes communication with HU
• Patch new "System Activation" parameters
• Apply "Device Key" subroutines (this device key can be read using the routine if it is a virgin HU, although after initialization of the head unit this key will be empty when read)

I don't have access to VeDoc to try, so this is just a theory.

 

[User]

The device activation key is missing in VeDoc. You can extract it with DTS Monaco only in a virgin/new NTG6 module, and you have to save it separately to use it every time you need to recode the module with DTS Monaco (with SCN online you lose all the features missing in VeDoc).

 

[armytrixs11]

Interestingly, my car, which I bought in Japan, does not have CarPlay or Android Auto. I was looking for a way to enable them. Most respondents said that the entire HU needs to be changed to use these features. Is there another way to use it?