Apple CarPlay

[Mike Robinson]

just purchased new Lexus SUV for my wife and, after seeing all the technology in that car, I was feeling a little disappointed with my 2018 MS 100D. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my Tesla, but it would sure be nice if it had CarPlay and some of the other new technologies.

Anyone know if Tesla is planning to include new technologies such as CarPlay in future updates???

 

[VT_EE]

There is rumor of an "audio" upgrade coming, but I would be surprised if CarPlay was included. It doesn't seem like Telsa's style.

 

[quickstrike12]

To each his own I guess.
I would not want either Apple car play or Android play. Car and the tech inside should be able to develop and be independent of the phones we carry.
Just my 2 cents.
I’ve been in some of the newer cars like the Lexus that has “tech overload” with tons of buttons that make it all work. It’s insane sometimes with knobs and switches in every corner that do something.

I love my Tesla and one of the biggest reasons is simplicity and clean look but still with many great features that are automated or under glass.
Again to each his own.

 

[Scott7]

Personally I don’t think I need CarPlay exactly, but I would definitely like more integration with alternate music services (Spotify, Apple Music) for those of us that already subscribe to those.

No matter what I think about slacker, it’ll never be as convenient as using the same music service everywhere on all my devices, with all my playlists and music library in tow.

A Tesla App Store could potentially solve this problem.

 

[willw64]

We have had Audi's with Apple Car Play and I thought the integration was very awkward. This isn't the most elegant solution in a Tesla, but this seems to work OK. If you have an apple watch and your phone is connected with bluetooth you can always issue Siri commands from your watch. There is a lag at times but most of the time it works pretty well.

 

[Mobile3228]

I’ve been in some of the newer cars like the Lexus that has “tech overload” with tons of buttons that make it all work. It’s insane sometimes with knobs and switches in every corner that do something.

There are no physical buttons to operate CarPlay or Android Auto. But Tesla has limited Voice Controlled languages, and both the afore mentioned will compensate for this.

 

[Matias]

just purchased new Lexus SUV for my wife and, after seeing all the technology in that car, I was feeling a little disappointed with my 2018 MS 100D. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my Tesla, but it would sure be nice if it had CarPlay and some of the other new technologies.

Anyone know if Tesla is planning to include new technologies such as CarPlay in future updates???

Not invented here - Wikipedia

 

[stevemc]

There are a couple of area's where Tesla could be better and maybe better phone integration may help. The area's i'm referring to are:

• Remembering where I left off in a podcast. It really bugs me that when my wife takes my car I have to fast forward to get back where I left off.
• Have an Audible app. I don't think this one is going to happen as it's a Jeff vs Elon thing.
• Choice of subscription music services.

 

[Dithermaster]

Both CarPlay and Android Auto are useful apps that should be supported, regardless of how good Tesla built-in systems are. There are native phone apps that work really well with these systems, and Tesla is not in the business of infotainment, so it's fine to support them (it doesn't compete with their core competency). I wish they would support both. My wife's aftermarket head unit (Pioneer) supports both, and it's a pretty nice upgrade from her OEM radio.

 

[jorobsand]

Tesla is not in the business of infotainment, so it's fine to support them (it doesn't compete with their core competency)

Everything comes at a cost. If Tesla supported Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, both are likely to request data in return. That is something that Tesla, in being a young and groundbreaking car company, is not willing to give up so easily. While it can be argued that either of those solutions would be superior to Tesla's own product, it simply isn't worth the trade-off to Tesla. They don't see themselves as losing a significant amount of customers over it and they would give up more than they would gain.

 

[Mike Robinson]

To each his own I guess.
I would not want either Apple car play or Android play. Car and the tech inside should be able to develop and be independent of the phones we carry.
Just my 2 cents.
I’ve been in some of the newer cars like the Lexus that has “tech overload” with tons of buttons that make it all work. It’s insane sometimes with knobs and switches in every corner that do something.

I love my Tesla and one of the biggest reasons is simplicity and clean look but still with many great features that are automated or under glass.
Again to each his own.

The service tech who came to my home last week told me that “there’s a reason why the other high-end car makers have so many knobs and buttons”. He said having virtually every control in the MCU/display is one of the reasons Tesla has so many issues with those kinds of things. Could be just his opinion.

 

[BPeter]

To each his own I guess.
I would not want either Apple car play or Android play. Car and the tech inside should be able to develop and be independent of the phones we carry.
Just my 2 cents.
I’ve been in some of the newer cars like the Lexus that has “tech overload” with tons of buttons that make it all work. It’s insane sometimes with knobs and switches in every corner that do something.

