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<!doctype html><html lang=en><head><title>Hacking a Chinese Car Stereo to fulfill my Knight Rider dreams · Eric X. Liu's Personal Page</title><meta charset=utf-8><meta name=viewport content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1"><meta name=color-scheme content="light dark"><meta http-equiv=Content-Security-Policy content="upgrade-insecure-requests; block-all-mixed-content; default-src 'self'; child-src 'self'; font-src 'self' https://fonts.gstatic.com https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/; form-action 'self'; frame-src 'self' https://www.youtube.com https://disqus.com; img-src 'self' https://referrer.disqus.com https://c.disquscdn.com https://*.disqus.com; object-src 'none'; style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' https://fonts.googleapis.com/ https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/; script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' https://www.google-analytics.com https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/ https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com https://static.cloudflareinsights.com https://unpkg.com https://ericxliu-me.disqus.com https://disqus.com https://*.disqus.com https://*.disquscdn.com https://unpkg.com; connect-src 'self' https://www.google-analytics.com https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com https://cloudflareinsights.com ws://localhost:1313 ws://localhost:* wss://localhost:* https://links.services.disqus.com https://*.disqus.com;"><meta name=author content="Eric X. Liu"><meta name=description content="“Vibe coding” has become my latest obsession. It’s that flow state where the tools disappear, and you’re just manipulating logic at the speed of thought. Usually, this happens in a high-end IDE like Antigravity. But lately, I’ve been trying to answer a childhood dream.
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Growing up in China before the internet age, my window to the outside world was CCTV-6. Along with Baywatch, one of the first American TV shows I ever watched was Knight Rider. I don’t remember the exact plot lines, but the core concept stuck with me forever: KITT. A car that could talk, think, and do things for you."><meta name=keywords content="software engineer,performance engineering,Google engineer,tech blog,software development,performance optimization,Eric Liu,engineering blog,mountain biking,Jeep enthusiast,overlanding,camping,outdoor adventures"><meta name=twitter:card content="summary"><meta name=twitter:title content="Hacking a Chinese Car Stereo to fulfill my Knight Rider dreams"><meta name=twitter:description content="“Vibe coding” has become my latest obsession. It’s that flow state where the tools disappear, and you’re just manipulating logic at the speed of thought. Usually, this happens in a high-end IDE like Antigravity. But lately, I’ve been trying to answer a childhood dream.
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Growing up in China before the internet age, my window to the outside world was CCTV-6. Along with Baywatch, one of the first American TV shows I ever watched was Knight Rider. I don’t remember the exact plot lines, but the core concept stuck with me forever: KITT. A car that could talk, think, and do things for you."><meta property="og:url" content="https://ericxliu.me/posts/vibe-coding-from-the-jeep/"><meta property="og:site_name" content="Eric X. Liu's Personal Page"><meta property="og:title" content="Hacking a Chinese Car Stereo to fulfill my Knight Rider dreams"><meta property="og:description" content="“Vibe coding” has become my latest obsession. It’s that flow state where the tools disappear, and you’re just manipulating logic at the speed of thought. Usually, this happens in a high-end IDE like Antigravity. But lately, I’ve been trying to answer a childhood dream.
