Few days ago I built a CI pipeline that flashes AutoSD onto a Raspberry Pi 4 and tests it on real hardware. It builds the image, flips an SD-Wire mux, power-cycles the board through a smart plug, waits for SSH, and runs a pytest suite — on every push. That was the fun part. This is the sequel, and it has a sillier premise: what if the same pipeline also tested my actual car? ...
This started as a weekend project. I had a Raspberry Pi 4, some spare hardware lying around, and a question: could I set up a fully automated CI pipeline that builds an automotive Linux image and validates it on real hardware — end to end, no manual steps — in a single day? And how many club-mates would it take? The answer is 4, and here’s how it works. The testbench. SD Wire circled at the bottom — this is what lets the runner flash the card without touching it. Shelly Plug S circled at the top — smart outlet for remote power control. AutoSD is the CentOS Automotive SIG’s Linux distribution aimed at in-vehicle software. It’s an ostree-based OS with a real-time kernel, built for the kind of reliability requirements you’d find in a car. I wanted a proper test setup: not just “does it boot”, but a fully automated pipeline that builds the image, flashes it to real hardware, and runs a test suite on every single push — no manual steps, no “works on my machine.” ...