Cluster Integration MH2p / PCM5 and MHI2 / PCM4 — Android Auto & CarPlay navigation on the digital cluster

Renders Android Auto and CarPlay navigation directly on the instrument cluster of PCM5 / MH2P Porsche vehicles. Turn-by-turn arrows, live map view, seamless handoff back to native Porsche navigation when the phone disconnects.

This software is free software, developed and maintained in my spare time.

A lot of time goes into reverse engineering, development, testing and supporting different Porsche models and firmware versions.

If you find it useful, please consider supporting continued development.

Donations are entirely optional. The software is free and all features are available without payment.

Download latest release

Website: https://fifthbro.github.io/

Support / Discussion: ModKit Discord https://discord.gg/QAEkZmDh9

Status: Stable release — CarPlay cluster rendering now live alongside Android Auto.

What it does

When you plug in (or wirelessly connect) your phone, the digital instrument cluster becomes a second navigation display driven by the phone.

• Android Auto cluster nav — Google Maps, Waze, and other AA-compatible navigation apps render live in the cluster.
• CarPlay cluster nav — Apple Maps, Google Maps, Waze on iPhone stream to the cluster the same way.
• Turn-by-turn on the physical dial — maneuver icons, distance to next, lane guidance, roundabout exits, for both platforms.
• Native maps come back automatically — when the phone disconnects, the built-in Porsche navigation reclaims the cluster with no reboot required.
• Independent of HMI state — you can leave the main head-unit screen on native infotainment; the cluster keeps showing phone nav underneath.
• Session-stable — reconnects, park/drive cycles, HMI-off transitions all handled without the mirror dying.

Supported vehicles

Model years: 2019–2021. Firmware range: 9xxx–29xx. Other firmwares can be enabled on request via the installer's OEM/firmware gate.

Installation

Uses the MH2P Mod Kit (LawPaul): https://lawpaul.github.io/MH2p_SD_ModKit_Site/

⚠ Warning: This modifies Java files on your PCM5/MH2P unit. Only proceed if you understand the risks.

Prerequisites

• Car with PCM5/MH2P head unit
• SD card (FAT32)
• Android Auto or CarPlay compatible phone
• Android Auto activated on the head unit
• It can be installed over the previous versions of the Cluster Integration
• If you need Android Auto and Carplay activated in the first place for details follow [MH2p_SD_ModKit_Site (https://lawpaul.github.io/MH2p_SD_ModKit_Site/)
• Cluster is a standalone install. If Android Auto and Carplay (full screen or not) were activated before you don't need to run them again

Steps

1. Download the latest release ZIP
2. Format the SD card as FAT32

3. Extract the ZIP to the root of the SD card

   The root of the SD card should look like this:

   

   Using a Mac? Additional steps are required:

   • Video guide
   • macOS installation guide

4. Start the vehicle

5. Insert the SD card
6. Within a few seconds, the head unit will reboot
7. The update installs automatically
8. When done, a prompt shows "Please remove update media"
9. Remove the SD card
10. Head unit reboots into normal mode with the mod installed

Uninstall

1. Rename uninstall.txt.template (in the mod folder on the SD card) to uninstall.txt
2. Re-run the ModKit update procedure with the SD card
3. Update/uninstall.sh runs automatically and restores originals from backup
4. After uninstall completes, remove uninstall.txt from the SD so it doesn't re-trigger

Features

• Full navigation support — turn arrows, distance, road names, roundabouts, highway exits, lane guidance
• Real-time updates — proximity-zone throttling (veryFar → now) with heartbeat to hold the display against native nav
• Intelligent unit detection — automatic km/mi and LHD/RHD detection via platform services with JSON country fallback (60+ countries)
• Multi-car config — per-car overrides for Cayenne / 911 / Panamera / Macan / (Audi A7)
• JSON configuration — runtime-configurable without any reinstall; override via USB/SD card
• Comprehensive logging — dual-timestamp log with optional privacy hashing and external USB/SD output
• Multi-platform — Android Auto (DSI) + CarPlay (RGI / altScreen) in one integrated mod

How it works (high level)

Android Auto navigation events arrive via the DSI service; CarPlay navigation arrives via the iAP2 RGI event stream. Both are translated to BAP (Bedien-und Anzeigeprotokoll) messages and pushed to the instrument cluster via CombiBAPServiceNavi. A heartbeat timer (default 2 s) continually re-sends the last state so the native cluster nav can't overwrite it.

CarPlay cluster rendering additionally uses a second video stream from the phone that is decoded on the head unit (H.264 via NvMedia) and composited onto the cluster's dedicated video surface. Android Auto uses an equivalent second-video-stream channel.