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Growing up in China before the internet age, my window to the outside world was CCTV-6. Along with Baywatch, one of the first American TV shows I ever watched was Knight Rider. I don’t remember the exact plot lines, but the core concept stuck with me forever: KITT. A car that could talk, think, and do things for you."><meta property="og:locale" content="en"><meta property="og:type" content="article"><meta property="article:section" content="posts"><meta property="article:published_time" content="2026-01-21T00:00:00+00:00"><meta property="article:modified_time" content="2026-01-22T05:10:58+00:00"><link rel=preload href=/fonts/fa-solid-900.woff2 as=font type=font/woff2 crossorigin><link rel=preload href=/fonts/fa-brands-400.woff2 as=font type=font/woff2 crossorigin><link rel=canonical href=https://ericxliu.me/posts/vibe-coding-from-the-jeep/><link rel=preload href=/fonts/fa-brands-400.woff2 as=font type=font/woff2 crossorigin><link rel=preload href=/fonts/fa-regular-400.woff2 as=font type=font/woff2 crossorigin><link rel=preload href=/fonts/fa-solid-900.woff2 as=font type=font/woff2 crossorigin><link rel=stylesheet href=/css/coder.min.4b392a85107b91dbdabc528edf014a6ab1a30cd44cafcd5325c8efe796794fca.css integrity="sha256-SzkqhRB7kdvavFKO3wFKarGjDNRMr81TJcjv55Z5T8o=" crossorigin=anonymous media=screen><link rel=stylesheet href=/css/coder-dark.min.a00e6364bacbc8266ad1cc81230774a1397198f8cfb7bcba29b7d6fcb54ce57f.css integrity="sha256-oA5jZLrLyCZq0cyBIwd0oTlxmPjPt7y6KbfW/LVM5X8=" crossorigin=anonymous media=screen><link rel=icon type=image/svg+xml href=/images/favicon.svg sizes=any><link rel=icon type=image/png href=/images/favicon-32x32.png sizes=32x32><link rel=icon type=image/png href=/images/favicon-16x16.png sizes=16x16><link rel=apple-touch-icon href=/images/apple-touch-icon.png><link rel=apple-touch-icon sizes=180x180 href=/images/apple-touch-icon.png><link rel=manifest href=/site.webmanifest><link rel=mask-icon href=/images/safari-pinned-tab.svg color=#5bbad5><script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3972604619956476" crossorigin=anonymous></script><script type=application/ld+json>{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Person","name":"Eric X. Liu","url":"https:\/\/ericxliu.me\/","description":"Software \u0026 Performance Engineer at Google","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/eric-x-liu-46648b93\/","https:\/\/git.ericxliu.me\/eric"]}</script><script type=application/ld+json>{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"BlogPosting","headline":"Hacking a Chinese Car Stereo to fulfill my Knight Rider dreams","genre":"Blog","wordcount":"665","url":"https:\/\/ericxliu.me\/posts\/vibe-coding-from-the-jeep\/","datePublished":"2026-01-21T00:00:00\u002b00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-22T05:10:58\u002b00:00","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Vibe coding\u0026rdquo; has become my latest obsession. It\u0026rsquo;s that flow state where the tools disappear, and you\u0026rsquo;re just manipulating logic at the speed of thought. Usually, this happens in a high-end IDE like Antigravity. But lately, I\u0026rsquo;ve been trying to answer a childhood dream.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGrowing up in China before the internet age, my window to the outside world was CCTV-6. Along with \u003cem\u003eBaywatch\u003c\/em\u003e, one of the first American TV shows I ever watched was \u003cem\u003eKnight Rider\u003c\/em\u003e. I don\u0026rsquo;t remember the exact plot lines, but the core concept stuck with me forever: KITT. A car that could talk, think, and do things for you.\u003c\/p\u003e","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Eric X. Liu"}}</script></head><body class="preload-transitions colorscheme-auto"><div class=float-container><a id=dark-mode-toggle class=colorscheme-toggle><i class="fa-solid fa-adjust fa-fw" aria-hidden=true></i></a></div><main class=wrapper><nav class=navigation><section class=container><a class=navigation-title href=https://ericxliu.me/>Eric X. Liu's Personal Page
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<time datetime=2026-01-21T00:00:00Z>January 21, 2026
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</time></span><span class=reading-time><i class="fa-solid fa-clock" aria-hidden=true></i>