I love my Tesla and one of the biggest reasons is simplicity and clean look but still with many great features that are automated or under glass.
Again to each his own.

CarPlay and Android Auto are very simple systems, they don't (have to) tightly integrate with the car at all. The most basic form of them is the phone streams a h264 video stream that the car's display renders. Then touch, button, and microphone input is just streamed back to the phone for it to do with as it wants. It's extremely simple and once implemented doesn't require or hinder development of Tesla's on screen features at all. It's just one of many apps that can run on the MCU.

I really wish they would just add support. I do not like or want to subscribe to Slacker premium so now I have to use bluetooth audio from my phone, but I have to use the phone to do *sugar* which isn't safe.

 

[NoCharge]

Tesla is not going to add either, I love CarPlay and Android Auto. And wish they were both available, I do believe that we will be getting Spotify soon. which will be nice.

 

[whitex]

Test drove the Audi eTron SUV a couple of weeks ago, the interior is just so much better than a Tesla. If a P100D would have the eTron interior (and tech), and Tesla would give me priority service (live service person to speak to, appointments within a week, guaranteed P100D Tesla loaner for however long it takes to fix the car, get parts in, etc), I'd be placing an order for one today.

 

[cwerdna]

There are no physical buttons to operate CarPlay or Android Auto. But Tesla has limited Voice Controlled languages, and both the afore mentioned will compensate for this.

Indeed on the first point. I use CarPlay w/my Bolt and the only physical button I use on my car is to press its Home button to return to the head unit's home screen or press + hold Home as a shortcut to go to CarPlay.

Going to CarPlay can also be accomplished by pressing hardware Home, tapping another button on the touchscreen then the CarPlay button on the touchscreen.

 

[Xenius]

If anything the Tesla system should be able to accept a generic input for audio that can be adapted to anything carplay, android auto, whatever comes next.

I don't want apple and the baggage that comes with it hard coded into my car.

 

[bob_p]

Tesla's smartphone integration continues to be an area where Tesla is falling further behind the other vehicle manufacturers.

Not only don't we have screen sharing (like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto), we also don't have integration of smartphone text messaging and e-mail (voice-to-text and text-to-voice).

Tesla provides a few integrated apps, but has glaring holes, such as the inability to effectively play audio books with the media player - either with an app like audible or consistently resuming playing of a USB audiobook (the software still frequently forgets the current media source/file/position).

It seems unlikely Tesla would license the Apple or Android systems, which is what the other manufacturers are doing. Instead, if/when Tesla does (finally) address smartphone integration, we're likely to see something that works better than the Apple/Android systems - and because the market is almost evenly split between Android and IOS, the solution should work with devices using either operating system.

Over the years, Musk has made multiple comments about supporting 3rd party apps, 3rd party API (programming interface), app store, or providing screen mirroring.

And as long as Tesla was the only game in town for long range EVs, the lack of these features likely hasn't had any impact on Tesla sales.

That could start changing soon - as more competitors bring their long range EVs to the market - and some customers might begin to choose non-Tesla vehicles based not on the strength of Tesla's battery/EV technology or the Supercharger network, but on the other features (including smartphone integration) that aren't present in Tesla vehicles.

Plus, the lack of smartphone integration in the current software may be increasing driver use of smartphones while operating the vehicle - so the lack of those features (especially text message and e-mail support) could be lowering driving safety...

 

[Dithermaster]

Exactly. And for about the same effort as the new racing game they could have added CarPlay and Android Auto. It's literally playing back video from the connected phone device and sending it touch events. It does take a few lawyers to get the agreement paperwork done; that's probably more time and cost than the software.

 

[Vic_F]

It would not be that hard to enable the container for CarPlay or Android Auto. I would very much like to see it. Developers are busy with BS crap around gaming to bother improving audio, adding useful driving related functionality.

 

[P100D_Me]

Not only don't we have screen sharing (like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto), we also don't have integration of smartphone text messaging and e-mail (voice-to-text and text-to-voice).

This drives me crazy, our other cars have this function and it is something that I really wish the Tesla had. I never even gave it a second thought when looking at the car, I just assumed something as 'advanced' as a Tesla would have very good phone integration. Irks me even more when they can't even get Bluetooth calls to answer without the phone volume muted (persistent bug).