Apple’s fancy new CarPlay will only work wirelessly

[Tim-in-CA]

A little more background on how the next gen CarPlay is designed to work. I hope that this becomes an option on Air.

Apple’s fancy new CarPlay will only work wirelessly

And many other notes about the future of Apple’s ideas for the car.

www.theverge.com

 

[Amster]

Isn't CarPlay wireless in the Air already? I thought it was only Android owners that had to use a wired workaround.

 

[OCDC]

I, for one, think wireless-only CarPlay is trouble waiting to happen. It's fine to start loading the resources early, but having instruments depend on wireless comms is making the hair on my neck stand up.

 

[joec]

Especially because I know of a few places where wireless interference will reliably knock my car out of CarPlay, yes. Not sure what they plan to fall back on, but if the car recovers back into its native displays fast enough maybe it's not so bad? But still jarring.

I'm starting to understand why Apple has had trouble getting any car company to commit to this project. It sure seems like a lot of work for little benefit to the auto makers. (Given they can just stick with CarPlay 1 and no one is complaining.)

 

[segbrk]

If you read the article, it explains how they're solving disconnect issues. Basically, a lot of the rendering will be done in the car. Instruments will be done in the car. Camera views will be done in the car. Apple just provides a framework to do it, and for the in-car things to share screen space and data with the less essential phone-projected things like maps. From the sounds of it, a disconnect will mean your maps and music go away, just like now. While everything else continues working.

 

[joec]

If you read the article, it explains how they're solving disconnect issues. Basically, a lot of the rendering will be done in the car. Instruments will be done in the car. Camera views will be done in the car. Apple just provides a framework to do it, and for the in-car things to share screen space and data with the less essential phone-projected things like maps. From the sounds of it, a disconnect will mean your maps and music go away, just like now. While everything else continues working.

Ahh, interesting. I didn't get that part when I read through it. That it can continue to render without the phone connected. Interesting.

 

[OCDC]

So If I understand this right then, the main benefit is that your phone is used to pass the UI assets to the car, which are then stored locally in the car, and the assets are only updated if there is a change? That makes more sense I guess. It cleans up needing a separate cellular account to push updates to the car and gives the OEM a unified UI framework to use. It also could tie some car functionality to the phone, meaning that the OEM doesn't include cellular or Sirius or GPS receivers and those functions come exclusively from the phone. I was trying to understand the business model Apple would use to sell this to the OEMs. It might be cost savings.

 

[joec]

So If I understand this right then, the main benefit is that your phone is used to pass the UI assets to the car, which are then stored locally in the car, and the assets are only updated if there is a change? That makes more sense I guess. It cleans up needing a separate cellular account to push updates to the car and gives the OEM a unified UI framework to use. It also could tie some car functionality to the phone, meaning that the OEM doesn't include cellular or Sirius or GPS receivers and those functions come exclusively from the phone. I was trying to understand the business model Apple would use to sell this to the OEMs. It might be cost savings.

It can't be cost savings, because no matter what, all auto manufacturers need to build their own stock software. There will always be 1) Android users and 2) iPhone users who don't want to integrate their phones into their cars.

 

[OCDC]

There will always be 1) Android users and 2) iPhone users who don't want to integrate their phones into their cars.

This could still work, albeit in a limited way. Apple provides the OEMs with the framework and tools to develop the UI, the OEMs ship the car with that UI, but if you're a non-Apple user, you still have to use Bluetooth to connect to the car. Updates could still be pushed to the car using a service iDevice, but it loses the OTA benefits of being connected by the owner. The radios are still the question mark. GPS is mandatory today.

Again, it feels like a difficult sell to the OEMs without a cost-benefit analysis. There isn't any must-have feature, and the only users that might benefit are native Apple users.

 

[segbrk]

The radios are still the question mark. GPS is mandatory today.

I don’t see cars using phone GPS. Phone GPS isn’t very good. It’s a bunch of trickery that makes it appear so. For one, CarPlay already gives your phone access to your car’s GPS. Not the other way around. GPS receivers are quite cheap, too.

 

[OCDC]

For one, CarPlay already gives your phone access to your car’s GPS. Not the other way around.

Really? I learned something new today.

And yes, a GPS receiver isn't very expensive, but losing the overhead of the application maintenance could make sense. My musings still stand. The case for CarPlay 2.0 is muddy. If the owner is a committed Apple user and the OEM can make the business argument for getting married to Apple for the UI, I can see it. But it gets fuzzy pretty quickly.

 

[joec]

Really? I learned something new today.

And yes, a GPS receiver isn't very expensive, but losing the overhead of the application maintenance could make sense. My musings still stand. The case for CarPlay 2.0 is muddy. If the owner is a committed Apple user and the OEM can make the business argument for getting married to Apple for the UI, I can see it. But it gets fuzzy pretty quickly.

Yes. CarPlay always uses the car’s GPS, not the phone’s. If for no other reason than your phone might be in your pocket, pointed in who knows what direction, with no line of sight.

 

[RockSports]

For all the people who don't see the advantage to a manufacturer offering carplay 2.0, you're right there is no advantage to a manufacturer. Who said Apple would be giving them a choice? Apple may decide that all Carplay is now 2.0. When else did Apple ever continue to ship new products with old OS'?

 

[Bobby]

Yes. CarPlay always uses the car’s GPS, not the phone’s. If for no other reason than your phone might be in your pocket, pointed in who knows what direction, with no line of sight.

Unless the car does not have GPS, as in my Ford.