I've been quietly following this thread since inception, and as a recovering engineer (still stuck on step 8), I thought I might throw in my 2 cents...
First, every proprietary MMI manufactures put in cars are, well, just bad. Why? If this was only a few years ago, we would be amazed with tech in the auto infotainment options, but every new buyer within a few minutes quickly becomes frustrated with the system in the car they just purchased. Again, why? I think it all boils down to the fact that we all have a phone in our pocket that does EXACTLY what we would want our MMI to do, but ACTUALLY works. The map/nav is spot on, the music interface is simple, and don't even get me started on voice commands....
All of this makes me wonder WHY manufactures spend so much time and money trying to invent something that already exists. Sure, there is CarPlay, but it's not really what I want. The infotainment upgrade I would really pay a premium for is one with just one button..."clone phone".
To sum up, what I would write you a check for (with many zeros), is a beautifully integrated unit with just two buttons... "Clone Phone" and "Diagnostics" and maybe a real volume knob.
I sincerely respect your passion to "start from scratch" and the the time and effort to try and design the perfect system (again, as an engineer big KUDOS), but perhaps let the os on the phone do the big lifting and just focus on the asthetic design and the OBD integration, but then again, I am in recovery and still making amends to those I have offended.
