Smart phone mirroring - Elon Paris Q+A

[thegruf]

Elon's Paris Q+A earlier this year - jump to about 12:45

V8.0 clearly doesn't have this, so is it coming in v8.1?
There's talk of updated OS 4.4 and new browser features and other stuff but this I think is the biggie for many of us.

And, honestly if they don't deliver on something along these lines then Carplay and Android Auto have to be the next option, nothing significant though will be pretty disappointing. I've already had owners of such cars asking if I have it and looking a bit incredulous that there isn't an equivalent on the Telsa's huge screen.

Remaining hopeful ...

 

[msnow]

All he said was mirroring is possible by the middle of this year but touchscreen probably not. I took it as a vague answer.

 

[mspohr]

There is this DisplayLink technology which allows PCs (Mac, PC, Linux, etc.) to mirror an Android phone display. Unfortunately, due to Apple's walls, not iPhones currently. Easy to work with Android (just install a mirror app).
DisplayLink - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
DisplayLink

 

[alexvirital]

I think this is an interesting concept, but I don't know how quickly we really see it in practice... or really how practical it ends up being. I guess the touchscreen could become an AirPlay target for iOS, but it wouldn't be interactive. So they'd have to come up with something that both mirrored at the OS level, and allowed to run with other apps. That's just not something Apple's going to be keen on, especially when CarPlay is (comparatively) so much easier.

I'm sure you could hack something together to work on the Android side of the yard, but I sincerely doubt they drop something that "locks' you to an ecosystem. It'd be pretty shortsighted for Tesla to completely ignore one of, if not _the_ most, major player in the premium phone market.

Tl;dr: I'm not holding my breath. If we get Android Auto/CarPlay, I'll be over the moon. In the meantime, what we have is Good Enough and Still Better Than Most.

 

[sbtz]

Out of curiosity, why wouldn't the touchscreen be part of this? Couldn't they just do a half-screen as Airplay and have it be touchscreen-capable?

 

[alexvirital]

Out of curiosity, why wouldn't the touchscreen be part of this? Couldn't they just do a half-screen as Airplay and have it be touchscreen-capable?

The Airplay spec (as I understand it, and I may be incorrect) does not permit a target display to respond to device with touch input.

 

[sbtz]

The Airplay spec (as I understand it, and I may be incorrect) does not permit a target display to respond to device with touch input.

Sorry, I meant CarPlay... which would be more than enough functionality for me...

 

[msnow]

Sorry, I meant CarPlay... which would be more than enough functionality for me...

That only works for Apple though.

 

[sbtz]

That only works for Apple though.

No reason they couldn't do CarPlay and Android Auto - lots of cars have both.

 

[msnow]

No reason they couldn't do CarPlay and Android Auto - lots of cars have both.

There's still Windows phone and people that don't have smartphones. That means Tesla still needs to maintain their own solution which means there's no cost offsets. @MP3Mike knows much more about this than I.

 

[thegruf]

There's still Windows phone and people that don't have smartphones. That means Tesla still needs to maintain their own solution which means there's no cost offsets. @MP3Mike knows much more about this than I.

But that's the point of a full on computer and 17 inch display, you can use the inbuilt media player if you don't have smartphone, Android auto if you're on the Android platform and Carplay for Apple users. You can get to choose.

I suspect that Apple's restrictions re remote touch input and general issues surrounding safety and how to fragment what is/is not permitted are frustrating Tesla's intent.

I do think that Tesla must do something soon though as it's not a great situation to have the best interface in the world when a sub $20K car has better smartphone integration.

fingers crossed.

 

[Baja30]

I agree, leading high tech vehicle with outdated entertainment system. Putting a 17" screen in isn't enough, you need the capabilities to take advantage of the nice screen.

 

[tliving]

@thegruf, while I'm interested in seeing third party apps either in the app section of the Tesla or mirrored to the display, I don't think CarPLay is a good comparison for things Tesla is missing. I recently spent a week in a (miserable) ICE rental whose only redeeming feature was CarPlay. CarPlay offered nothing that I noticed that the Tesla didn't have built in unless it's a quibble over Pandora vs Slacker. Am I missing something?

I'd love to have Waze on the Telsa (not just in the sluggish browser) for accidents and alerts (and better traffic routing) and options like Pandora, but Tesla doesn't seem to be behind in the features offered by CarPlay.