Can Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, iOS 8, peacefully co-exist with Bluetooth issues with in-car sytems?

We promised our readers that at the LA Auto Show Connected Car Expo we would get down to business and ask the car makers and any Apple rep available, “What the blazes is going on with the recent update to iOS 8-8.1.1 /iPhone 6-6+ and in-car infotainment disconnection, drop-out and other problems?”

During a panel in which texting via voice, CarPlay and Android Auto were discussed:

When AUTO Connected Car News asked the panel what’s going on with the update to iOS 8-8.1.1 with Bluetooth in BMW, GM and Honda cars. BMW and Honda reps said that they are working on it.  GM’s Abrams said “We didn’t change anything…they did.”

Currently, the car makers are s-l-o-w-ly working with Apple and Android Auto to deploy CarPlay and Android Auto. The car makers are looking out for the safety of the drivers and telling Google and CarPlay how to improve their products. They want to make the interface as simple as possible.

GM, BMW and Honda are working hard to implement the features from smartphone makers. For example GM’s Phil Abram said that “They are visiting our driver distraction labs and seeing how we work.”

BMW cars will not have Apple CarPlay next year. Uwe Higgen, from BMW noted that infotainment systems are designed to fit with the total overall design of the vehicle, “It’s important for us that we get the most out of both worlds and that both worlds interact in a premium way.”

Android Auto and CarPlay are complimentary to in-car systems noted Phil Abram, “It’s not a great battle or fist fight…it’s all media driven. We have to create a valuable experience for our customers.”

There  are problems reported with BMW, Audi, Acura, MINI, GM(Chevy, GMC, Cadillac, Buick), Honda, Kia, Toyota, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Mazda, Lexus, Fiat, Hyundai and more.

It appears Apple and Google are not worried about Bluetooth because they want get into the head units of all cars with CarPlay and Android Auto.  We saw demos of both which are heavily dependent upon touching the screen which is fine when the car is parked inside the convention center, but not while driving.

We were impressed with a demo of Siri Eyes-Free using Bluetooth by GM OnStar. You can use the basic Siri functions for playing music or making phone calls which is sufficient in most cases.

As far as we can tell from comments from our readers, there are still Bluetooth problems with iOS 8-8.1 and iPhone 4S-6+. A network engineer in the audience told us that Apple does not test its products. We will follow up with him to see if he can offer any suggestions.

The only Apple person on site we could find was the CarPlay demo guy. We asked him to do some things with CarPlay and he said “We’re outside of my script, I’m not sure if I can do that function with this test system.” He wasn’t sure it would work.

What holds true in this situation that in many cases the “nuke-it” fix seems to help by clearing and re-setting both the car infotainment and the iPhone.

As we stated last week, it appears that the despotic Apple does not play well and cooperate with others. We have not heard of any Android Bluetooth issues with in-car systems, yet.

If you have updated to iOS 8.1  or iPhone 6-6+ and it caused issues  Bluetooth issues with your in-car infotainment system, please let us know in the comments below, be sure to note your make, model and year of your vehicle.

Read a summary of Bluetooth issues and fixes along with the new “audio-only” connection fix. Read the most popular nuke-it fixes.  Find out he reasons why the Bluetooth problem with iOS 8 exists.

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