Aftermarket CarPlay Support Faces Technical Hurdles, Uncertain Future

[Cisco_Kid]

I wouldn't be interested in an aftermarket product. The system needs to be integrated by the oem, lots of sensors, microphones, cameras?, etc installed throughout the car, it needs to be connected to the car's computer, it needs to have a clean ui, thought up by a small thinktank, and consistent among all oems for the sake of app development, user experience, and regulation. Perhaps Apple should work closely with one auto maker to quickly/efficiently make a great seamless product and the rest will follow.

First person to know what the hell they are talking about, I agree with you totally.
We purchased two Cadillacs this spring, both have Cadillac My Link built in, OnStar, Backup Cameras, Side Detection, Lane Departure Warning... ect, and all this feeds though the built in head unit.

If something like CarPlay is going to be available, it had better be OEM so all the factory goodies still work in my 70k vehicles, kenwood and the aftermarket can kiss my rump and keep their bandaid patched together crap for someone else's ride.

 

[Poisednoise]

Ok, help me out then. I have an iPhone and a car with an aux port. Tell me how to play my music through the car stereo without wires and/or a $100+ modulator? Bonus if my wife or other passengers can tap in also.

This right here: http://www.amazon.com/Dolry-30-pin-Airplay-Adapter-Wi-fi/dp/B00C66X2O2

Works a treat. My recollection when setting it up is that you have to give the phone a static IP address or something so that it continues to use your 3G/4G network for everything else, but otherwise it's awesome. I have it hidden behind the dashboard stereo unit, works seamlessly with airplay. Others in the car can use it too of course.

you may want it wirelessly, but thats what car audio BT is for. if you dont have that then youre asking for magic. nobody is going to invent some new wireless fob do what any $5 mini-phono cable or BT-enabled stereo can do.

One of the great things about global markets is that you can be sure someone, somewhere, will make it. There's clearly a market for something that doesn't mangle the music in the way Bluetooth does. Dolry made it, I bought it. No magic required.

 

[JohnStrass]

That why my 2004 mercedes came with a cassette player

Can someone please explain to me what specific "Technical Hurdles" they might have to overcome? Shouldn't it be as easy as installing a new touch screen radio will a cord that you can plug your iPhone into? It doesn't seem that difficult to me.

Car electronics are SLOW to change. I just want apple to do 3 things:
1. know that when I open Maps app, that I don't want to have to click every time that I understand that turning on WiFi will improve the map. Having WiFi on while driving is a battery drain
2. automatically turn on bluetooth
3. automatically usable email and texting

Thats a patch to software that will go a long way to help all drivers.

In the meantime, hopefully my 2014 mercedes will let me put in CarPlay!

 

[AngerDanger]

I was going to wait for this, but have instead decided to buy the following:

A blank double din facia
A $100 sony bluetooth app single din stereo
An iPad mini 3g 16gb
Audi stalk / stereo wiring kit
A fibreglass Kit

DIY mounting an iPad mini in my TT next week. This will be cheaper and more functional than the POS Audi RNSE unit I have and also aftermarket iOS in the car looks like its going to take another 3 years.

This sounds like an interesting project. If you feel compelled to, you should post a thread with pictures providing updates on your progress.

 

[mdelvecchio]

Car electronics are SLOW to change. I just want apple to do 3 things:
1. know that when I open Maps app, that I don't want to have to click every time that I understand that turning on WiFi will improve the map. Having WiFi on while driving is a battery drain

not really following you here -- if you're using GPS in your car for any extended period of time, the *GPS chip* is the battery drain, not wifi! you will surely want your phone plugged in.

manually turning wifi on/off every time you get into the car is just an exercise in futility.

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This right here: http://www.amazon.com/Dolry-30-pin-Airplay-Adapter-Wi-fi/dp/B00C66X2O2

Works a treat. My recollection when setting it up is that you have to give the phone a static IP address or something so that it continues to use your 3G/4G network for everything else, but otherwise it's awesome. I have it hidden behind the dashboard stereo unit, works seamlessly with airplay. Others in the car can use it too of course.

