THE SPOTIFY CAR THING THAT WAS REMOTELY BRICKED BECOMES A WALL PANEL FOR HOME ASSISTANT
Spotify remotely killed every Car Thing in December 2024, but the hardware is an ARM computer with a touchscreen and a rotary wheel — this project turns it into a wall-mounted Home Assistant dashboard.
HomeAutomation
- difficulty
- ●●●●○
- time
- a weekend
- license
- MIT
- repo
- repo ACTIVE267 stars
●●●●○ · a weekend · MIT · 267 stars · repo ACTIVE
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
- 3D printer + filament — printable parts — files are in the repo
- Electronic parts — full list with part numbers in the repo BOM
- Dev board / microcontroller — runs the project firmware
Partner
COMPAREE VERDICT
This is upcycling done right, but it is also a high-wire flash with a real chance of permanent failure. The Car Thing is a capable piece of hardware — 800×480 touchscreen, quad-core ARM, rotary encoder and four tactile buttons — and Spotify walked away from all of it. The superbird-debian-kiosk project installs a Debian 11 base, runs Chromium in kiosk mode pointed at a Home Assistant dashboard, and maps the physical controls to entities in your setup. The result is a compact wall panel that feels intentional, not hacked together. The catch is that the flash process involves shorting pins on the mainboard while powering on, and a wrong move can kill the board permanently. The README is honest about this and walks you through backing up the original firmware with superbird-tool first, but this is not a casual Saturday project unless you are comfortable with bootloader access and risk. The second catch is networking: the Car Thing has no WiFi or Ethernet, only USB RNDIS, so it is tethered to a host device running behind it — a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W is the common choice, and the repo includes an STL case to mount it. If you have a bricked Car Thing sitting in a drawer and you are willing to spend a weekend on something that might not boot at the end, this is one of the best uses for the hardware. If you are looking for a plug-and-play Home Assistant panel, buy a tablet.
IN THE REPO
NOT IN THE REPO
- —MIT licence. Commercial use is allowed if the licence notice is preserved.
- —The repository contains Debian 11 image scripts, a Home Assistant configuration template, and STL files for mounting a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W behind the Car Thing.
- —Networking runs over USB RNDIS, so the Car Thing is not standalone — it needs a host device connected by USB.
- —The README warns that flashing can permanently brick the unit and that the original Spotify firmware should be backed up first using superbird-tool.
- —The Car Thing itself must be sourced secondhand — Spotify stopped production in 2022 and remotely disabled all units on 9 December 2024.
- —No official video walkthrough exists; documentation is text and screenshots in the README and related issues.
Can I build this?
Build at your own risk. Projects involve tools, electronics and sometimes mains voltage — follow the creator’s safety notes.
Partner · KickstarterBluHub reads and burns Blu-ray/DVD/CD, adds USB-C, USB-A, SD/TF and 10 Gbps data — plug and play, grand-piano finish.
Gallery
Start here
Navigation into the creator’s own docs — we don’t rewrite the guide, we route you to the source.
- 1.Back up the original Spotify firmware (Use superbird-tool to dump the firmware before flashing — once you brick it, it is permanent)
- 2.Read the flashing guide in the main README (The guide walks through shorting the right pins and booting into flash mode — do not skip this or improvise)
- 3.Prepare the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W as the USB host (The Car Thing depends on the Pi for networking; this step configures RNDIS and routes traffic to your network)
- 4.Flash the Debian image and configure the Home Assistant URL (The README includes a template config — point Chromium at your dashboard URL and map the rotary and buttons)
Resources
Documentation, files and community threads for this build — we link straight to the original sources and never rehost the creator’s files.
KNOWN ISSUES
- The Car Thing must be sourced secondhand — Spotify stopped selling them in 2022 and remotely disabled every unit in December 2024, so availability and condition vary.
- The flash can permanently brick the device if the wrong pins are shorted or the timing is off — back up the firmware first and follow the guide exactly.
- The Car Thing has no standalone networking — it must be tethered to a USB host like a Raspberry Pi, so budget for that hardware and know that it is not wireless.
- Debian 11 is the base, not the latest release — expect to manage updates and security patches manually if you leave this running long-term.
- The rotary encoder and button mappings are configured per-entity in Home Assistant — if your setup changes, you will need to reflash or SSH in to update the config.
- No official video guide exists — if you are not comfortable working from text documentation and GitHub issues, this will be harder than it needs to be.
Can I use this without a Raspberry Pi?
No. The Car Thing has no WiFi or Ethernet — networking runs over USB RNDIS, so it needs a host device. A Pi Zero 2 W is the most common choice, but any Linux host that supports RNDIS will work.
What happens if the flash fails?
If you brick it during the flash, it is permanent — the Car Thing will not boot and there is no recovery. This is why the README insists on backing up the firmware with superbird-tool first.
Does the original Spotify firmware still work?
No. Spotify remotely disabled every Car Thing on 9 December 2024. Even if you restore the backup, the device will not connect to Spotify's servers.
Can I run other dashboards besides Home Assistant?
Yes. The Chromium kiosk can point at any URL — Grafana, Node-RED, a static page, or a custom dashboard. You configure the URL in the setup script.
Is this legal?
Yes. You own the hardware, and the MIT licence allows modification and redistribution. Spotify's Terms of Service are void after they disabled the service.
Community builds
No community builds yet — be the first, we feature the best ones.
Discussion1
FROM THE COMPAREE TEAM
Spotify remotely killed these in December 2024 after selling them for $89.99 — the hardware is still good, but the flash can permanently brick it. Would you risk a weekend on this, or just buy a tablet?
bishopdynamics
bishopdynamics built this after Spotify remotely disabled every Car Thing in December 2024. The project is called Wall Thing internally, and the repository includes not just the Debian image but also the tooling to back up the original firmware and a 3D-printed mount for the Raspberry Pi host.
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DISCLAIMER
- Comparee is not the author of the projects featured here. All rights to each project belong to its creator — every page links to the original source, and we never host creators’ files.
- Information is provided without warranty and may become outdated as projects evolve. Prices are indicative bands only — always check the creator’s parts list for current costs.
- Building and operating any project is at your own responsibility. Protective equipment, safe workshop practice and compliance with local regulations are the builder’s responsibility.
CompareeTEAM15d ago
Practical notes from our verification: the repository is actively maintained and includes both the Debian image build scripts and a separate superbird-tool repo for firmware backup. There is no official video guide — all documentation is text-based in the README with troubleshooting in GitHub issues. The single biggest risk is the flash itself: you short pins on the mainboard while powering on, and if you bridge the wrong pads or mistimed it, the device is permanently dead. The README is honest about this and insists on backing up first, but know that going in. The secondhand Car Thing market is variable — some units are still sealed, others have wear from car use — and prices range from $30 to $60 depending on condition. If you already have one sitting in a drawer from before the December 2024 shutdown, this is the best second life for it. If you are buying one to build this, a cheap Android tablet will be faster and less risky.