7 ms·

CarPlay and Android Auto were gamechangers. Every built-in infotainment system I've seen so far has ranged from garbage to mediocre at best - in cars ranging fr

CarPlay and Android Auto were gamechangers. Every built-in infotainment system I've seen so far has ranged from garbage to mediocre at best - in cars ranging from econoboxes to six figure cars. CP & AA blows them all out of the water. I don't care how crappy the infotainment is anymore in a car as long as I can plug in my phone.

PaulWaldman 6y ago
Agreed, especially with the addition of wireless CarPlay/Android Auto AND wireless charging.
heymijo 6y ago
Yes! I've been in late model Porsche's, BMW's, GMC's, Honda's, and Ford's.* It's weird being in an $80k Porsche and thinking "this is garbage" because the infotainment system is so poorly designed. Just get me into Carplay and let me go cough Toyota [0]. *I don't own any of these [0] https://9to5mac.com/2019/04/29/carplay-toyota-2018-cars/ https://9to5mac.com/2019/04/29/carplay-toyota-2018-cars/
- criddell 6y ago
  Porsche does one very cool thing - they released car play capable head units for cars going back to the 1960's: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a32254313/1960s-porsche-911-touchscreens-apple-carplay/ https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a32254313/1960s-porsche-91...
  - jeffbee 6y ago
    There have been lots of AA-compatible DIN-sized head units. It's a standard, hence the name.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - criddell 6y ago
      Yeah, but they all look terrible. Would you want some orange glowing Pioneer monstrosity in a 1960's 911? Plus DIN is a mechanical standard from the mid-80's. Are 1960's Porsche's compatible with that standard?
- 52-6F-62 6y ago
  Hahaha, oh thanks for posting this. We bought a gently used 2018 Corolla just this past autumn. The interface isn't all that bad, I have to say. And it works seamlessly with my phone. But if I can sort out CarPlay... I just might have to dig into that.
  - ecdavis 6y ago
    If it's 12th generation (E210) you can get a firmware upgrade to support CarPlay.
    - 52-6F-62 6y ago
      Thanks for this. I'll look into it. I never dug deeper into the interface than: does it work with my phone and ... does it work. It has done both so far, but if I can add CarPlay I'll do that.
- partiallypro 6y ago
  The new 911, I think, uses CarPlay. I actually hate the idea of only carrying CarPlay and not Android Auto or vice-versa. You should carry both. I don't get locking people into an ecosystem to use a car or making people have to replace the head-unit just to use their phone with their car properly, but then you lose all of the benefits of the head unit as it goes with the car (like A/C controls, etc?) It makes no sense.
- rednerrus 6y ago
  I bought a Subaru over the Toyota because the infotainment system in the Toyota was so bad. I just want carplay in my car. I would have chosen a different make had I realized how big of a PITA not having wireless carplay was going to be. I just want to get in my car and have carplay start from my phone. I'm will to pay more money for it.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
limeblack 6y ago
Forgive me but the Pixel and iPhones do not have headphone jacks. I can only wonder what phone do you use. Alternatively you mean "plug in" as bluetooth/usb enabled.
- judge2020 6y ago
  Yes, Carplay and Android Auto either work over Bluetooth or a wire to the car's USB port.
  - chipotle_coyote 6y ago
    Carplay requires actual wifi to be wireless, I'm pretty sure. It definitely doesn't work over Bluetooth! (You can of course pair your phone to your car with Bluetooth, but that's a different thing.)
    - judge2020 6y ago
      Looks like it technically uses Bluetooth for connecting, but it does indeed require wi-fi for the actual carplay experience. https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2017/717/?time=458 https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2017/717/?time=4... (click 'transcript' then ctrl-f 'hardware requirements' for transcript)
- anuragsoni 6y ago
  For carplay and android auto, you'd plug your phone in via a lightening or a usb-c cable. I think there is wireless carplay and android auto too these days, but I'm not sure if that's available on many vehicles at the moment.
- petre 6y ago
  Wrong. Pixel 4a does have the phone jack.
- Rebelgecko 6y ago
  My Pixel has a headphone jack. It's the larger (3.5mm) of the two holes on top of the phone. However the poster is probably referring to USB or the wireless Carplay/Android Auto equivalents
gumby 6y ago
