[dap]

I am not sure if this would be a problem with wireless as well, but I've had very inconsistent experiences having Carplay start at all using a dongle. I'd say right now it works about 70% of the time, and about 25% of the time when it doesn't, I can get it working by unplugging and re-plugging after the car is on. The rest of the time I have to stop the car and start it for it to work. This all started about a year ago though. (2022 RAV4 Prime, multiple iPhone and iOS versions, genuine Apple lightning cable, both with and without an extra Lightning->USBC dongle.)

[hedgehog]

In my experience it's over cable CarPlay is reliable if the head unit is already booted and the phone is unlocked when plugging in. If either of those things aren't true then no guarantee the phone will connect after the booting / unlocking finishes (I use and recommend the setting to disallow accessories when the phone is locked).