[akira2501]

> This data is cached on the head unit so that finding a contact to call or reading a text message doesn't require 10 minutes worth of Bluetooth nonsense.

This is such an early 2000s idea. I'd much rather my car act as a dumb display that shows a copy of my phone screen then an intelligent agent that tries to replicate functionality already extant in my phone.

[RandallBrown]

I spent some time around 2012 working on in car "infotainment" units at a large tech company for a large car company.

I was told that the infotainment systems were where a large chunk of their profit came from and differentiating their experience was important to the car company.

Of course, they wanted to use decade old CPUs and touchscreens to save money, so the experience was horrible. I left shortly after CarPlay was announced and our response was "That will never catch on."

[everdrive]

>I was told that the infotainment systems were where a large chunk of their profit came from and differentiating their experience was important to the car company.

I wonder how that could be true. Most car companies have pretty terrible infotainment systems, and I've never met anyone who genuinely loved the infotainment system in their car. (Most people I know tend feel that it ranges from "somewhat annoying" to "good enough".)

[hn_throwaway_99]

I think the important point is that the comment you are responding to was talking about 2012. CarPlay didn't come out until 2014, Android Auto in 2015. So before that, the only option for infotainment systems was various levels of suckage, and I think it was a differentiator among people wanting the "least sucky" system.

These days, even when I see the rate infotainment system that is pretty good, people still want CarPlay/Android Auto because that's what they're used to, and it already integrates with settings and data that have already been configured on the user's phone.

[gangstead]

It used to be a standard $1k - $2k upgrade to get the navigation system which I imagine was highly profitable. It certainly didn't seem like any car manufacturer put much effort into it. Sometimes they could even get you to buy $300 map updates! With Car Play and Android Auto I don't know who's paying for that any more.

[amelius]

Once you bought the car they now have a monopoly on the software that is available. There should be laws against this type of monopoly.

[vGPU]

Many cars can be modified even now with increasingly integrated entertainment systems. Beatsonic or its various Chinese copies are an example of this, it’s a box that hijacks the video stream and lets you add CarPlay functionality and stuff.

[zx8080]

Car manufacturers have money. They can and will lobby the monopoly status quo.

Money talks. I know it's hard when you want that nice car, but considering the above, the only way is just not buying the car with software lock-in. Only this stimulus can have some effect.

[patmorgan23]

There is. You can swap out the head unit with an aftermarket one.

[lsaferite]

Most modern cars I've seen don't seem to have old DIN sized head units these days.

[happytiger]

You used to be able to. It’s becoming increasingly difficult.

[thedaly]

Yes, Carplay is the correct way to implement this.

[ShadowBanThis01]

EXACTLY. This "infotainment" BS harks back to vastly overpriced stock car radios of years gone by.

All we need is a place in the dashboard to mount our phones. Phones already have big-ass touchscreens and anything else we want... except of course now the audio outputs have been removed.

We should simply have a well in the dashboard with replaceable inserts that snap in to accommodate different-sized phone models, which would connect to the audio system and power. But no... we still have phones bouncing around in the cabin or attached to hokey third-party claws, and janky-ass Bluetooth which (how many years in now?) can't handle simple music playback reliably.

Every car in my household has an auxiliary input for audio and no support for audio over Bluetooth. One is a 2013 Mini, so it's not as if they're ancient.

And that's just fine. And if it MUST be overcomplicated, then yes... AirPlay seems to be the way.

[neuralRiot]

> All we need is a place in the dashboard to mount our phones. Phones already have big-ass touchscreens and anything else we want...

That might be your personal prefernece, I particularly abhor the phone-centric world not to mention that a 5 inch “big-ass” touch screen becomes tiny when driving and that its UI is meant to be operated sitting down paying 100% attention to it not while operating a machine at 60mph down in the road surrounded by hundreds of people in the same situation.