One of the great things about global markets is that you can be sure someone, somewhere, will make it. There's clearly a market for something that doesn't mangle the music in the way Bluetooth does. Dolry made it, I bought it. No magic required.

that *isnt* what he asked for. the Dolry device turns any 30-pin dock into a wireless receiver. the OP asked for something to turn his mini-phono aux input jack into wireless.

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First person to know what the hell they are talking about, I agree with you totally.
We purchased two Cadillacs this spring, both have Cadillac My Link built in, OnStar, Backup Cameras, Side Detection, Lane Departure Warning... ect, and all this feeds though the built in head unit.

nope, you still aren't getting what CarPlay is, and is not. even when OEM, it is *not* a replacement for your car's built-in OS and configurations (AC, heat, backup cams, side detection, etc). CarPlay is *only* a sub-set of functionality pertaining to iOS -- music, nav, texts -- that is loaded from the OEM's built-in system (presently the QNX host OS in Ferrari/Volvo/Merc). think of CarPlay as an app. that's exactly how it loads in the demo vids. it has nothing to do w/ the rest of your car's onboard systems, and this has been explained in the other articles about CarPlay in Ferrari/Volvo/Merc.. should they license it, no reason to believe Cadillac would load it any differently -- as an app atop your car's normal system.

in an aftermarket solution, you will get all the normal functions aftermarket units currently support (backup cams, but NOT AC/heat controls or premium custom stuff like lane detection), plus the ability to load up CarPlay for the limited features it supports -- music, nav, texts.

If something like CarPlay is going to be available, it had better be OEM so all the factory goodies still work in my 70k vehicles, kenwood and the aftermarket can kiss my rump and keep their bandaid patched together crap for someone else's ride.

chances are if you've bought a $70k super premium vehicle you'd be foolish to install a $300 aftermarket head unit on it. congratulations -- you are not the use case aftermarket head units are marketed to. amazing, huh?

 

[Poisednoise]

that *isnt* what he asked for. the Dolry device turns any 30-pin dock into a wireless receiver. the OP asked for something to turn his mini-phono aux input jack into wireless.

Well, you're right that, on reflection, it doesn't actually work on it's own - I'd conveniently forgotten that I already had a Dension car dock plugged into the back of the stereo, so in fact what I was doing was plugging the Dolry into that. And on that basis, if you're having to buy both bits at once, it's quite expensive. I already had the Dension for my old 4S, and the Dolry was actually cheaper than getting the whole dock malarky again for the new plug.

Apologies if I've mislead anyone. It does however work, brilliantly.

 

[Parise]

The big deal being made about CarPlay is absolutely astounding. It's a gimmicky piece of bloat ware. I can literally do all of these things right now in my VW using my iPhone and the iPhone wiring harness that came with my car. One button press on my steering wheel, boom, voice commands. It's not Siri nor do I care.

 

[brownpaw]

I'm also pretty underwhelmed here and don't get what the big deal is. It's not the most aesthetically pleasing solution, but I will take my Garmin unit over using my phone for maps any day. The Garmin might be slower to update than streaming maps, but I drive a lot and I don't want to pay for data overages. The amount of times it has taken me to the wrong place can be counted on one hand.

Meanwhile, my Pioneer head unit has a USB and an aux in port. The USB lets me use the phone to control audio, or the head unit's controls. It works just fine. It's not the most beautiful solution, but it works pretty much flawlessly.

This just seems overpriced. And yeah, people driving Ferraris might not care about data overages, but when this trickles down to normal-people cars, I just don't see it getting the usage to make it worthwhile.

 

[StoneJack]

I just put an aftermarket head unit into my Highlander few weeks ago (DIY) and I would say following things:

Integration into an existing car is not that difficult. My understanding is that all major brands have almost similar harness, maybe requiring just small changes. For example, I was able to put Alpine into what previously has been Toyota OEM radio, the Alpine unit of latest non-CD type (all digital), Toyota OEM being older mini-disc type and it works perfect.