Android Auto event → BAP maneuver translation

Maps AA eventCode (1–19) + turnSide + angle + num to a BAP maneuver descriptor. Direction is a 0–255 byte (0 = straight, 64 = left/90°, 128 = back/180°, 192 = right/270°).

Distance update pipeline

1. Throttle check — minimum ms between sends per proximity zone (veryFar = 2000 ms down to now = 100 ms).
2. Maneuver change detection — key = road|eventCode|turnSide. New maneuver resets baseline distance and bypasses throttle for first update.
3. Distance threshold — minimum change required per zone (100 m at veryFar down to 5 m at now).
4. Unit conversion — metric: m below 100 m, tenths of km to 19.9 km. Imperial: yards below 161 m, tenths of miles to 9.9 mi.
5. Bargraph — (1 − distance/maneuverInitialDistance) × 100, clamped 0–100.
6. Roundabout traversal — force distance/bargraph to 0 during CONTINUE events to suppress erratic display inside roundabouts.

Bargraph — Car variant auto-detection

When bargraphMode="auto", the car type is queried at runtime:

Explicit JSON values always override auto-detection.

Configuration

The config file cluster_config.json is installed to /mnt/app/eso/bin/apps/cluster/cluster_config.json. To override without reinstalling, place a file on a USB stick or SD card — the app checks these paths first:

/fs/usb0_0/cluster_config.json
/fs/usb1_0/cluster_config.json
/fs/sda0/cluster_config.json
/fs/sdb0/cluster_config.json

Logging

Features

Units and display

Bargraph

Dynamic thresholds

Controls how aggressively distance updates are sent per proximity zone.

"dynamicThresholds": {
  "veryFar":    { "boundary": 5000, "distance": 100, "rateLimit": 2000 },
  "far":        { "boundary": 1000, "distance": 50,  "rateLimit": 500  },
  "approaching":{ "boundary": 500,  "distance": 25,  "rateLimit": 250  },
  "near":       { "boundary": 200,  "distance": 15,  "rateLimit": 200  },
  "close":      { "boundary": 100,  "distance": 15,  "rateLimit": 150  },
  "veryClose":  { "boundary": 50,   "distance": 10,  "rateLimit": 120  },
  "now":        {                    "distance": 5,   "rateLimit": 100  }
}

Countries

List of country overrides for when locale cannot be detected from platform services. forceImperial and forceRHD override this table entirely.

{ "code": "GB", "name": "United Kingdom", "rhd": true,  "imperial": true  }
{ "code": "US", "name": "United States",  "rhd": false, "imperial": true  }
{ "code": "DE", "name": "Germany",        "rhd": false, "imperial": false }

Troubleshooting

Bug reports

1. Format a FAT32 SD card
2. Put SD in the head unit before turning ignition on
3. Drive, then when you turn ignition off pull the SD card
4. Look in the log for the event that was wrong
5. Match it to the same event in the hashed log (timestamps help)
6. Share the hashed log + expected vs. actual cluster behaviour on the Discord

Known limitations

• RHD/LHD and metric/imperial coverage still expanding — report issues
• Roundabout accuracy limited by whatever the phone sends (Waze in particular can lack exit angles)
• Data granularity and update rate limit accuracy on very short maneuvers
• Some glitches are inherent to Android Auto / CarPlay themselves

Credits

• LukaDev — Managing screens on VW/MIB2 and CarPlay/GAL hacking: https://github.com/luka-dev/mib2q-carplay-rgi/
• One1Blt — Android Auto / VNC to MIB2 rendering: https://github.com/OneB1t/VcMOSTRenderMqb
• adi961 — Turn-by-turn to VC integration: https://github.com/adi961/mib2-android-auto-vc
• LawPaul — MH2P Modkit: https://lawpaul.github.io/MH2p_SD_ModKit_Site/
• CosminBC — MH2P/MhHI2 Audi/VW commercial VC: https://altscreen.mib-helper.com/
• litdreams10 — General platform knowledge, Android Auto testing
• ModKit Discord community — Testing, bug reports, cross-car validation: https://discord.gg/QAEkZmDh9

Links

• Website: https://fifthbro.github.io/
• Latest release: https://github.com/fifthBro/mh2p-cluster/releases/latest
• MH2P Mod Kit (LawPaul): https://lawpaul.github.io/MH2p_SD_ModKit_Site/
• Discussion: ModKit Discord: https://discord.gg/QAEkZmDh9

Not affiliated with Porsche, Volkswagen, Audi, or Google. This software is free and not for commercial use.