[ShadowBanThis01]

I can respect that. To some extent, though, that's down to the phone UI. iOS, ummm, 6 if I remember correctly was supposed to be more "car-friendly." Of course, that was another Jony Ive failure... it actually changed the system font to a spindly outline that was hard enough to see in normal conditions, let alone in a car. There was absolutely nothing in that OS that offered a "car-friendlier" experience. I was so glad to see that pompous hack leave Apple.

If you look at CarPlay, it chunks the functionality down to a few big icons on the screen at a time. No reason that can't be done on the phone itself in a "car mode."

Anyway, this is what I ended up doing: https://imgur.com/gallery/krRXQwP

[fzzzy]

That was 7, 6 was the last 'good' one.

[ShadowBanThis01]

Ah, thanks.

Too many regressive releases to keep track of...

[MarioMan]

>We should simply have a well in the dashboard with replaceable inserts that snap in to accommodate different-sized phone models, which would connect to the audio system and power. But no... we still have phones bouncing around in the cabin or attached to hokey third-party claws, and janky-ass Bluetooth which (how many years in now?) can't handle simple music playback reliably.

I've been using Brodit/ProClip USA mounts to solve this. They sell holders designed specifically for your model of phone which attaches to a custom-fit mount for your car's make and model. It's pricy, at about $75 for a holder-mount combo, when cheap Amazon alternatives are closer to $10, but it overcomes a lot of the problems you list. I use it regularly for navigation, since my car doesn't support CarPlay or Android Auto.

[ShadowBanThis01]

Thanks! I can't settle for that, though. This is what I ended up doing in one car. I still haven't tackled my truck, though: https://imgur.com/gallery/krRXQwP

[fho]

> no support for audio over Bluetooth

So you rant about Bluetooth in cars ... without owning a car that gas Bluetooth?

Just checking, because we put after market radios (with BT) in our last two cars and, while not a miracle experience, music playback and handsfree telephony worked without problems.

[ShadowBanThis01]

I guess you don't think people rent cars, or drive family members' cars, or go on road trips with friends.

Bluetooth implementations are trash. Rented a brand-new Toyota over the summer and its radio suffered from all the same playback defects that Bluetooth has been offering for a decade or more. Playback randomly starting when not told to... showing the wrong info on the display... showing that no songs were available but playing songs anyway (four out of five times; once it did decide to show a song list).

[falcolas]

> Bluetooth implementations are trash.

They really are.

> Playback randomly starting when not told to...

Yup. Toyota and Subaru are particularly egregious about this. Something about using old cable/ipod implementations which would immediately reach for the default media player and telling it to start playing (and download a list of songs or some other BS).

> showing the wrong info on the display...

Yup. Especially if you have the audacity to use Spotify or something else.

There's some really shitty bluetooth audio interfaces out there. REALLY shitty.

[ShadowBanThis01]

Oh noes, I've been-modded by some members of the BT consortium, apparently.

Keep up the "good" work, guys! Don't spend all your licensing fees at the pub... unless you're buying a round for the house!

[kevin_thibedeau]

You could have that if manufacturers hadn't abandoned the double-DIN radio bay.

[ShadowBanThis01]

No doubt! I did this though: https://imgur.com/gallery/krRXQwP

And I even installed extra inputs for a guest to plug into on road trips, and the original CD player.

[cameronh90]

Do you not find it overheats in sunny weather, though?

I have an old car without any sort of fancy infotainment system, and I always end up with my phone overheating during long drives into the sun.

[ShadowBanThis01]

It was a concern but didn't happen often. I did consider making some kind of reflective roof for it.

The phones are too tall to fit there now (even the original SE), so there's going to have to be some rework anyway!

[M95D]

Don't make it reflective. The light would reflect again in the windshield.

[extraduder_ire]

> All we need is a place in the dashboard to mount our phones.

Where I live, even touching your phone while driving is illegal. Doesn't stop most people, but I'd still not mess about.

I do remember reading news of someone getting cited in california when the model 3 was new, for "mounting a screen visible to the driver" which was the stock touchscreen.