Hacker News Reader

Comment by bmo-at | Hacker News Reader

Yeah, I 'inherited' a 2015 BMW 1-series with very basic equipment from my grandma. Plenty of car for a cs student, but I really wanted Apple Carplay and Android Auto in my car.

You're right though, it is not perfect. But I was surprised how well it's integrated. It definitely connects faster and more reliably than the default Bluetooth connection in the car and it can be removed without a trace afterwards, since it's just a piggyback box.

I do experience a crash though sometimes, and then I have to stop, turn off and lock the car for ~30 seconds just to restart the box.

I have a binary firmware file from the manufacturer, was thinking I might try to decompile it and make my own version, but I don't have a the experience or the time atm.

View on HN

There is a slow movement to Reverse Engineer carplay (mostly the problem lies with apple MFi encryption) but it'd be great if more people joined in to make a truly opensource carplay implementation

The most advanced RE effort I've found: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnS_TP18VBk (comments) https://gist.github.com/Wh1terat/f06c8b4a41f93f482bf5892095b...

What's there to reverse? CarPlay is extremely basic, you send a surface geometry to the iPhone and you tell it what it can be used for, a lot like Apple Watch complications, and then CarPlay can decide what to send to the buffer.

Example: In a Mini, with wireless CarPlay I get a Main View for CarPlay's springboard, and configurable split screen for other car functions, however one of the functions is a media view for currently playing media. This allows me to use any car functions in the main view and still see what media is playing from any source including CarPlay, and it shows the Album View from CarPlay.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&c...

Here's the cream: https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2019/252

The (MFi?) authentication prevents you from making your own carpc compatible with carplay because of encryption, there are efforts to break it (extract key) but AFAIK none of the public ones have succeeded so far

I have a similar problem with a Carlinkit box I installed myself. I do get a new firmware update from the person I purchased my unit. But the quality is certainly not top-notch. it works. With a recent fw update mine also freezes completely. I would reboot it a few times by long-pressing the physical back button. Pretty annoying when you rely on working navigation on the high way. I've contacted the support guy and he promised a new firmware is on its way. Fingers crossed :D

Now I can't imagine not having Carplay in my car :)

A little bit off-topic; while I installed the carlinkit myself I think I broke something. Now my car clock (the internal one shown on the speedometer screen) cannot be set anymore. And recently I notcied the PDC (pressure detection system of the tires) are complaining all the time.

Will have the car checked by mechanics soon. Not sure the defects I'm experiencing are related to my own doings or just unlucky.

Sounds no worse than the factory Wireless CarPlay on my 2019 F56 Cooper S. It's infuriatingly laggy and buggy. Best bit was that when I ordered the car is was a near £2k option to add it because you had to buy the upgraded Nav option, which I didn't want. I've used it once and although it's fine, it isn't as good as Waze for traffic.

Just give me CarPlay, I'll still spend that £2k but on things I need like a electrically heated front screen, or better seats.

> Best bit was that when I ordered the car is was a near £2k option to add it because you had to buy the upgraded Nav option, which I didn't want.

That is exceptionally common across a variety of manufacturers.

Other cars in the same class had it as standard - for example the Fiesta ST or the Polo GTI, I just didn't like the cabin or the ride quality on the Fiesta compared to the MINI. And the Polo felt totally bland.

The Fiesta and Polo are so heavy now they need independant rear suspension like the MINI has.

If you have a Bimmertech MMI, I think it can be hard-reset by just keeping the Menu button pressed for some time.

It's a great product even if a little buggy. I'm glad my car is compatible and honestly I wish this kind of device could be made universal. Car stereos used to be super easy to swap in and out, but nothing is standardized anymore. :(

It's unfortunately not the Bimmertech one, I have the Unique Auto Developments/IDCORE unit. At the time of my purchase it was the only one I could find with wireless carplay. I know the Bimmertech prime one exists now, but for me it's not worth it currently to buy another unit just cause it might be better. I agree though, it should be much easier to swap stuff on your car like the radio, just because tech moves so fast!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com