I know that Tesla prefers all propriotary apps, but the voice recognition on my Model S is less accurate that it is on my Jeep Wrangler. It would be great to have Apple Car Play or something similar in order to read text messages, and make calls from a large contact list
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Apple Car Play?
- Thread starter ski patrol
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- Model S User Interface
milleron
Member
Totally agree, but it will never happen.
IMO it's more likely that in 10 years, you will have to buy a Tesla phone and laptop, to really connect your devices.
A few years ago, Musk claimed Tesla would provide some form of screen mirroring (along with other features that have not yet been delivered).
As Tesla gets closer to having real long range EV competitors (which requires a long distance charging network, which today is available only from Tesla), it seems likely Tesla will have more motivation to provide comparable infotainment functionality - with better smart phone integration (text-to-voice/voice-to-text for messaging & e-mail, screen mirroring, ...).
Since adding this feature should be possible with a software update, even if a Model 3 purchased today doesn't have this feature, it will likely be added sometime in the future. That's unlikely with a car from any other manufacturer.
As Tesla gets closer to having real long range EV competitors (which requires a long distance charging network, which today is available only from Tesla), it seems likely Tesla will have more motivation to provide comparable infotainment functionality - with better smart phone integration (text-to-voice/voice-to-text for messaging & e-mail, screen mirroring, ...).
Since adding this feature should be possible with a software update, even if a Model 3 purchased today doesn't have this feature, it will likely be added sometime in the future. That's unlikely with a car from any other manufacturer.
Can someone explain to me why you need Car Play or Android Auto for this? Maybe I'm totally out of the loop but my Windows phone does this just fine via BT on any device, nothing special needed.
swaltner
Active Member
Apple CarPlay isn't just a mirror of the screen, it's designed to allow you to interact with the phone with minimal distractions while driving. This means a couple design choices were made.
- Only a few categories of apps are available on the screen: Phone (VoIP also), Music (podcasts, streaming), Apple Maps, Vehicle Integration
- The user interface on the display is simplified - not all options are available to reduce distractions to the driver. 3rd party app developers are encouraged to design simple interfaces with large targets in their UI making it easy to interact with brief glances to the screen.
- For text messages, in addition to being hands-free, you're also texting eyes-free. Eyes-free means that nothing is shown on the screen, so there's no point in looking at it instead of the road ahead. There is no way for CarPlay to show a text message on the screen. It will read incoming messages aloud to you and you dictate a reply back with the confirmation repeated to you through the speakers.
- Button on the screen to activate Siri if you don't have the always-on Hey Siri feature active. Works even if the phone is locked. With native support, there's usually a button on the steering wheel to activate Siri as well. Aftermarket radios will just get the Siri button on the touchscreen.
iOS - CarPlay
Android Auto would be similar but the specific design choices might vary a little.
- Only a few categories of apps are available on the screen: Phone (VoIP also), Music (podcasts, streaming), Apple Maps, Vehicle Integration
- The user interface on the display is simplified - not all options are available to reduce distractions to the driver. 3rd party app developers are encouraged to design simple interfaces with large targets in their UI making it easy to interact with brief glances to the screen.
- For text messages, in addition to being hands-free, you're also texting eyes-free. Eyes-free means that nothing is shown on the screen, so there's no point in looking at it instead of the road ahead. There is no way for CarPlay to show a text message on the screen. It will read incoming messages aloud to you and you dictate a reply back with the confirmation repeated to you through the speakers.
- Button on the screen to activate Siri if you don't have the always-on Hey Siri feature active. Works even if the phone is locked. With native support, there's usually a button on the steering wheel to activate Siri as well. Aftermarket radios will just get the Siri button on the touchscreen.
iOS - CarPlay
Android Auto would be similar but the specific design choices might vary a little.
CuriousG
Active Member
What's preventing you from just pausing your music and say, "Hey Siri"? You can have then ask to read your text and call contacts.
Nothing, and there is nothing to stop you from using Waze on your phone instead of the Nav on your car. But you paid ~$100k for a car with a big touch screen and it is running second rate software.
"screen mirroring" is a simplified term - that appears to cover what Apple CarPlay and Android Auto provide - shifting the smartphone interface to the car's console and input devices. It's likely that when Musk mentioned this - he meant that whatever Tesla does will be at least as good as (if not better than) what Apple and Android are providing.
