Apple's risky bet on CarPlay • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#51

Post by spike021 » Tue, Apr 23, 2024, 6:33 PM UTC

albumen wrote: post #24

StephenSmith wrote: post #12

If you're in the market for a new-to-you car, then I recommend looking at the model years where they switch from wired car-play to wireless car-play and buying the previous model-year. Typically this difference of one model-year can add thousands to the cost of the vehicle, especially because wireless car-play is so coveted. The experience of wireless is fantastic, but is it worth several thousand dollars? Maybe, but…

When I looked into this previously, the delay seemed pretty significant, not just upon auto connect. Can you recommend your dongle?

I've had a Carlinkit 3.0 for two years connected to a standard $400 or so Pioneer head unit with CarPlay and it works fine.

Initial connection is a bit slower than wired, maybe 20 seconds or so, but it's up and running by the time I'm moving my car.

There's very small amount of input lag for stuff like skipping songs or pause/play. I'd say that lag is almost exactly the same as when I used to only use bog-standard Bluetooth to connect to a head unit with my phone so I think that's just the downside of a wireless connection-- wired doesn't have this lag.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#52

Post by daanvr » Tue, Apr 23, 2024, 6:33 PM UTC

mannyv wrote: post #4

CarPlay mostly works, and although it has issues it's definitely user-focused. CarPlay doesn't prevent car makers from tracking vehicle activity. In the end, consumers don't give a shit about the in-vehicle infotainment. It sucks, or it's AA/CarPlay. The first generation of iDrive showed that rich people people will buy cars in spite of the in-car stuff. In fact, most car infotainment sucks, yet people still buy cars…

The auto industry is really at a crucial point with how it integrates tech. As cars get more autonomous, infotainment is becoming a key part of our driving experience. I'm wondering, are carmakers at risk of falling behind if they don’t embrace platforms like CarPlay? Or do they have solid reasons to keep developing their systems in-house to keep control over their tech narrative?

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#53

Post by wil421 » Tue, Apr 23, 2024, 6:33 PM UTC

StephenSmith wrote: post #12

If you're in the market for a new-to-you car, then I recommend looking at the model years where they switch from wired car-play to wireless car-play and buying the previous model-year. Typically this difference of one model-year can add thousands to the cost of the vehicle, especially because wireless car-play is so coveted. The experience of wireless is fantastic, but is it worth several thousand dollars? Maybe, but…

The wifi dongle audio quality was reminiscent of the old iPod FM Transmitters that would plug into the cigarette lighter. Not to mention the annoying delay.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#54

Post by globular-toast » Tue, Apr 23, 2024, 6:34 PM UTC

StephenSmith wrote: post #12

If you're in the market for a new-to-you car, then I recommend looking at the model years where they switch from wired car-play to wireless car-play and buying the previous model-year. Typically this difference of one model-year can add thousands to the cost of the vehicle, especially because wireless car-play is so coveted. The experience of wireless is fantastic, but is it worth several thousand dollars? Maybe, but…

Or just get a car that you can retrofit a head unit to. Could be a third party one or a better one from another model. In my VW I retrofitted a head unit with navigation and cruise control, amongst other things. Be sensible and get things like parking sensors that are hard to retrofit, but don't pay for things you can easily fit yourself.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#55

Post by xenospn » Tue, Apr 23, 2024, 6:35 PM UTC

xyst wrote: post #17

I used to be fascinated with Apple but I no longer want anything to do with them. I could care less if my car has Apple or android auto at this point. I would rip it out immediately if it had one. Any always on connectivity would be removed. Car manufacturers are increasingly selling off your private data and leveraging all of these technology upgrades you paid for to do it. As soon as the car is connected to the int…

You can very easily buy a dumb car and install aftermarket parts to get the benefit of CarPlay without any of the telemetry.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#56

Post by jamesfmilne » Tue, Apr 23, 2024, 6:35 PM UTC

StephenSmith wrote: post #12

If you're in the market for a new-to-you car, then I recommend looking at the model years where they switch from wired car-play to wireless car-play and buying the previous model-year. Typically this difference of one model-year can add thousands to the cost of the vehicle, especially because wireless car-play is so coveted. The experience of wireless is fantastic, but is it worth several thousand dollars? Maybe, but…

Agreed, I bought a 2017 VW Golf recently, it has wired Apple CarPlay.

