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Android auto and car play are both really bad user experiences. They are just better than what most car companies can build, which is a very low bar. Here's th

Android auto and car play are both really bad user experiences. They are just better than what most car companies can build, which is a very low bar. Here's the android auto experience: Take my phone out of my pocket (not that easy when you are already sitting...), turn on bluetooth (I often have it off because it grabs my headphones etc when I don't want it to) and connecting it to usb (where'd the damn cable go? An apple using family member swapped it out for a lightning cable, and tossed the usb c cable in the back, or on the floor...) Every now and then it won't connect anyway - or the usb cable is defective (it lives on the car floor so it has a short life), or the usb slot in the car (especially a rental) is defective. A passenger might have a higher priority bluetooth device and it steals the connection. When I get to my destination I forget my phone in the car because it is in my pocket most of the time - but not if you are going to use android auto! If GM manages to do as well or better than Tesla on their infotainment system it would be a win. Unlikely for a dinosaur company like GM, but if they are using an android product there's a fighting chance.

irq 4y ago
The majority of the problems you listed here are not possible with Wireless Apple CarPlay or Wireless Android Auto, which are the latest incarnations of the product. Adapters exist for many vehicles that don’t support the wireless versions as well. You may want to make sure you’re familiar with the latest incarnation of the two products before you blame them for issues that have been solved.
- mortenjorck 4y ago
  I even have only wired CarPlay and haven’t had any of the problems more than once or twice. For connection failures, I had to de-lint the Lightning port (easy to forget when you charge wirelessly) and I’ve forgotten the phone in the car when something interrupted my routine.
- leetcrew 4y ago
  the wireless versions bring their own tradeoffs and connection issues. transferring control from one phone to another is not a seamless experience in any vehicle I've been in. automatically connecting to my phone (and locking me out of google maps on the phone) is not desired every single time I turn on my car. I doubt GP would be satisfied with those either. wireless android auto uses a lot of battery, so typically I end up plugging my phone in anyway (although personally, I never end up forgetting the device). that said, I don't agree that it's a "really bad user experience". it meets or exceeds 95% of my expectations for an infotainment integration, and I trust google to keep it working 5-8 years down the line much more than I trust the software dev team of my car's manufacturer. the only thing that really pisses me off is how google voice assistant uses zero "common sense" when interpreting street addresses and song names. no, I don't want to navigate to a similar street name 1000 miles away. I want to navigate to my parents' house, same as the last 50 times...
- ajmurmann 4y ago
  What issues are you having with CarPlay? I've had it freeze two or three times, but I think that might have been my phone independently of CarPlay. Other than that the only thing I'd like changed is that my car's head unit was even dumber. I don't it to ask me if I want to display CarPlay. Just automatically do it! It needs to fully embrace that it's just a docking station for phones.
beardedscotsman 4y ago
So entirely different experience for me. So 5 years ago I travel to California. Out of all the cars I picked a crappy GM car when there were better cars to pick from the rental lot, why, because I had my iPhone with navigation. Every time I rented cars since I would always make sure it had apple CarPlay so I could drive any with a familiar experience. Now today, my car has wireless CarPlay. My experience goes like this, I get in my car, turn it on, my head unit loads apple CarPlay instantly and I have Waze running which I like for speed camera notifications on new roads and my music and playlists instantly accessible. It’s seamless, instant and I don’t touch my phone it stays in my pocket. I would never consider a car with out either android auto or CarPlay. It’s mandatory for me and yes I miss out of heads up display of directions, but then I don’t have to pay an additional subscription to traffic info, or pay an update fee for new maps.
- hamburglar 4y ago
  Same for me. I had gotten rentals with CarPlay before, and I considered it pretty neat but kind of a hassle to have to plug the phone in and find a good place to set it and get the wires situated. Now I own a car with wireless CarPlay and I just never take the phone out of my pocket and it automatically connects and continues the music where it left off and has my google maps ready to go. The car’s infotainment system is passable but not stellar for either maps or music, and I basically never even see it. I won’t buy another car without wireless CarPlay. Or maybe android auto if it’s also good; I haven’t tried it in years. But I want nothing to do with a car manufacturer’s crappy outdated infotainment systems ever again. Edit: one fundamental problem with what GM is attempting is that the software embedded in a car is on an extremely slow development cycle and is never upgraded in any significant way. If they want to impress me, they need to keep the CarPlay/Android connection technology and then sell me a super slick GM device that connects to that and is better than my phone. I would gladly buy that, and possibly even pay for some subscription services, but it has to be separate from the vehicle that realistically gets upgraded only when I replace my car every 10 years. A 10 year upgrade cycle for the type of software we are talking about is pathetic.
- liqu0rice 4y ago
  I am not sure about CarPlay, but Android Auto is able to give directions via HUD.
nerdjon 4y ago
