Yeah so my question could be rephrased as “why can’t my car be updated to handle android auto wirelessly if all the necessary gear is already there?”. Well, turns out some of the gear might be missing after all.
Gear might be missing, but the larger problem is car makers like a sell and forget model. The make money on spare parts, but upgrades are not part of the business model. (Maintenance is a dealer profit item not Thiers) so they don’t see a way to make money.
Its not there. Newer wireless head units have WiFi built in to handle the screen mirroring portion. Which is why a software update won’t work. You need a wireless android auto adapter to get wireless. They work great, just don’t cheap out on it.
The later revisions of android auto are Bluetooth, but the first version was cable only. So you just have a car that only had the older version.
Its actually WiFi direct for the wireless version, Bluetooth is for the audio.
Yeah so my question could be rephrased as “why can’t my car be updated to handle android auto wirelessly if all the necessary gear is already there?”. Well, turns out some of the gear might be missing after all.
FYI, they make $30-40 bluetooth pucks that make android auto wireless if your car only supports wired. I got one from Motorola and it works great.
I tried the Motorola one and it was unreliable. Switched to the AA wireless and it’s been great.
I still use wired USB for long trips tho, phone doesn’t heat up quite so much that way.
Another AA wireless user here. Worth the extra bucks to have a solid connection compared to the cheap adapters.
Gear might be missing, but the larger problem is car makers like a sell and forget model. The make money on spare parts, but upgrades are not part of the business model. (Maintenance is a dealer profit item not Thiers) so they don’t see a way to make money.
https://www.aawireless.io/en?locale=en-US
Its not there. Newer wireless head units have WiFi built in to handle the screen mirroring portion. Which is why a software update won’t work. You need a wireless android auto adapter to get wireless. They work great, just don’t cheap out on it.