Android auto USB only? No Wifi?

[Stuart Noon]

Is it me or does this seem like a pretty weird oversight?

Move all the display and controls onto the headunit so you don't need to fiddle with your phone.... great!

But then stop you from being able to just leave your phone in your pocket for the sake of saving a few pennies on a wifi option.... Aaaaaargh!


I see Apple are now doing wireless CarPlay but can't see any mention of it coming to android auto... or am I just googling wrong?

 

[Phil Nickinson]

No mention of it yet, as far as I've heard. And wireless CarPlay is still pretty new and few and far between, right?

 

[Stuart Noon]

Yeah - doesn't appear to be in the wild yet, just that there's now support for it in ios.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[mikereidis]

In the Android Auto code a "Type 1" connection is USB and Type 2 is WiFi.

But almost all of the code needed for WiFi is either stripped out, or doesn't exist.

My guess is that there was experimental code which is stripped out at present, due to "technical difficulties".

1: WiFi direct will suck battery life when active video is playing (like changing maps images), and most or many people charge their phone in the car anyway.

2: There may be some WiFi latency issues and jerky video when the RF spectrum is busy. It gets worse in major city traffic jams if every 4-10th person is WiFi-ing video to AA HUs. And cars are a hostile environment for radio frequencies.

Last I heard a few weeks ago, CarPlay promised WiFi support, but it wasn't working yet.

Apple is/has likely had the same technical issues of course.