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There is a widely used standard, actually two, that solve this problem just fine over a single pure digital interface. USB Audio Class has been almost universa

by wolrah 4y ago

There is a widely used standard, actually two, that solve this problem just fine over a single pure digital interface. USB Audio Class has been almost universally supported in computing devices for literally decades at this point, as has USB HID Class which supports media controls. I have no idea whether Apple allows it to work on iOS devices, but a car head unit could easily expose a USB audio class device and it'd "just work" with Android, Windows, MacOS, etc. devices. Add a USB HID "keyboard" that can send media/telephone inputs and you're good to go without any new tech required to be invented. Works with anything that doesn't go out of the way to prevent it from working. All you'd be missing compared to Bluetooth A2DP/AVRCP would be communicating media info back to the head unit, which is more of an optional nicety rather than a necessity. Plug a USB cable in to whatever computing device you want to source audio from and it would work great. Unfortunately the majority of the non-technical community, and a surprisingly large amount of the technical community, acts like they're allergic to wires. I honestly do not understand the demand for wireless charging, wireless AA/CP, etc. when a single cable works better for both. It's not that hard to plug a phone in when you sit down in your car.

dontlaugh 4y ago
Not sure why, but cars don't generally support that. Maybe because "digital keyboard" is too generic compared to "play/pause/next/previous/volume"? Then there's also the phone call controls. Wired CarPlay is pretty nice, though.
- wolrah 4y ago
  > Not sure why, but cars don't generally support that. Yeah, I wasn't suggesting it as something that cars support right now, but it's something that 100% could be supported easily and would "just work" with basically every modern computing device. > Maybe because "digital keyboard" is too generic compared to "play/pause/next/previous/volume"? Then there's also the phone call controls. The HID class covers keyboards, mice, trackballs, gamepads, touch devices, spinners, media controls, telephony, etc. All the media and phone controls you could ever want have been defined for decades, so there's definitely no technical reason it wouldn't be usable. > Wired CarPlay is pretty nice, though. Likewise to Android Auto, I certainly wouldn't trade it for the controls and audio only system I'm describing, but those who don't want a screen or whatever else could be better supported.
  - dontlaugh 4y ago
    To me the screen is the least interesting part of CarPlay, I was fine with my phone screen when I was using bluetooth. It is more important to me that it's a wired digital protocol that matches the car's built-in controls.
    - wolrah 4y ago
      > To me the screen is the least interesting part of CarPlay, I was fine with my phone screen when I was using bluetooth. It is more important to me that it's a wired digital protocol that matches the car's built-in controls. For media playback I agree entirely, TBH I still browse podcasts and music on my phone even while using Android Auto because the app is unrestricted on the phone where over AA it severely limits browsing unless I'm stopped. For me the screen integration is all about navigation. OEM navigation is almost universally terrible, the few that aren't terrible now will be in 5-10 years when the OEM has moved on to their new system and stops supporting the old, and none of them will ever support something like Waze that offers speed trap alerts.
      - dontlaugh 4y ago
        Even for navigation I’m fine with the phone screen. The car’s own bigger screen is an upgrade, but less important than the steering wheel controls.

by wolrah 4y ago

dontlaugh 4y ago

Not sure why, but cars don't generally support that. Maybe because "digital keyboard" is too generic compared to "play/pause/next/previous/volume"? Then there's also the phone call controls. Wired CarPlay is pretty nice, though.

wolrah 4y ago
> Not sure why, but cars don't generally support that. Yeah, I wasn't suggesting it as something that cars support right now, but it's something that 100% could be supported easily and would "just work" with basically every modern computing device. > Maybe because "digital keyboard" is too generic compared to "play/pause/next/previous/volume"? Then there's also the phone call controls. The HID class covers keyboards, mice, trackballs, gamepads, touch devices, spinners, media controls, telephony, etc. All the media and phone controls you could ever want have been defined for decades, so there's definitely no technical reason it wouldn't be usable. > Wired CarPlay is pretty nice, though. Likewise to Android Auto, I certainly wouldn't trade it for the controls and audio only system I'm describing, but those who don't want a screen or whatever else could be better supported.
- dontlaugh 4y ago
  To me the screen is the least interesting part of CarPlay, I was fine with my phone screen when I was using bluetooth. It is more important to me that it's a wired digital protocol that matches the car's built-in controls.
  - wolrah 4y ago
    > To me the screen is the least interesting part of CarPlay, I was fine with my phone screen when I was using bluetooth. It is more important to me that it's a wired digital protocol that matches the car's built-in controls. For media playback I agree entirely, TBH I still browse podcasts and music on my phone even while using Android Auto because the app is unrestricted on the phone where over AA it severely limits browsing unless I'm stopped. For me the screen integration is all about navigation. OEM navigation is almost universally terrible, the few that aren't terrible now will be in 5-10 years when the OEM has moved on to their new system and stops supporting the old, and none of them will ever support something like Waze that offers speed trap alerts.
    - dontlaugh 4y ago
      Even for navigation I’m fine with the phone screen. The car’s own bigger screen is an upgrade, but less important than the steering wheel controls.