Bought a dongle for £55, works fine.

Love having a car with a steering wheel with real buttons, and climate controls with real knobs.

It feels like around 2018 is the zenith of Human Machine Interface in cars and it's all been downhill since, as they cram everything in a fucking touchscreen.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#57

Post by axxl » Tue, Apr 23, 2024, 6:36 PM UTC

definitelyauser wrote: post #29

StephenSmith wrote: post #12

If you're in the market for a new-to-you car, then I recommend looking at the model years where they switch from wired car-play to wireless car-play and buying the previous model-year. Typically this difference of one model-year can add thousands to the cost of the vehicle, especially because wireless car-play is so coveted. The experience of wireless is fantastic, but is it worth several thousand dollars? Maybe, but…

I've tried a few dongles and have had nothing but bad experiences. "Kinda works" for a while, with a noticeable delay when changing songs etc. Actually pondering replacing the infotainment system itself to get wireless airplay.

The delay happens with integrated systems as well apparently. My brother's car has it built in and he confirmed my adapter is the same.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#58

Post by luhn » Tue, Apr 23, 2024, 6:36 PM UTC

definitelyauser wrote: post #29

StephenSmith wrote: post #12

If you're in the market for a new-to-you car, then I recommend looking at the model years where they switch from wired car-play to wireless car-play and buying the previous model-year. Typically this difference of one model-year can add thousands to the cost of the vehicle, especially because wireless car-play is so coveted. The experience of wireless is fantastic, but is it worth several thousand dollars? Maybe, but…

I've tried a few dongles and have had nothing but bad experiences. "Kinda works" for a while, with a noticeable delay when changing songs etc. Actually pondering replacing the infotainment system itself to get wireless airplay.

I thought the audio delay was because of a crappy dongle too, but when I rented a car with built-in wireless CarPlay it was exactly the same.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#59

Post by spike021 » Tue, Apr 23, 2024, 6:37 PM UTC

A huge benefit to CarPlay for me is I can travel someplace like Japan, get a car with a CarPlay-supported head unit, and immediately I have Google or Apple Maps available straight off the bat in English with all my saved locations like hotels or places that are bookmarked. Nothing to set up or anything.

The only downside I've experienced with it in Japan is the GPS can be wonky in tunnels whereas the car's built-in GPS seemingly doesn't.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#60

Post by sovnwnt » Tue, Apr 23, 2024, 6:37 PM UTC

xyst wrote: post #17

I used to be fascinated with Apple but I no longer want anything to do with them. I could care less if my car has Apple or android auto at this point. I would rip it out immediately if it had one. Any always on connectivity would be removed. Car manufacturers are increasingly selling off your private data and leveraging all of these technology upgrades you paid for to do it. As soon as the car is connected to the int…

I actually had a chat with my local MP (Canadian equivalent of Member of House of Representatives) about this.

Why can't we stop companies selling our data? You'd think it's easy:

--- very clear opt-in method for having your data sold

--- rejecting cannot prevent regular use of services

--- heavy penalties for breaking these rules

Problem is that no politician wants to touch this because

--- manufacturers sell data to subsidize the product

--- if they can't sell data, costs are going to shoot up

--- if they do this in response to a law, they get to raise costs even more because it affects the whole industry at the same time and there's a clear scapegoat

Consumers care a LOT more about their cheap, connected devices than their privacy. Because getting by your data like [2] happens to individuals, but costs affect the group.

EDIT: To clarify, the MP only suggested that costs would go up and people don't care. The rest is my personal speculation.