I did some contracting for Mercedes in Germany and Toyota in Japan and learned why this is the case. The people in car companies (engineering and management) are typically "gear heads". Not only do they care about the mechanical systems, they care enough that they'll make sure certain customer-invisible things (internal to engine, for example) or customer-subconscious things (in Mercedes' case how the hinge on the door works) are "just right". Kind of the equivalent of "I'll spin up another server when the load gets to X% just to have a good safety margin" or "this onboarding path could look like a dark pattern -- let's work around that just in case". The embedded software developers for engine control are serious. Among the mechanical engineers the folks writing control software for steering stability or performance-vs-efficiency code were treated with respect ("I don't understand what you do but sure, happy to explain this mechanical system"). But the people doing the UI were basically considered marketing. Seat must be comfortable. Visibility good (cough Prius). Oh the audio system? Automatic seat adjustment? Bluetooth? Let's write a requirement document, or even just a requirement powerpoint and send it out for quote. It's not that important and cheapest bidder is fine.
- petre 6y ago
  Audi and Porsche contract Bose for the sound system. The decision is usually based on usually industry alliances, not necessarily the cheapest. The German automakers also have a stake in Here Maps, that's why you'll se it on their vehicles. If they don't have a stake they'll usually pick a German company or buy shares in one.
- toast0 6y ago
  > Oh the audio system? Automatic seat adjustment? Bluetooth? Let's write a requirement document, or even just a requirement powerpoint and send it out for quote. It's not that important and cheapest bidder is fine. Ford Sync 2 (aka MyFordTouch) is exactly this. The interaction design is actually good, people clearly thought about how to go from screen to screen and it would be highly usable, except that the response time is god awful. Rumor is Ford outsourced to Microsoft who outsourced to someone's cousin who wrote it in Adobe Air or something. If it wasn't slower than molasses, it would be pretty neat.
recursive 6y ago
Having it built into the car still seems to be an improvement to me. I'm still yet to see any of these systems actually function at all. My '16 Subaru and Samsung phone both officially support it. But if I try to turn it on, you can take a guess from one of [incomprehensible error message | car does nothing, and phone locks up until hard reboot | car shows a blank panel on the screen until you press the home button] I don't know how unusual my case is, but it seems like there's a greater chance that it would work if there were fewer "moving parts" that had to interface.
CodeMage 6y ago
I wish I could say the same. Unfortunately, my experience with Android Auto has been abysmal. Before the pandemic, I used to use it on my commute every day. At least once a week, it just wouldn't work and I would have to go through the ritual of trying the following things, until it started working again: * turn the car off and on again * turn the phone off and on again * forget and then re-create the Bluetooth pairing * delete the car from Android Auto and add it again Also, it would randomly decide to stop heeding voice commands. On top of that, any time there's an update to either Android Auto or Spotify, I had to pray things would keep working. If they didn't, sometimes The Ritual would fix things. Other times, it stayed broken until the next update.
- imarid 6y ago
  It may be problem with car infotaiment handling of Android Auto, not with Android Auto itself. Bugs in Carplay or Android Auto were very rare in contrast to infotaiment bugs that were causing CarPlay, Android Auto or Baidu Carlife unusable.
istillwritecode 6y ago
I have the opposite opinion. I prefer the entertainment system in my cars because they are not crippled by the network and they understand local media. They also know how to spell the word privacy, unlike Google.
- lowlevel 6y ago
  I'm with you. I've had CarPlay and Android Auto in my past 3 cars, and could not be bothered to use them. I'de much rather just use built in navigation, stereo and local media. Involving my phone is just frustrating. Gerneralization, but for model years 2017 to present I've enjoyed Volkswagen's system the most. Chrysler's was not bad either. Ford's was terrible.
nielsbot 6y ago
Now, wireless CarPlay... that's a game changer! Our new car has wireless CarPlay and keyless entry and start.. and it's great. Walk up, open the door, sit down, press start and drive off. CarPlay appears on your dashboard automagically.... No need to fish anything out of a pocket. I hope someday I can get wireless CarPlay right from my watch and I can even leave my phone at home.