And with the strong possibility that competing long range EVs (starting with the Bolt) will all have Apple and/or Android (or an alternative), it seems inevitable Tesla will eventually offer this - and because it should be a software feature - when it becomes available, it should be rolled out to every Tesla car (something no other manufacturer currently offers).
Now, if we could just get Tesla to make an official statement on what they plan to do... (unlikely...).
And with the strong possibility that competing long range EVs (starting with the Bolt) will all have Apple and/or Android (or an alternative), it seems inevitable Tesla will eventually offer this - and because it should be a software feature - when it becomes available, it should be rolled out to every Tesla car (something no other manufacturer currently offers).
Now, if we could just get Tesla to make an official statement on what they plan to do... (unlikely...).
I would rather have "less good" Android Auto or Car Play than nothing. I would argue that this area is quite a disappointment. The media player is riddled with bugs and each software upgrade brings new ones. The web browser is a complete joke. The Nav system is inferior to pretty much any alternative.
It isn't clear to me that Tesla is doing anything at all in this area.
CuriousG
Active Member
I was addressing the user complaint about reading text and making calls none of which requires the screen. You can already use Waze on your Tesla through the shoddy browser. I already have it use Waze through my smartphone as a backup.
CuriousG
Active Member
Not true. They keep churning out Easter Eggs. The R&D on that must've been astounding.
Apple Carplay uses text-to-speech in order to "read" back text messages. It's an EPIC fail sometimes, entertaining during others and useful every once in a while.
It’s not clear that current Tesla models possess the hardware to be compliant with AirPlay. As has been pointed out above, Elon did suggest that screen mirroring was on the horizon nearly two years ago, something that was reiterated to me when I picked up my car in August 2015.
But how would that work? It’s doubtful that Apple would produce the API’s to enable this technology with touch screen input.
One possibility that is maybe more technically feasible is if the screen mirroring was pushed via the Tesla app. You run the app on your phone and an interface is shown on the center console that controls the app. It’s not ideal and third parties would have to work with Tesla to make it work but it wouldn’t be reliant on Apple or Google to produce the framework necessary to support this feature.
It turns out this type of technology is already being developed by Abalta called WebLink. It was demoed at CES with Waze announcing support and uses HTML5 modules to mirror the phone. Kenwood demoed a unit with the technology. Here’s a video of how this type of thing works.
But how would that work? It’s doubtful that Apple would produce the API’s to enable this technology with touch screen input.
One possibility that is maybe more technically feasible is if the screen mirroring was pushed via the Tesla app. You run the app on your phone and an interface is shown on the center console that controls the app. It’s not ideal and third parties would have to work with Tesla to make it work but it wouldn’t be reliant on Apple or Google to produce the framework necessary to support this feature.
It turns out this type of technology is already being developed by Abalta called WebLink. It was demoed at CES with Waze announcing support and uses HTML5 modules to mirror the phone. Kenwood demoed a unit with the technology. Here’s a video of how this type of thing works.
Based on Tesla's track record in other areas - it seems more likely they'll (eventually) go with a 3rd party or Tesla (open source?) solution than providing Apple or Android solutions.
While it's disappointing today not to have these features - Tesla has the only viable long range EVs on the market today. If Tesla doesn't provide better smartphone integration soon - when there are other viable long range EVs on the market, if they don't have these features, Tesla will lose customers to their competition.
And when they do provide it, it's very likely, they'll roll it out to all of the cars through an OTA update.
Maybe we'll be surprised when they finally get around to announcing Version 9 - which should have NAV 2.0 and the long-promised media player & browser improvements - and we could hope they'd also do something more with smartphone integration...
While it's disappointing today not to have these features - Tesla has the only viable long range EVs on the market today. If Tesla doesn't provide better smartphone integration soon - when there are other viable long range EVs on the market, if they don't have these features, Tesla will lose customers to their competition.
And when they do provide it, it's very likely, they'll roll it out to all of the cars through an OTA update.
Maybe we'll be surprised when they finally get around to announcing Version 9 - which should have NAV 2.0 and the long-promised media player & browser improvements - and we could hope they'd also do something more with smartphone integration...
The problem with what Kenwood is doing, according to my stereo installer that talked directly to them at CES, is that waze and pandora are “equivalent” apps so you can play pandora OR you can “play” Waze. You can’t have music and maps at the same time.
So this tech leaves a LOT to be desired.
So this tech leaves a LOT to be desired.
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