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4-minute read</span></div></div></header><div class=post-content><p>“Vibe coding” has become my latest obsession. It’s that flow state where the tools disappear, and you’re just manipulating logic at the speed of thought. Usually, this happens in a high-end IDE like Antigravity. But lately, I’ve been trying to answer a childhood dream.</p><p>Growing up in China before the internet age, my window to the outside world was CCTV-6. Along with <em>Baywatch</em>, one of the first American TV shows I ever watched was <em>Knight Rider</em>. I don’t remember the exact plot lines, but the core concept stuck with me forever: KITT. A car that could talk, think, and do things for you.</p><p>Decades later, I’m sitting in my Jeep, wondering: Can I build my own KITT? Can I take the vibe on the road?</p><p>I already updated the head unit in my Jeep to an aftermarket unit. It features a <strong>K706 (UIS7862S)</strong> chipset with an <strong>8-core CPU and 8GB of RAM</strong>, essentially making it a reasonably powerful Android tablet hardwired into the dashboard.</p><h2 id=the-objective>The Objective
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<a class=heading-link href=#the-objective><i class="fa-solid fa-link" aria-hidden=true title="Link to heading"></i>
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<span class=sr-only>Link to heading</span></a></h2><p>Turn this car accessory into a legitimate dev environment. I wanted a physical keyboard, a real terminal, and access to my AI coding assistants. I wanted to push code while parked on a trail.</p><h2 id=the-hardware-blocker-getting-input>The Hardware Blocker: Getting Input
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<a class=heading-link href=#the-hardware-blocker-getting-input><i class="fa-solid fa-link" aria-hidden=true title="Link to heading"></i>
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<span class=sr-only>Link to heading</span></a></h2><p>The first hurdle was mundane but blocking: My Bluetooth keyboard wouldn’t pair. The head unit could see other devices, but refused to connect to my keyboard.</p><h3 id=attempt-1-the-usb-dongle-bypass>Attempt 1: The USB Dongle Bypass
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<a class=heading-link href=#attempt-1-the-usb-dongle-bypass><i class="fa-solid fa-link" aria-hidden=true title="Link to heading"></i>
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<span class=sr-only>Link to heading</span></a></h3><p>My first instinct was to blame the cheap Chinese head unit hardware. I grabbed a spare TP-Link USB Bluetooth dongle and plugged it in, hoping to bypass the internal stack entirely.</p><p>The device showed up in <code>lsusb</code>, but it remained inert. A quick check of the kernel config via <code>zcat /proc/config.gz</code> revealed the bad news:</p><div class=highlight><pre tabindex=0 style=color:#e6edf3;background-color:#0d1117;-moz-tab-size:4;-o-tab-size:4;tab-size:4><code class=language-bash data-lang=bash><span style=display:flex><span><span style=color:#8b949e;font-style:italic># CONFIG_BT is not set</span>
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</span></span></code></pre></div><p>The kernel was compiled without generic Bluetooth driver support (<code>btusb</code>). Even with root access, I couldn’t load the drivers because they simply didn’t exist in the firmware. I was stuck with the internal hardware.</p><h3 id=attempt-2-the-dual-bluetooth-fix>Attempt 2: The “Dual Bluetooth” Fix
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<a class=heading-link href=#attempt-2-the-dual-bluetooth-fix><i class="fa-solid fa-link" aria-hidden=true title="Link to heading"></i>
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<span class=sr-only>Link to heading</span></a></h3><p>Forced back to the built-in Bluetooth, I tried to diagnose why it was ignoring my keyboard. Standard debugging tools painted a grim picture:</p><div class=highlight><pre tabindex=0 style=color:#e6edf3;background-color:#0d1117;-moz-tab-size:4;-o-tab-size:4;tab-size:4><code class=language-bash data-lang=bash><span style=display:flex><span>❯ hciconfig -a
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</span></span><span style=display:flex><span><span style=color:#8b949e;font-style:italic># (Empty output - no standard HCI interface found)</span>
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</span></span><span style=display:flex><span>
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</span></span><span style=display:flex><span>❯ ps -A | grep -iE <span style=color:#a5d6ff>"goc|ivt|syu"</span>
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</span></span><span style=display:flex><span>u0_a50 <span style=color:#a5d6ff>3456</span> ... com.goc.sdk <span style=color:#8b949e;font-style:italic># Accessing the proprietary BT chip</span>
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</span></span></code></pre></div><p>The diagnosis was clear: The internal Bluetooth chip is acting in <strong>Slave Mode</strong> (Client), managed by a proprietary <code>com.goc.sdk</code> service instead of the standard Android Bluetooth stack. It’s designed to <em>be</em> a speaker for your phone, not to <em>host</em> a keyboard.</p><p><strong>The Fix</strong>: Hidden deep in the Factory Settings (password <code>8888</code>), there’s a toggle called <strong>“Dual Bluetooth”</strong>. Enabling this flips the proprietary stack to expose a standard Host interface. Enable that, and suddenly my mechanical keyboard connected instantly.</p><h2 id=the-software-termux--claude>The Software: Termux + Claude