All of these things feel like things that if you owned a car with either of these systems you would just develop a habit of dealing with. I don't personally own a car but every time I rent one I know to grab a USB cable and to grab my phone out of my pocket to hook it up. That happens rare enough for it to be a habit for me, I can't imagine that being a serious issue for anyone who owns a car. Any "hassle" (which I am not convinced actually exists) is outweighed by my music, my voice assistant, maps settings, etc etc etc all being reflected through CarPlay.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
endperform 4y ago
Carplay works without an issue for me. I get in my car, plug it in, and it's ready to roll. No need to deal with Bluetooth or the like, it just works. I'm fine with plugging a phone in when I get in, rather than having it in my pocket and possibly falling out without me knowing about it.
- flatiron 4y ago
  I too like CarPlay and see no need for a wireless version. I like to charge my phone. My only gripe is there should be an option to turn off Wi-Fi when you plug into the car. Every time I get in the car, start a song, drive away, 30 seconds of silence while it realizes I can’t get to my Wi-Fi, song is back on. Why would they not have an option to just use cellular in CarPlay mode which is what 99.9% of people do?
  - fma 4y ago
    The two vehicles that I have w/ wireless carplay have wireless charging, so just slip my phone in the center console and it charges if I want to charge while driving. With wireless, no one is stopping you from having a charging cable. Majority of trips are less < 10 minutes I don't have to take my phone out of my pocket.
  - tommoose 4y ago
    I had a similar problem, and solved it with a Shortcut which disables wifi whenever CarPlay is connected, and another to re-enable it when disconnected. Real easy since Shortcuts has built-in triggers for CarPlay.
    - flatiron 4y ago
      I couldn’t find anything CarPlay related in the built in shortcuts app. Can you share the details?
      - danaris 4y ago
        Click on the Automation tab at the bottom, and at least for me, the "CarPlay" section (with an example "When CarPlay connects") is at the bottom of the second grouping of suggested automations.
duxup 4y ago
> Here's the android auto experience: Take my phone out of my pocket (not that easy when you are already sitting...) Somehow people do / handle this situation just fine.
ghostpepper 4y ago
Why do you need a cable _and_ bluetooth?
- neogodless 4y ago
  At least for Android Auto this was necessary before the wireless version became popular. Data over the cable but audio was still done via Bluetooth. At least in my "older" car.
jerrysievert 4y ago
I'm guessing you didn't drive an early ford with the windows experience. my favorite was driving a rental car where a popup popped up over my speedometer while driving. there was no "touch", so I couldn't press the "OK" button, and there were no buttons on the steering wheel I could ever find to press it either (there were in later model ford cars). I ended up having to power the car off to get the dialog to go away, but in the meantime, drove in the right lane because I had no idea if I was speeding or not, and couldn't imagine trying to explain that to a cop if I were pulled over.
- hedora 4y ago
  Honestly, it seems incredibly easy to explain to a cop. Show them the dashboard, and ask if they can issue a fixit ticket to the rental car company, or if they know how to report it to the automotive recall people.
isatty 4y ago
This is a problem with your car. I drive a car made in 2019, and it has wireless CarPlay. I get in the car, start it up, CarPlay is ready for me in like 30s and I’m ready. Drove a similarly aged economy car that had wired CarPlay and it was the same deal just the 10 extra seconds to plug in a cable. I refuse to get a car without CarPlay, even when renting.
chimen 4y ago
Never had any of your problems in 5 years of wireless car play on a BMW and now a FORD also. You describe defective USBs, cables, not having BL turned on, the fact that you forget your phone inside the car and other stuff totally unrelated to CarPlay or AndroidAuto for that matter. Seems to me you're just a bit messy overall, something neither of the 2 can't push an update for.
ascorbic 4y ago
> Take my phone out of my pocket (not that easy when you are already sitting...), Isn't it uncomfortable sitting with a phone in your pocket?
philsnow 4y ago
> turn on bluetooth (I often have it off because it grabs my headphones etc when I don't want it to) Why would you turn on bluetooth? Haven't we all been collectively griping about every iteration of bluetooth for the last couple decades?? I do leave bluetooth on on my iphone (because I've gotten rid of peripherals that don't play nicely) but have bluetooth disabled in my cars. My Honda pops up an useless modal if your phone is paired with bluetooth and then you plug in the lightning cable for CarPlay, something about "HEY I'M DISCONNECTING FROM BLUETOOTH <OK> ". > A passenger might have a higher priority bluetooth device and it steals the connection. This is also why I wish I could disable wireless CarPlay in my one car that supports it; I want only the phone that's plugged in to be doing CarPlay.
mfuzzey 4y ago
>A passenger might have a higher priority bluetooth device and it steals the connection. I have the opposite problem on Android auto. When I connect my phone (by USB cable) and start Android auto for navigation it also wants to use my phone for music too. The problem is that my daughter doesn't like my music and I haven't found a way of using navigation from my phone together with music from hers... I generally end up using the built in navigator rather than my phone (which isn't as good as Google maps) to let my daughter control the music over bluetooth.
matthew-wegner 4y ago
Like other replies, my CarPlay experience is: * Turn on car * My music starts playing * Screen shows Google Maps, following location * If it's a longer trip, I'll pull phone out of pocket and place on magnetic mount that also charges it This is even with a 3rd-party CarPlay screen! This device sends audio to the car via the car's Bluetooth, so my steering wheel controls still work. Only real downside is the wireless CarPlay audio lag (~2s).

