Getting Started

A Dolby Automotive Emulator Image can be used for testing and evaluating your application on Android Automotive OS. It enables you to assess Dolby Atmos playback features without requiring physical access to hardware, such as a head unit or complete vehicle cabin environment.

Get started with the following steps to get a local copy of the Dolby Automotive emulator images .zip file on your machine for development and testing purposes on macOS (with Intel x86 Chips, not M chip family), Linux, or Windows.

A Dolby Automotive Emulator Image enables you to:

• Validate audio routing and Dolby Atmos playback functionality.
• Simulate real-world Dolby Automotive scenarios.
• Test user-interface adaptations for in-vehicle displays.
• Assess app performance under various system conditions.
• Debug integration issues before deployment.

Important: The playback of Dolby formats will be muted for one second every 61 seconds during playback.

Test content can be found here.

Download the Dolby Automotive Emulator Images ZIP File

The Dolby Automotive emulator image can be download as a ZIP file from the Dolby Customer Portal. 

Note: There are multiple emulator images available for download. Due to emulator limitations, audio dropouts might occur during playback of bitstreams containing both Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos content.

Characteristics:

Name	aosp_car_x86_dcx_media_codec_714-userdebug
Purpose	Testing Dolby Atmos playback
Android automotive OS version	AAOS 12
Output channel configuration	7.1.4
Processor Architecture	x86
Supported Dolby formats	Dolby Digital Dolby Digital Plus 5.1/7.1 Dolby Digital Plus with Dolby Atmos content
Unsupported Dolby formats	Dolby AC-4 with Dolby Atmos content

 

Proceed as follows to download the ZIP file:

• Complete the registration process to create your account and sign in with your credentials. You must have a registered account to access and download emulator images. 
• Once signed in, locate and click the Proceed to download button on the emulator images page.
• You will be prompted to review and accept the End User License Agreement (EULA). Please:
  • Read the terms and conditions carefully.
  • Click the checkbox to agree to the terms to proceed.
• After agreeing to the EULA, you will gain access to the available emulator images.
• Unzip the downloaded ZIP file. The file includes:
  • DolbyAutomotiveEmulatorImagesThirdPartySoftware.pdf
  • aosp_car_x86_dcx_media_codec_714-userdebug
    
    • aosp_car_x86_dcx_media_codec_714-userdebug_emuzip.xml
    • aosp_car_x86_dcx_media_codec_714-userdebug_emuzip.zip
  • device_hardware_descriptor.xml

Installation and Setup

Prerequisites

• Install Android Studio (https://developer.android.com/studio).
• Make sure you meet the emulator system requirements https://developer.android.com/studio/run/emulator#requirements.
• General information on how to create an Android Virtual Device (AVD) can be found here: https://developer.android.com/studio/run/managing-avds.

Installation and Setup of Android Studio

1. In Android Studio, go to Tools > SDK Manager > SDK Update Sites.
2. Click the + icon.
3. Add your XML file link.

Verify the location of the SDK Manager XML file and use the correct path format:

• Linux / macOS: file:///path/to/file.xml
• Windows: file:\\\path\to\file.xml

The provided files work out of the box on Linux and macOS systems. For Windows you have to update the <url> tag in the SDK Manager XML file to point to your local path of the system image ZIP file (using the file:\\\ format).

Example:
file:\\\C:\work_dir\Dolby_Automotive_Emulator_Images_for_Dolby_Atmos_v1.0.0\aosp_car_x86_dcx_media_codec_714-userdebug\aosp_car_x86_dcx_media_codec_714-userdebug.zip

5. Click OK.
6. Your Android image is now available in Android Studio.

Creating an Android Virtual Device (AVD)

1. In Android Studio, go to Tools > Device Manager.
2. Click the "+" icon to create a new device.
3. Select Automotive from the left menu.
4. Click on Import Hardware Profile and choose the XML file in this link device_hardware_descriptor.xml.
5. Go to Automotive and Select Dolby Atmos automotive as hardware profile.
6. Click Next.
7. Go to the x86 Images tab.
8. Select Sv2 - API Level 32 - Android 12L (aosp_car_x86_dcx_media_codec_714-userdebug).
9. Click Next.
10. Optionally specify a name for the AVD and click Finish.
    Result: The AVD is now listed in the Device Manager and is ready to use.

Booting the AVD

In the Device Manager, click the Start icon of the newly created AVD. The AVD is booting and its UI is displayed in the Running Devices tool window.Note: Some versions of Android Studio might not display the AVD UI in the Running Devices tool window after booting the Dolby Automotive Emulator image.
In this case, disable Launch in the Running Devices tool window under File >Settings...>Tools >Emulator. The AVD UI will then launch in a standalone emulator application window.

Build your app

Once you have completed the steps above, you can begin building, installing and testing your application on the virtual device.