A project I think would be a cool design challenge and that I would find useful would be an in car media PC. Ideally based on raspberry Pi! A device that looked good and allowed the integration of modern media features into older cars would be awesome!
I envisage it using a custom printed case that could attach to the heater vents in most cars with a separate, ergonomically designed controller housing so that it can be operated more comfortably than reaching up to touch the unit (this would also make it less likely that the unit would be knocked off it's mounting)
To be really useful it would:
- run off the car's 12v supply (cigar lighter socket?)
- small internal battery to prevent blackout/brownout if car supply drops (ie during starting engine)
-low power mode to allow adding/removing media when car is off without draining battery
- custom rotary controller (similar to iDrive/MMI controllers) to operate, could be touchscreen instead (also??) but that would lead to finger marks on display and increase cost
- analog audio out to pipe into car stereo
Other features that would be desirable:
- WiFi enabled to allow managing media from inside home
- FM radio audio output to play over car speakers if no audio in available
- blutooth connectivity to answer phone calls
- leverage OBDII port in modern cars to get data from ECU ( possibly be able to read/clear fault codes)
- be able to add satellite navigation or DAB/DVB if desired
- allow connection of other audio devices or media storage via usb
This is is something I have wanted to see done for ages and any attempts at in car PCs I can find online are really let down by case design and the lack of a controller that isn't the touchscreen!