irq 4y ago

The majority of the problems you listed here are not possible with Wireless Apple CarPlay or Wireless Android Auto, which are the latest incarnations of the product. Adapters exist for many vehicles that don’t support the wireless versions as well. You may want to make sure you’re familiar with the latest incarnation of the two products before you blame them for issues that have been solved.

mortenjorck 4y ago
I even have only wired CarPlay and haven’t had any of the problems more than once or twice. For connection failures, I had to de-lint the Lightning port (easy to forget when you charge wirelessly) and I’ve forgotten the phone in the car when something interrupted my routine.
leetcrew 4y ago
the wireless versions bring their own tradeoffs and connection issues. transferring control from one phone to another is not a seamless experience in any vehicle I've been in. automatically connecting to my phone (and locking me out of google maps on the phone) is not desired every single time I turn on my car. I doubt GP would be satisfied with those either. wireless android auto uses a lot of battery, so typically I end up plugging my phone in anyway (although personally, I never end up forgetting the device). that said, I don't agree that it's a "really bad user experience". it meets or exceeds 95% of my expectations for an infotainment integration, and I trust google to keep it working 5-8 years down the line much more than I trust the software dev team of my car's manufacturer. the only thing that really pisses me off is how google voice assistant uses zero "common sense" when interpreting street addresses and song names. no, I don't want to navigate to a similar street name 1000 miles away. I want to navigate to my parents' house, same as the last 50 times...
ajmurmann 4y ago
What issues are you having with CarPlay? I've had it freeze two or three times, but I think that might have been my phone independently of CarPlay. Other than that the only thing I'd like changed is that my car's head unit was even dumber. I don't it to ask me if I want to display CarPlay. Just automatically do it! It needs to fully embrace that it's just a docking station for phones.

