Android Auto: how to connect phone to car / nothing happens?

[southy44]

Hi there,

I just cant get my head around this - can anyone help, please?

I have a VW Golf VII model 2016 with the "Discover Media Gen. 2" and "Telephone comfort" options.
So it _is_ "Android Auto"-compatible as well as MirrorLink-capable, features that VW sums up as "App-Connect".
On the smartphone-end of things I have a Nexus 4 (LG). It's on Android 5.1.1 and the "Android Auto" App is up&running. So that should be Auto-capable, if I understand correct.
It's Bluetooth-paired to the car and I have a USB cable plugged into either one of two USB sockets: in armrest or behind the lever.

But: nothing happens.
In the "Android Auto" App, nothing happens, no car shows up.
In the car media system, the menu "App-connect" is supposed to show a list of devices paired with either MirrorLink or Android Auto; but the list is empty. There is no option to manually connect or trigger any kind of "search device" anywhere.

Can someone please explain to me how this is supposed to work? Is it just supposed that something pops up upon USB plugin? Why does it not?

Do I have to have any other background services App running that might have crashed?

So far for Android Auto. But then there's the second chance: What about MirrorLink? How do I do that? What do I need to do to MirrorLink an App? This is controlled via the same menu in the car which refers to the same empty list of connected devices.

Help? Can anyone give me a hint of what I'm doing wrong?
Thanks!

 

[Pedrore]

MirrorLink is supported by a group of phone manufacturers (notably Sony, Samsung and HTC) so this will not be an option for your Nexus.

I haven't seen these new radio units, but I assume you've been through the settings to ensure Android Auto is enabled. I have heard some stories about USB cables causing problems - have you tried alternate cables?

 

[southy44]

There's not much to configure in the car itself: You can set it to either preffer Android Auto or MirrorLink in case both is available. That's basically all there is to configure on the car side.

I tried it with two different cables one of which I distrust. So I'll try a third one, but I don't really suppose that's the reason...

Is there any kind of google background service required for Auto which might be broken in my case?

 

[southy44]

Unbelievable:
I tried a third cable and: tada - it works.
And it's reproducable: with two cables the phone just charges but doesn't actually connect to the car; and with the third cable it does.
Very strange indeed.

So everybody with problems connecting: try exchanging your cables!

Thanks for your help and btw: great articles about Auto Apps here on the site! Thanks!

Southy

 

[Pedrore]

Google Play Services is a key component but if your apps are updated you should have the latest (8.1.15). Maps and Music are dependent apps but Android Auto when it first launches checks those dependencies and asks you to get the latest versions of those apps if you haven't.