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 Vision and 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, Linux, or Windows.

A Dolby Automotive Emulator Image enables you to:

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

Testing resources can be found here.

The Dolby Automotive Emulator Image is built on a Google Android image that enables HDR metadata handling and provides the foundation for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos support.

Download the Dolby Automotive Emulator Images ZIP File

Note: The Dolby Automotive emulator image includes both Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. However, due to emulator limitations, audio dropouts might occur during playback of bitstreams containing both Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos content.

The Dolby Automotive emulator image is available for download as a ZIP file from the Dolby Customer Portal.

Characteristics

 

To download the ZIP file:

1. 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.
2. Once signed in, locate and click the Proceed to download button on the emulator images page.
3. You will be prompted to review and accept the End User License Agreement (EULA). Please:
   1. Read the terms and conditions carefully
   2. Click the checkbox to agree to the terms to proceed.
4. After agreeing to the EULA, you will gain access to the available emulator images.
5. Unzip the downloaded ZIP file. The file includes:
   • DolbyAutomotiveEmulatorImagesThirdPartySoftware.pdf
   • aosp_car_x86_64_vision_atmos
     • image.xml
     • sdk-repo-linux-system-images.zip
   • aosp_car_arm64_vision_atmos
     • image.xml
     • sdk-repo-linux-system-images.zip

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.
4. 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 image.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_Vision\aosp_car_x86_64_vision_atmos\sdk-repo-linux-system-images.zip

5. Click OK.
   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. From the Form Factor panel, select Automotive.
4. Select Automotive (1408p landscape) from the device list.
5. Click Next.
6. In the Name field, enter a name for your virtual device.
7. From the System Image list, select a system image with API level 35 (Android 15).
8. Click the Additional Settings tab.
9. From the Graphics acceleration dropdown menu, select Hardware (host-based).
   Note: Software rendering does not support the minimum required OpenGL ES 3.0 and will prevent Dolby Vision content from playing properly.
   
10. In the RAM field, increase the RAM allocation to at least 8GB.
    Note: The default 2GB RAM is insufficient for Dolby Vision playback. Without adequate memory, the AVD will terminate ExoPlayer or other processes due to low memory, causing playback to stop abruptly.
11. Click Finish.

Result: The AVD is now listed in the Device Manager and is ready to use.

Booting the AVD

1. In Device Manager, click the Start icon of the newly created AVD. The AVD starts and its UI is displayed in the Running Devices tool window.
2. To display the emulator in a standalone emulator application window:
   1. Open Android Studio settings:
      • On macOS: Android Studio > Settings...
      • On Windows/Linux: File > Settings...
   2. Navigate to Tools > Emulator.
   3. Clear the Launch in the Running Devices tool window checkbox.
   4. Click OK.
   5. Restart Android Studio.
   6. Launch the emulator from Device Manager.

Result: The emulator will open in its own dedicated window.

Build your app

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