See, BMW’s doing fairly alright through the semiconductor shortage. The marque is focusing on higher-volume cars, cutting a few options like adjustable passenger seat bolsters and working quickly to onboard new suppliers. However, just because new semiconductor suppliers have products that fulfill BMW’s needs doesn’t mean that BMW’s software will work flawlessly with the new hardware. Automotive News Europe is reporting that because of a change in chip suppliers, some new models may not get Apple CarPlay or Android Auto capability until a software update is pushed out, possibly as late as the end of June. However, that’s not the whole story. Bimmerpost user GreyLVKnight posted a screenshot of an email about these infotainment equipment issues and things look to go a whole lot deeper than just CarPlay and Android Auto. Per the email addressed to “military sales partners,” the build sheet for a new BMW includes code 6P1, two-device Bluetooth call pairing, two-device Bluetooth streaming audio and the in-car Wi-Fi hotspot will all be temporarily disabled. Moreover, this issue appears to affect just about every current model-year car and SUV BMW makes. Here’s the official list. G42 2-Series Coupe F44 2-Series Gran Corolla, er Gran Coupe G20 3-Series Sedan G21 3-Series Touring G80 M3 G22 4-Series Coupe G23 4-Series Cabriolet G26 4-Series Gran Coupe G82 M4 Coupe G83 M4 Cabriolet G30 5-Series Sedan G31 5-Series Touring F90 M5 G14 8-Series Cabriolet G15 8-Series Coupe G16 8-Series Gran Coupe F91 M8 Cabriolet F92 M8 Coupe F93 M8 Gran Coupe G29 Z4 G08 iX3 G01 X3 G02 X4 F97 X3 M F98 X4 M G05 X5 G06 X6 F95 X5 M F96 X6 M G07 X7 In addition to these models outlined in the memo, multiple forum users on the babybmw boards report that their recently-delivered F40 1-Series models don’t have CarPlay or Android Auto functionality either. Holy crap, that’s a lot of vehicles missing a fairly common set of features. So what’s unaffected? Well, not a whole lot, it appears. The i4, iX and U06 2-Series Active Tourer are unaffected as they use the latest eighth iteration of iDrive. The F48 X1, F39 X2 aren’t yet confirmed to be affected, but there’s still a chance they are. Now I don’t know about you, but I’d be properly annoyed if I had to potentially wait the better part of two months to use CarPlay on my brand new luxury car. While other BMW owners have suffered worse — like anyone who experienced the common timing issues of the N20 four-cylinder engine, every V8 M3-owner who has to consider rod bearing replacement as periodic maintenance, or every E63 and E64 6-Series owner who’s learned the hard way that a cup holder can retail for more than $1,000 — a lack of phone mirroring isn’t exactly a drop in the bucket. It’s like getting ketchup on a white shirt or having a service delay pop up on the parcel tracker for your latest order of car parts. Sure, this issue will be resolved sooner or later, but when a $13,600 Chevrolet Spark city car has phone mirroring and your Ultimate Marketing Machine doesn’t, it’s entirely right to be a bit upset. At the same time, I do feel bad for BMW’s software engineers. While the coding itself can be time-consuming, the process of testing, patching, testing and eventually committing to a stable version takes absolute ages. Imagine having to do phone mirroring all over again while an angry mob is screaming down the customer service hotline. That’s about as fun as realizing you’re on fire. Anyway, fingers crossed that BMW can sort this CarPlay and Android Auto integration quickly and push out a stable release before the end of June. Wi-Fi hotspot functionality is confirmed to have returned on May 4 according to this forum post which also alleges that CarPlay and Android Auto fixes will start rolling out come May 19. In the forum post is a screenshot that appears as if it could be from BMW’s own ISTA diagnostics and programming software, although it is cropped in quite close. The speed and scope of this alleged roll-out is currently unknown, but hopefully it’s quick and wide. I know that we car enthusiasts often lament the level of in-cabin technology in new vehicles, but an infotainment system that lacks CarPlay and Android Auto seems like a deal-breaker to me. Lead photo credit: BMW This very accurately describes what it’s like being a contractor for an automotive manufacturer. Normal bluetooth connectivity is sufficient for audio and phone calls, should you need them. About the only use case I can think of is navigation if you want it on the infotainment screen, but even then I have never seen an implementation of car play /auto that isn’t a laggy mess compared to the native application on the phone, in which case a $20 phone mount is the superior choice. What am I missing, what is the “killer app” that makes this functionality so essential to so many people? I managed to get a Motorola MA1 dongle and change my Android Auto into wireless Android Auto, and that’s an even bigger gamechanger. I don’t even have to take my phone out of my pocket unless I want to charge it. I have it in my ’07 Cobalt via the Pioneer head unit and my god is it wonderful. And yet people will forsake the BMW of their status-conscious dreams and go with a Buick or something, just because of it. I don’t get it at all. Seems like a million things would be more important: power and drive-trains, suspension, styling, interior quality and comfort, performance, safety, etc. But no, the Big Phone is make-or-break for buyers, just baffling to me. I think this identifies the problem…. You assume people’s motivations without actually knowing, and you do it with contempt by default. Phone integration is table stakes at this point. If you don’t have it you’re not even playing the game. You’ve essentially admitted you need your phone while you’re driving. We all do. But it should be used through physical, tactile controls that were designed to work with you while you drive. Not while you fumble with a handheld touchscreen. And not after you modify your new car to mount a screen instead of the built-in one. Even if you care about performance and comfort and safety more than the CarPlay, it’s completely reasonable to discount a car that doesn’t have a “basic needs” feature. If you’re satisfied with the feature set as shipped and the promised features would be icing on the cake, then great. If the missing feature is a dealbreaker then the deal is broken until the feature arrives. I guess Torch’s turn signal articles need to go too, since you don’t technically need those to drive either. (especially on a BMW) When I ordered it a week later they had removed the BMW digital key for a small credit. When I picked it up in the end of December they told me they weren’t able to build in the the touchscreen and gave me a small credit. The iDrive puck works and CarPlay is still there so it’s OK. Bit of a pain to learn but OK… However…. Recently, it poured when I was going into the Parent – pick – up line at school. I wore a T shirt and running pants. SO, I thought… leave the device in my car. I couldn’t bring my usual key assortment or my wallet, so I left them hidden. Decided to also leave my “fob” as its only really for locking “remote”. So I locked my doors with my key. and held onto that. I dont grasp… how ya need all this extra shit to operate ya car. When I was done, I unlocked my door from the right pass side… started the ignition from that side, slid over, popped the clutch and took off. BTW…. When It dawned on me that this is an Android system…. (Im thinking evil 1984 here), and this is being put into my car…. I was dead set against it. Why… should I have a device like this.. to be in my car? I really fucking hate the device itself.