beardedscotsman 4y ago

So entirely different experience for me. So 5 years ago I travel to California. Out of all the cars I picked a crappy GM car when there were better cars to pick from the rental lot, why, because I had my iPhone with navigation. Every time I rented cars since I would always make sure it had apple CarPlay so I could drive any with a familiar experience. Now today, my car has wireless CarPlay. My experience goes like this, I get in my car, turn it on, my head unit loads apple CarPlay instantly and I have Waze running which I like for speed camera notifications on new roads and my music and playlists instantly accessible. It’s seamless, instant and I don’t touch my phone it stays in my pocket. I would never consider a car with out either android auto or CarPlay. It’s mandatory for me and yes I miss out of heads up display of directions, but then I don’t have to pay an additional subscription to traffic info, or pay an update fee for new maps.

hamburglar 4y ago
Same for me. I had gotten rentals with CarPlay before, and I considered it pretty neat but kind of a hassle to have to plug the phone in and find a good place to set it and get the wires situated. Now I own a car with wireless CarPlay and I just never take the phone out of my pocket and it automatically connects and continues the music where it left off and has my google maps ready to go. The car’s infotainment system is passable but not stellar for either maps or music, and I basically never even see it. I won’t buy another car without wireless CarPlay. Or maybe android auto if it’s also good; I haven’t tried it in years. But I want nothing to do with a car manufacturer’s crappy outdated infotainment systems ever again. Edit: one fundamental problem with what GM is attempting is that the software embedded in a car is on an extremely slow development cycle and is never upgraded in any significant way. If they want to impress me, they need to keep the CarPlay/Android connection technology and then sell me a super slick GM device that connects to that and is better than my phone. I would gladly buy that, and possibly even pay for some subscription services, but it has to be separate from the vehicle that realistically gets upgraded only when I replace my car every 10 years. A 10 year upgrade cycle for the type of software we are talking about is pathetic.
liqu0rice 4y ago
I am not sure about CarPlay, but Android Auto is able to give directions via HUD.

nerdjon 4y ago

All of these things feel like things that if you owned a car with either of these systems you would just develop a habit of dealing with. I don't personally own a car but every time I rent one I know to grab a USB cable and to grab my phone out of my pocket to hook it up. That happens rare enough for it to be a habit for me, I can't imagine that being a serious issue for anyone who owns a car. Any "hassle" (which I am not convinced actually exists) is outweighed by my music, my voice assistant, maps settings, etc etc etc all being reflected through CarPlay.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

endperform 4y ago

Carplay works without an issue for me. I get in my car, plug it in, and it's ready to roll. No need to deal with Bluetooth or the like, it just works. I'm fine with plugging a phone in when I get in, rather than having it in my pocket and possibly falling out without me knowing about it.

flatiron 4y ago
I too like CarPlay and see no need for a wireless version. I like to charge my phone. My only gripe is there should be an option to turn off Wi-Fi when you plug into the car. Every time I get in the car, start a song, drive away, 30 seconds of silence while it realizes I can’t get to my Wi-Fi, song is back on. Why would they not have an option to just use cellular in CarPlay mode which is what 99.9% of people do?
- fma 4y ago
  The two vehicles that I have w/ wireless carplay have wireless charging, so just slip my phone in the center console and it charges if I want to charge while driving. With wireless, no one is stopping you from having a charging cable. Majority of trips are less < 10 minutes I don't have to take my phone out of my pocket.
- tommoose 4y ago
  I had a similar problem, and solved it with a Shortcut which disables wifi whenever CarPlay is connected, and another to re-enable it when disconnected. Real easy since Shortcuts has built-in triggers for CarPlay.
  - flatiron 4y ago
    I couldn’t find anything CarPlay related in the built in shortcuts app. Can you share the details?
    - danaris 4y ago
      Click on the Automation tab at the bottom, and at least for me, the "CarPlay" section (with an example "When CarPlay connects") is at the bottom of the second grouping of suggested automations.