CP doesn't go into car mechanics - its left to car computer to deal with, its not replaced, but iPhone with CP adds a new layers of wireless communication, entertainment and

if you look at Carplay it doesn't require as much of car computer as being fairly individual unit, requiring iPhone as a head computer. Only thing it takes from car is its speaker system for voice and music. It has its mike in iPhone itself (Alpine has its own mike btw), it has its maps and navi in iPhone, it has its music in iPhone, same for contacts and messages and calls. Alpine can use music from my iPhone in a variety of ways: through AUX, USB and bluetooth, i prefer bluetooth. When my wife uses her iPhone on car, Alpine takes information from her phone now.

So I can see the CP heading that way. The beauty of CP is that if driver changes, coming with different iPhone, still CP would function - just with another computer in another smartphone (iPhone)!

The most important thing is that iPhone actually syncs what happens in car with whole iCloud system - you get to work from car and continue to get messages, you get home and home iPads have already synced your iMessage and whatever in emails and so on.

This new area for iPhone - a digital home, this time on wheels.

 

[kdarling]

Come on car and head unit makers... create your own device agnostic interface and make it the standard across all vehicles.

 

[irnchriz]

I was going to wait for this, but have instead decided to buy the following:

A blank double din facia
A $100 sony bluetooth app single din stereo
An iPad mini 3g 16gb
Audi stalk / stereo wiring kit
A fibreglass Kit

DIY mounting an iPad mini in my TT next week. This will be cheaper and more functional than the POS Audi RNSE unit I have and also aftermarket iOS in the car looks like its going to take another 3 years.

Kinda like this guy did in his Type R
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eNmw0O01v7E

 

[redkamel]

When the iPod came out, I wondered why no one made a deck with a 30 pin connector and 8track style slot that you could slide your iPod into, and add a scroll wheel and display.

When I got a new (used) care, all I wanted was an aftermarket head unit that
would show my iPhone display on a touch screen, and play audio through my speakers. Thats it.

Car audio and nav systems suck. The sooner someone makes a display unit that just works with your phone, the better.

Too bad so many new cars rely on displays for other functions otherwise it would be easy to replace the display/head unit.

Someone would make a lot of money integrating phones/portable media into cars. I don't know why no one has done it yet.

 

[anthonylambert]

After Market Car Play...

In the UK and around the world they are stopping support for FM Analogue Radio in the next few years. Anyone with a car older than 3 years will need to upgrade there Radios to DAB or not get radio anymore!

This is a perfect time for companies to launch aftermarket CarPlay/DAB Radio. One of the big problems is after market radios are not based on the QNX platform so they have to be engineered from the ground up. The Radio has to be built using a computer platform rather than an embedded one.

Existing car radio manufacturers would have to build this from the ground up.

 

[Taz Mangus]

Come on car and head unit makers... create your own device agnostic interface and make it the standard across all vehicles.

Every car manufacturer has their own idea on what the perfect UI should be. I know this first hand as I deal with this as a software engineer in infotainment systems.

I certainly hope that Carplay will change the one-off mentality that car manufacturers have.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Come on car and head unit makers... create your own device agnostic interface and make it the standard across all vehicles.

What's the incentive for them? Car makers have learned there is fat profit in making cars with proprietary but feature-poor integrated consoles. The days of standard anything are long gone. Even Crutchfield, whose catalog use to be half 3rd party head units, doesn't sell too many head units anymore b/c the market has all but dried up.

 

[donnaw]

So I'm a bit confused (actually a lot confused, I think I'm missing something). I have a 2012 Ford Edge with MS Sync. My phone connects via Bluetooth automatically when I start the car. If my husband drives it (without me in the car, it connects to his phone). He has an iPhone, I have a Nokia Lumia 920. Both our contacts are already loaded into the system.

I have a button on the steering wheel that I push and give it voice commands, i.e., call X on mobile, text Y, play Sirus channel 123, play CD, play Bluetooth (which plays the music on my phone). It takes any incoming calls which I can answer or ignore. It takes incoming texts and reads them to me and I then have options to reply, call, ignore.

