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I love CarPlay, but I do feel like I'm risking my family's life when it fails to connect and I'm left fiddling with it while driving. It seems like what GM's do

by marstall 11mo ago

I love CarPlay, but I do feel like I'm risking my family's life when it fails to connect and I'm left fiddling with it while driving. It seems like what GM's doing would at least eliminate that risk factor.

swrobel 11mo ago
Wired CarPlay FTW
- nebula8804 11mo ago
  Implementation still varies between car to car. Example: Mach-e interrupts the song playing and takes many seconds before it resumes. Sometimes this leads to multiple driving instructions preventing the song from resuming for a long time. Other implementations (looking at you Hyundai) crash requiring you to pull over, disconnect the phone, reboot the infotainment and then re-enter your navigation destination. The best implementation is no carplay: instead use an AUX port and mount the phone on the dash. Second best is Tesla's custom navigation. They do something other car companies should: use one of the million speakers in the car to focus on navigation directions while allowing audio content to continue playing on all the other speakers. Such a simple idea but so good.
  - apparent 11mo ago
    My phone is much smaller and harder to read than my car's screen. Also, my phone overheats when I'm driving in the hot sun, which causes it to dim the screen. I've had a dash-mounted phone for many years; Carplay has been much better for me (though yes, it has occasionally crashed).
  - RattlesnakeJake 11mo ago
    > ...use one of the million speakers in the car to focus on navigation directions while allowing audio content to continue playing on all the other speakers. My previous-gen Kia Sedona does this as well (at least when using the built-in maps).
- tkcranny 11mo ago
  I’ve spent a lot of time with both, and hands down the wired one is far more flakey. Granted I think that’s more a Mazda software issue, but a solid 10% of the time I get “CarPlay failed” and the only way to fix it is to turn the car on and off. Never once had an issue with wireless in a Hyundai.
  - lacker 11mo ago
    In my Mazda the wired CarPlay also seems to fail a lot. But whenever I rent a car with wireless CarPlay it's been fine. Take this one anecdote for what it's worth.
    - pirates 11mo ago
      My Mazda’s wired carplay has never once failed so…take this one anecdote for what it’s worth.
  - harshalizee 11mo ago
    Have you tried cleaning out the lint in your phone's port? For me, that was it and my Mazda CX-5 connects fine every single time after I did that.
jmye 11mo ago
> I do feel like I'm risking my family's life when it fails to connect and I'm left fiddling with it while driving. Wireless connectivity may be frustrating (though I've never had connectivity issues plugged in to the USB port), but this is a really bizarre framing. Just pull over.
- nebula8804 11mo ago
  How about no. I don't want to pull over and "reboot" the car (like I had to with the Mach-E). My daily for 15 years has been a 2006 Mazda 3 with an added AUX port and a magsafe phone holder on my dash. No software crashes, no nonsense.
  - SkyPuncher 11mo ago
    > I don't want to pull over and "reboot" the car (like I had to with the Mach-E). Next time, try holding Volume down+forward buttons. That being said, Ford makes great vehicles, but terrible software. My car has so many stupid bugs (all just annoyances).
  - jmye 11mo ago
    This isn't really responsive to the conversation, here. OP was complaining about having to fiddle with his device and putting his family at risk. I have no idea what you think you were responding to, but it wasn't that particular conversation (especially given I mentioned having no issues after plugging in my device - no different than you've stridently suggested doing).
    - nebula8804 11mo ago
      You are proposing to "Just pull over." What a ridiculous thing to have to do. There is this problem that is a potential safety issue and your response is to have the OP adjust his "workflow" to compensate for this? Carplay is just another bug prone layer. An alternative solution is to not have to deal with these bugs in the first place by eliminating that extra layer. Thats what I am proposing. Direct connection of the phone to an AUX port is not carplay. It is the app running directly on the phone with its own context. Is it 100% bug proof? no because only a paper map would solve that problem. But far more testing has been done on the apps running directly on the phone vs the phone having to connect through the manufacturer's implementation of Carplay.

swrobel 11mo ago

Wired CarPlay FTW

nebula8804 11mo ago
Implementation still varies between car to car. Example: Mach-e interrupts the song playing and takes many seconds before it resumes. Sometimes this leads to multiple driving instructions preventing the song from resuming for a long time. Other implementations (looking at you Hyundai) crash requiring you to pull over, disconnect the phone, reboot the infotainment and then re-enter your navigation destination. The best implementation is no carplay: instead use an AUX port and mount the phone on the dash. Second best is Tesla's custom navigation. They do something other car companies should: use one of the million speakers in the car to focus on navigation directions while allowing audio content to continue playing on all the other speakers. Such a simple idea but so good.
- apparent 11mo ago
  My phone is much smaller and harder to read than my car's screen. Also, my phone overheats when I'm driving in the hot sun, which causes it to dim the screen. I've had a dash-mounted phone for many years; Carplay has been much better for me (though yes, it has occasionally crashed).
- RattlesnakeJake 11mo ago
  > ...use one of the million speakers in the car to focus on navigation directions while allowing audio content to continue playing on all the other speakers. My previous-gen Kia Sedona does this as well (at least when using the built-in maps).
tkcranny 11mo ago
I’ve spent a lot of time with both, and hands down the wired one is far more flakey. Granted I think that’s more a Mazda software issue, but a solid 10% of the time I get “CarPlay failed” and the only way to fix it is to turn the car on and off. Never once had an issue with wireless in a Hyundai.
- lacker 11mo ago
  In my Mazda the wired CarPlay also seems to fail a lot. But whenever I rent a car with wireless CarPlay it's been fine. Take this one anecdote for what it's worth.
  - pirates 11mo ago
    My Mazda’s wired carplay has never once failed so…take this one anecdote for what it’s worth.
- harshalizee 11mo ago
  Have you tried cleaning out the lint in your phone's port? For me, that was it and my Mazda CX-5 connects fine every single time after I did that.

jmye 11mo ago

> I do feel like I'm risking my family's life when it fails to connect and I'm left fiddling with it while driving. Wireless connectivity may be frustrating (though I've never had connectivity issues plugged in to the USB port), but this is a really bizarre framing. Just pull over.

nebula8804 11mo ago
How about no. I don't want to pull over and "reboot" the car (like I had to with the Mach-E). My daily for 15 years has been a 2006 Mazda 3 with an added AUX port and a magsafe phone holder on my dash. No software crashes, no nonsense.
- SkyPuncher 11mo ago
  > I don't want to pull over and "reboot" the car (like I had to with the Mach-E). Next time, try holding Volume down+forward buttons. That being said, Ford makes great vehicles, but terrible software. My car has so many stupid bugs (all just annoyances).
- jmye 11mo ago
  This isn't really responsive to the conversation, here. OP was complaining about having to fiddle with his device and putting his family at risk. I have no idea what you think you were responding to, but it wasn't that particular conversation (especially given I mentioned having no issues after plugging in my device - no different than you've stridently suggested doing).
  - nebula8804 11mo ago
    You are proposing to "Just pull over." What a ridiculous thing to have to do. There is this problem that is a potential safety issue and your response is to have the OP adjust his "workflow" to compensate for this? Carplay is just another bug prone layer. An alternative solution is to not have to deal with these bugs in the first place by eliminating that extra layer. Thats what I am proposing. Direct connection of the phone to an AUX port is not carplay. It is the app running directly on the phone with its own context. Is it 100% bug proof? no because only a paper map would solve that problem. But far more testing has been done on the apps running directly on the phone vs the phone having to connect through the manufacturer's implementation of Carplay.