duxup 4y ago

> Here's the android auto experience: Take my phone out of my pocket (not that easy when you are already sitting...) Somehow people do / handle this situation just fine.

ghostpepper 4y ago

Why do you need a cable _and_ bluetooth?

neogodless 4y ago
At least for Android Auto this was necessary before the wireless version became popular. Data over the cable but audio was still done via Bluetooth. At least in my "older" car.

jerrysievert 4y ago

I'm guessing you didn't drive an early ford with the windows experience. my favorite was driving a rental car where a popup popped up over my speedometer while driving. there was no "touch", so I couldn't press the "OK" button, and there were no buttons on the steering wheel I could ever find to press it either (there were in later model ford cars). I ended up having to power the car off to get the dialog to go away, but in the meantime, drove in the right lane because I had no idea if I was speeding or not, and couldn't imagine trying to explain that to a cop if I were pulled over.

hedora 4y ago
Honestly, it seems incredibly easy to explain to a cop. Show them the dashboard, and ask if they can issue a fixit ticket to the rental car company, or if they know how to report it to the automotive recall people.

isatty 4y ago

This is a problem with your car. I drive a car made in 2019, and it has wireless CarPlay. I get in the car, start it up, CarPlay is ready for me in like 30s and I’m ready. Drove a similarly aged economy car that had wired CarPlay and it was the same deal just the 10 extra seconds to plug in a cable. I refuse to get a car without CarPlay, even when renting.

chimen 4y ago

Never had any of your problems in 5 years of wireless car play on a BMW and now a FORD also. You describe defective USBs, cables, not having BL turned on, the fact that you forget your phone inside the car and other stuff totally unrelated to CarPlay or AndroidAuto for that matter. Seems to me you're just a bit messy overall, something neither of the 2 can't push an update for.

ascorbic 4y ago

> Take my phone out of my pocket (not that easy when you are already sitting...), Isn't it uncomfortable sitting with a phone in your pocket?

philsnow 4y ago

> turn on bluetooth (I often have it off because it grabs my headphones etc when I don't want it to) Why would you turn on bluetooth? Haven't we all been collectively griping about every iteration of bluetooth for the last couple decades?? I do leave bluetooth on on my iphone (because I've gotten rid of peripherals that don't play nicely) but have bluetooth disabled in my cars. My Honda pops up an useless modal if your phone is paired with bluetooth and then you plug in the lightning cable for CarPlay, something about "HEY I'M DISCONNECTING FROM BLUETOOTH <OK> ". > A passenger might have a higher priority bluetooth device and it steals the connection. This is also why I wish I could disable wireless CarPlay in my one car that supports it; I want only the phone that's plugged in to be doing CarPlay.

mfuzzey 4y ago

>A passenger might have a higher priority bluetooth device and it steals the connection. I have the opposite problem on Android auto. When I connect my phone (by USB cable) and start Android auto for navigation it also wants to use my phone for music too. The problem is that my daughter doesn't like my music and I haven't found a way of using navigation from my phone together with music from hers... I generally end up using the built in navigator rather than my phone (which isn't as good as Google maps) to let my daughter control the music over bluetooth.

matthew-wegner 4y ago

Like other replies, my CarPlay experience is: * Turn on car * My music starts playing * Screen shows Google Maps, following location * If it's a longer trip, I'll pull phone out of pocket and place on magnetic mount that also charges it This is even with a 3rd-party CarPlay screen! This device sends audio to the car via the car's Bluetooth, so my steering wheel controls still work. Only real downside is the wireless CarPlay audio lag (~2s).