Wireless CarPlay is Here…Sort of

share on:
Alpine iLX-007 CarPlay

Apple released an update to iOS 8 on Wednesday, which adds wireless CarPlay as well as some fixes to bugs in the existing wired CarPlay feature, said reports from AppleInsider and other blogs.

With wireless CarPlay, drivers need not plug their iPhone into their radio. CarPlay features can launch at the press of a button on the steering wheel or radio while your phone is in your pocket or purse or simply nearby.

The catch is that wireless CarPlay works over WiFi, not Bluetooth, and no radios currently have activated both WiFi and CarPlay to our knowledge.

In a possible exception, an advanced radio from Parrot shown at CES, called the RNB6 offers both WiFi and CarPlay but it has no firm ship date nor price at present.

Kenwood said it does not expect to offer wireless CarPlay this year. And Pioneer confirmed that it does not expect to offer WiFi this year.

Alpine did not respond to inquiries on wireless CarPlay.

Suppliers said Apple choose WiFi for wireless CarPlay because Bluetooth does not have sufficient bandwidth to support CarPlay features.

Apple’s new iOS 8.3 update also fixes some bugs with standard CarPlay including an issue where the keyboard could appear on the CarPlay screen when it shouldn’t, said 9 to 5 Mac.

 

Want to receive industry news? Sign up here
share on:

4 Comments

  1. About two weeks ago I was talking with my Alpine rep and he had said the ILX-007 was equipped with WiFi already, they were just waiting for the software to come out.

    Apple has their side here, looking forward for Alpine to provide their update.

  2. I was reading the reviews for the Alpine iLX-007 on Crutchfield. One of the reviewers took it it apart and found a Bluetooth antenna and a chip that might be a Bluetooth/Wifi combo. He listed the FCC ID as A269ZUA143.

    I googled the FCC ID and there are several documents associated with the ID. The header of one of the documents read “A269ZUA143 by Alpine Electronics Inc for Wi-Fi Module”

    So maybe, if the Crutchfield reviewers info is true, wireless CarPlay will be activated with a software update.

  3. Sounds about right to me? Kinda like when out of the blue, without any notice, Apple decides to change from the 30 pin to the Lightning cable and quit streaming video, Surprise, surprise, surprise.
    Shows how important their CarPlay protocol is to them I suppose. Distant cousin twice removed.
    “Oh so you dislike having to be tethered by your lighting cable to enjoy your iPhone’s “walled garden” of useless apps”?
    ” Well they fixed that for you with the iOS 8 update now you can connect via WiFi it’s way better thaBluetooth”.
    “OH, snap nobody makes a compatible in car WiFi receiver, but when someone does than your cutting the edge Mr/Mrs AppleFanatic. It’ll certainly be worth the wait to access that wonderful Apple Map app via WiFi while driving. Let’s order us a pizza”? Hello Siri?

Comments are closed.