PaulWaldman 6y ago

Agreed, especially with the addition of wireless CarPlay/Android Auto AND wireless charging.

heymijo 6y ago

Yes! I've been in late model Porsche's, BMW's, GMC's, Honda's, and Ford's.* It's weird being in an $80k Porsche and thinking "this is garbage" because the infotainment system is so poorly designed. Just get me into Carplay and let me go cough Toyota [0]. *I don't own any of these [0] https://9to5mac.com/2019/04/29/carplay-toyota-2018-cars/ https://9to5mac.com/2019/04/29/carplay-toyota-2018-cars/

criddell 6y ago
Porsche does one very cool thing - they released car play capable head units for cars going back to the 1960's: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a32254313/1960s-porsche-911-touchscreens-apple-carplay/ https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a32254313/1960s-porsche-91...
- jeffbee 6y ago
  There have been lots of AA-compatible DIN-sized head units. It's a standard, hence the name.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - criddell 6y ago
    Yeah, but they all look terrible. Would you want some orange glowing Pioneer monstrosity in a 1960's 911? Plus DIN is a mechanical standard from the mid-80's. Are 1960's Porsche's compatible with that standard?
52-6F-62 6y ago
Hahaha, oh thanks for posting this. We bought a gently used 2018 Corolla just this past autumn. The interface isn't all that bad, I have to say. And it works seamlessly with my phone. But if I can sort out CarPlay... I just might have to dig into that.
- ecdavis 6y ago
  If it's 12th generation (E210) you can get a firmware upgrade to support CarPlay.
  - 52-6F-62 6y ago
    Thanks for this. I'll look into it. I never dug deeper into the interface than: does it work with my phone and ... does it work. It has done both so far, but if I can add CarPlay I'll do that.
partiallypro 6y ago
The new 911, I think, uses CarPlay. I actually hate the idea of only carrying CarPlay and not Android Auto or vice-versa. You should carry both. I don't get locking people into an ecosystem to use a car or making people have to replace the head-unit just to use their phone with their car properly, but then you lose all of the benefits of the head unit as it goes with the car (like A/C controls, etc?) It makes no sense.
rednerrus 6y ago
I bought a Subaru over the Toyota because the infotainment system in the Toyota was so bad. I just want carplay in my car. I would have chosen a different make had I realized how big of a PITA not having wireless carplay was going to be. I just want to get in my car and have carplay start from my phone. I'm will to pay more money for it.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

limeblack 6y ago

Forgive me but the Pixel and iPhones do not have headphone jacks. I can only wonder what phone do you use. Alternatively you mean "plug in" as bluetooth/usb enabled.

judge2020 6y ago
Yes, Carplay and Android Auto either work over Bluetooth or a wire to the car's USB port.
- chipotle_coyote 6y ago
  Carplay requires actual wifi to be wireless, I'm pretty sure. It definitely doesn't work over Bluetooth! (You can of course pair your phone to your car with Bluetooth, but that's a different thing.)
  - judge2020 6y ago
    Looks like it technically uses Bluetooth for connecting, but it does indeed require wi-fi for the actual carplay experience. https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2017/717/?time=458 https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2017/717/?time=4... (click 'transcript' then ctrl-f 'hardware requirements' for transcript)
anuragsoni 6y ago
For carplay and android auto, you'd plug your phone in via a lightening or a usb-c cable. I think there is wireless carplay and android auto too these days, but I'm not sure if that's available on many vehicles at the moment.
petre 6y ago
Wrong. Pixel 4a does have the phone jack.
Rebelgecko 6y ago
My Pixel has a headphone jack. It's the larger (3.5mm) of the two holes on top of the phone. However the poster is probably referring to USB or the wireless Carplay/Android Auto equivalents