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<a class=heading-link href=#the-software-termux--claude><i class="fa-solid fa-link" aria-hidden=true title="Link to heading"></i>
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<span class=sr-only>Link to heading</span></a></h2><p>With input sorted, the software setup was surprisingly straightforward. <strong>Termux</strong> was the obvious choice for a terminal.</p><p>I discovered that <strong>Claude Code</strong> works on Termux with zero hassle.</p><p>The setup was shockingly simple:</p><div class=highlight><pre tabindex=0 style=color:#e6edf3;background-color:#0d1117;-moz-tab-size:4;-o-tab-size:4;tab-size:4><code class=language-bash data-lang=bash><span style=display:flex><span>pkg install nodejs git ripgrep
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</span></span><span style=display:flex><span>npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
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</span></span></code></pre></div><p>Authentication via <code>claude login</code> worked out of the box. Now, I have a fully capable coding agent running directly on my dashboard. I can pull a repo, ask Claude to refactor a module, and push the changes—all without opening a laptop.</p><h2 id=key-insights>Key Insights
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<a class=heading-link href=#key-insights><i class="fa-solid fa-link" aria-hidden=true title="Link to heading"></i>
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<span class=sr-only>Link to heading</span></a></h2><ul><li><strong>Head Units are just Weird Tablets</strong>: They have quirks (like Slave-only Bluetooth), but they are standard Android under the hood. <code>adb root</code> is your best friend for diagnosing them.</li><li><strong>Check the Kernel Config</strong>: Before buying hardware peripherals for embedded Android devices, always check <code>/proc/config.gz</code>. If the support isn’t compiled in, you’re dead in the water.</li><li><strong>The Vibe is Portable</strong>: With tools like Termux and Claude Code, the “dev environment” is no longer a heavy laptop. It’s anywhere you have a terminal.</li></ul><h2 id=references>References
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<a class=heading-link href=#references><i class="fa-solid fa-link" aria-hidden=true title="Link to heading"></i>
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<span class=sr-only>Link to heading</span></a></h2><ol><li><a href=https://www.reddit.com/r/termux/comments/1jd4y4y/claude_code_is_easy_to_install_on_termux/ class=external-link target=_blank rel=noopener>Reddit: Claude Code on Termux</a></li></ol></div><footer><div id=disqus_thread></div><script>window.disqus_config=function(){},function(){if(["localhost","127.0.0.1"].indexOf(window.location.hostname)!=-1){document.getElementById("disqus_thread").innerHTML="Disqus comments not available by default when the website is previewed locally.";return}var t=document,e=t.createElement("script");e.async=!0,e.src="//ericxliu-me.disqus.com/embed.js",e.setAttribute("data-timestamp",+new Date),(t.head||t.body).appendChild(e)}(),document.addEventListener("themeChanged",function(){document.readyState=="complete"&&DISQUS.reset({reload:!0,config:disqus_config})})</script></footer></article><link rel=stylesheet href=https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/katex@0.16.4/dist/katex.min.css integrity=sha384-vKruj+a13U8yHIkAyGgK1J3ArTLzrFGBbBc0tDp4ad/EyewESeXE/Iv67Aj8gKZ0 crossorigin=anonymous><script defer src=https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/katex@0.16.4/dist/katex.min.js integrity=sha384-PwRUT/YqbnEjkZO0zZxNqcxACrXe+j766U2amXcgMg5457rve2Y7I6ZJSm2A0mS4 crossorigin=anonymous></script><script defer src=https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/katex@0.16.4/dist/contrib/auto-render.min.js integrity=sha384-+VBxd3r6XgURycqtZ117nYw44OOcIax56Z4dCRWbxyPt0Koah1uHoK0o4+/RRE05 crossorigin=anonymous onload='renderMathInElement(document.body,{delimiters:[{left:"$$",right:"$$",display:!0},{left:"$",right:"$",display:!1},{left:"\\(",right:"\\)",display:!1},{left:"\\[",right:"\\]",display:!0}]})'></script></section></div><footer class=footer><section class=container>©
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2016 -
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2026
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Eric X. Liu
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