Every installer has heard the complaint. CarPlay or Android Auto disconnects for no reason, then reconnects a few minutes later like nothing happened. A recent article from 9to5Mac offers a possible explanation, and it is not the phone, the cable, or the car.
The article points to radio interference as a likely cause. CarPlay and Android Auto rely on a Bluetooth or WiFi link between the phone and the head unit. When something interrupts that signal, the connection drops. The piece references an Axios report describing “dead zones” in Boston, where drivers lost their connection at the exact same intersections every time. Experts quoted in the report point to possible sources in the 2.4GHz band, including microwave links, broadcast antennas, or unlicensed transmitters near those locations.
Is this voodoo, or is it plausible? Based on how CarPlay and Android Auto actually work, this checks out. Both systems depend on a live wireless link rather than a hard wired one, so anything that crowds the 2.4GHz band, other WiFi networks, cordless phones, industrial equipment, even certain LED lighting, can cause a dropout. It would explain why some customers report losing connection in the same specific spot every time, while the rest of their drive is fine. It does not explain every disconnect out there, but this might be the culprit. Let me know what you think in the comments section below.
Read the full article at 9to5Mac.
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CarPlay isn’t the only device affected. I have a constant glucose meter that connects via BT to my phone. I’ve experienced many places where I lose signal. But it’s funny that I can walk 10 feet and then it comes back.
You make this sound like it’s not a known thing. I only have 1 spot in 200,000 person city that’s a known location (and it’s on the road next to a data center in a tower) It’s perfectly repeatable and just a fact of life. Another store in out company one city over has a list of 10 stops he knows CP/AA will drop. Several of them are around hi voltage transmission lines.
Is this not just a known thing by anyone regularly doing CP/AA systems?
The wireless space unfortunately needs more regulation. Dam I can’t believe I’m saying that. But it’s a Sh!t show out there. I have worked some small film sets and they need to purchase exclusive access to some wireless spectrum just to run the mics un-interrupted. And they still have issues with random people broadcasting on bands they shouldn’t be.
I would have assumed Apple/Google would have know about this and planned for it. Or maybe they can’t IDK.