gumby 6y ago

I did some contracting for Mercedes in Germany and Toyota in Japan and learned why this is the case. The people in car companies (engineering and management) are typically "gear heads". Not only do they care about the mechanical systems, they care enough that they'll make sure certain customer-invisible things (internal to engine, for example) or customer-subconscious things (in Mercedes' case how the hinge on the door works) are "just right". Kind of the equivalent of "I'll spin up another server when the load gets to X% just to have a good safety margin" or "this onboarding path could look like a dark pattern -- let's work around that just in case". The embedded software developers for engine control are serious. Among the mechanical engineers the folks writing control software for steering stability or performance-vs-efficiency code were treated with respect ("I don't understand what you do but sure, happy to explain this mechanical system"). But the people doing the UI were basically considered marketing. Seat must be comfortable. Visibility good (cough Prius). Oh the audio system? Automatic seat adjustment? Bluetooth? Let's write a requirement document, or even just a requirement powerpoint and send it out for quote. It's not that important and cheapest bidder is fine.

petre 6y ago
Audi and Porsche contract Bose for the sound system. The decision is usually based on usually industry alliances, not necessarily the cheapest. The German automakers also have a stake in Here Maps, that's why you'll se it on their vehicles. If they don't have a stake they'll usually pick a German company or buy shares in one.
toast0 6y ago
> Oh the audio system? Automatic seat adjustment? Bluetooth? Let's write a requirement document, or even just a requirement powerpoint and send it out for quote. It's not that important and cheapest bidder is fine. Ford Sync 2 (aka MyFordTouch) is exactly this. The interaction design is actually good, people clearly thought about how to go from screen to screen and it would be highly usable, except that the response time is god awful. Rumor is Ford outsourced to Microsoft who outsourced to someone's cousin who wrote it in Adobe Air or something. If it wasn't slower than molasses, it would be pretty neat.

recursive 6y ago

Having it built into the car still seems to be an improvement to me. I'm still yet to see any of these systems actually function at all. My '16 Subaru and Samsung phone both officially support it. But if I try to turn it on, you can take a guess from one of [incomprehensible error message | car does nothing, and phone locks up until hard reboot | car shows a blank panel on the screen until you press the home button] I don't know how unusual my case is, but it seems like there's a greater chance that it would work if there were fewer "moving parts" that had to interface.

CodeMage 6y ago

I wish I could say the same. Unfortunately, my experience with Android Auto has been abysmal. Before the pandemic, I used to use it on my commute every day. At least once a week, it just wouldn't work and I would have to go through the ritual of trying the following things, until it started working again: * turn the car off and on again * turn the phone off and on again * forget and then re-create the Bluetooth pairing * delete the car from Android Auto and add it again Also, it would randomly decide to stop heeding voice commands. On top of that, any time there's an update to either Android Auto or Spotify, I had to pray things would keep working. If they didn't, sometimes The Ritual would fix things. Other times, it stayed broken until the next update.

imarid 6y ago
It may be problem with car infotaiment handling of Android Auto, not with Android Auto itself. Bugs in Carplay or Android Auto were very rare in contrast to infotaiment bugs that were causing CarPlay, Android Auto or Baidu Carlife unusable.

istillwritecode 6y ago

I have the opposite opinion. I prefer the entertainment system in my cars because they are not crippled by the network and they understand local media. They also know how to spell the word privacy, unlike Google.

lowlevel 6y ago
I'm with you. I've had CarPlay and Android Auto in my past 3 cars, and could not be bothered to use them. I'de much rather just use built in navigation, stereo and local media. Involving my phone is just frustrating. Gerneralization, but for model years 2017 to present I've enjoyed Volkswagen's system the most. Chrysler's was not bad either. Ford's was terrible.

nielsbot 6y ago

Now, wireless CarPlay... that's a game changer! Our new car has wireless CarPlay and keyless entry and start.. and it's great. Walk up, open the door, sit down, press start and drive off. CarPlay appears on your dashboard automagically.... No need to fish anything out of a pocket. I hope someday I can get wireless CarPlay right from my watch and I can even leave my phone at home.