Nav is built in to the system.

So exactly what would CarPlay add?

Also, as for tech difficulties I suspect that one hurdle would be to be sure their system is 'phone' agnostic. So CarPlay couldn't be too tightly integrated. It would just have to sit on the side, not even on top. Not everyone has or wants an iPhone. Also the manufactures must be assured that if whatever Apple APIs etc uses will be supported for quite a while. Who wants a car that's 4 years old and the unti goes funky only to be told 'sorry, that OS is no longer supported'.

 

[jayducharme]

From the looks of the original models, we are talking about a double-DIN head unit in a conventional car, with steering wheel or other secondary controls for the common functions. This doesn't seem like a system it would be hard to build an aftermarket stereo to mimic (the steering wheel controls are hard, but you just use whatever controls are there already; the other secondary controls just need to be installed and wired up).

But I thought the whole point of CarPlay was to have Siri control everything from the steering wheel, so your contact with the dash screen would be minimized. Without that key component, you might as well just install a standard Bluetooth unit in your car. Maybe you could mount your iPhone to your steering wheel.

 

[afsnyder]

Well, that's a bummer.

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The big deal being made about CarPlay is absolutely astounding. It's a gimmicky piece of bloat ware. I can literally do all of these things right now in my VW using my iPhone and the iPhone wiring harness that came with my car. One button press on my steering wheel, boom, voice commands. It's not Siri nor do I care.

Not everyone is lucky enough to have a touchscreen interface that actually works well (for instance Ford MyTouch). It's not bloatware as it's completely optional.

 

[Parise]

So I'm a bit confused (actually a lot confused, I think I'm missing something). I have a 2012 Ford Edge with MS Sync. My phone connects via Bluetooth automatically when I start the car. If my husband drives it (without me in the car, it connects to his phone). He has an iPhone, I have a Nokia Lumia 920. Both our contacts are already loaded into the system.

I have a button on the steering wheel that I push and give it voice commands, i.e., call X on mobile, text Y, play Sirus channel 123, play CD, play Bluetooth (which plays the music on my phone). It takes any incoming calls which I can answer or ignore. It takes incoming texts and reads them to me and I then have options to reply, call, ignore.

Nav is built in to the system.

So exactly what would CarPlay add?

Also, as for tech difficulties I suspect that one hurdle would be to be sure their system is 'phone' agnostic. So CarPlay couldn't be too tightly integrated. It would just have to sit on the side, not even on top. Not everyone has or wants an iPhone. Also the manufactures must be assured that if whatever Apple APIs etc uses will be supported for quite a while. Who wants a car that's 4 years old and the unti goes funky only to be told 'sorry, that OS is no longer supported'.

This is EXACTLY what I'm saying. If I'm understanding CarPlay correctly (and forgive me if I'm not), it's removing the option to use any wireless device with a cars entertainment system. I literally can currently do everything CarPlay can minus read my text messages on my nav screen, but I think I'll live, with my iPhone AND nexus 5.

 

[osaga]

We purchased two Cadillacs this spring, both have Cadillac My Link built in, OnStar, Backup Cameras, Side Detection, Lane Departure Warning... ect, and all this feeds though the built in head unit.

If something like CarPlay is going to be available, it had better be OEM so all the factory goodies still work in my 70k vehicles, kenwood and the aftermarket can kiss my rump and keep their bandaid patched together crap for someone else's ride.

Thank you... It's as if people assume carplay is for siri hands free texting and itunes radio. It can be something much more useful given the technology we now have. Ideally Apple would be the catalyst and provide the platform to push car makers into the 21st century.

 

[b-dogg]

Kinda like this guy did in his Type R
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eNmw0O01v7E

Yep - That's the plan!

 

[LordVic]

No GPS chip in non-cellular iPads. It's a bummer.

I was actually not aware of that...
I will have to reconsider the ipad Air i was going to buy was hoping to use it while backpacking around Euro for a couple months.