Comment by 51Cards | Hacker News Reader

Comment by 51Cards | Hacker News Reader

>Continuing with the above example, let's imagine I just downloaded a new podcast app on my phone (one that is also available in the automotive Play Store). The next day I have to go on a long drive and I want to listen to a podcast episode I downloaded on my phone. When I enter my car, I have to go to the Play Store, find the app, download it, log in, and then download the episode. When I use CarPlay, I only have to connect my phone.

Does the author have no experience with Android Auto? The same happens there, if the app is on my phone and it supports Android Auto then it will automatically be available in the car, along with all media on my phone. This isn't a CarPlay only functionalitiy, it's just how phone mirroring works on both platforms. Author seems to think there is an extra step involved on Android. Perhaps by "Play Store" they mean the car manufacturer's own app store?

Source: I use Android Auto constantly in my own vehicle and in the 15+ rental cars I have every year.

The author is talking about Android Automotive which is different than Android Auto.

Auto is driven from your phone whereas Automotive is running on your car directly.

Thanks for the clarification!

No problem. It’s a really common misunderstanding because Google purposefully like to name things to reduce distinction.

I agree it’s a mess. But Apple isn’t doing itself any favors on CarPlay branding now that it sort of means multiple things.

And don’t get me started on the Apple TV naming mess.

I’m sorry, I’m not clear on what you are talking about. Apple TV, the device? Apple TV, the app? Or Apple TV+, the streaming service? :)

It makes for great sentences like: The other day I was using Apple TV on my Apple TV to watch a show on Apple TV+. Which just rolls of the tongue and is sure to cause no confusion. /s

It’s a mess for sure.

Alright, but then comparing CarPlay 1 to Android Automotive is comparing apples and oranges. The author should be comparing CarPlay 1 to Android Auto and CarPlay 2 to Android Automotive.

Sure but I’m just providing more info to the other person? I’m not defending the author. I think many of their criticisms on both sides have flawed arguments and misconceptions .

Ummm, no? Sort of. First we don’t really know much about CarPlay 2. It was announced in 2022 but hasn’t been detailed yet. However, all the assumptions are that it runs of your phone just like CarPlay 1, but with more control and integration in the car. Nothing I have seen from Apple or others suggests that Apple is building an Android Automotive-like product. I.e: Apple software that runs off the car itself. Also it will be very unlike Apple to sell software that car companies run, which is what Android Automotive is. Unless the plan is to sell an iOS box that car manufacturers integrate into the car. But I haven’t seen any thing that suggests that.

> Android Automotive which is different than Android Auto

I know this isn't the highest value comment in the world, but god Google's product naming/differentiation is terrible. I can't imagine a more guaranteed-to-confuse (or worse, more guaranteed to lead to misleading second-party marketing) nomenclature.

It couldn’t be simpler.

Android Automotive (AA) is obviously different from Android Auto (AA). You see, AA runs on the car and runs the infotainment system whereas AA is just screen mirroring for Android phones. AA supports CarPlay just like it supports AA. Apple doesn’t have anything like AA, CarPlay is equivalent to AA.

Lastly, it’s not like “Auto” is short for another word such that people would mistake the two. It’s clear as day.

/s

>> Continuing with the above example, let's imagine I just downloaded a new podcast app on my phone (one that is also available in the [Android A]utomotive Play Store).

They lost a capitalization which makes it a bit ambiguous but their scenario is this:

There are two app stores being discussed: iOS (for CarPlay), and Android Automotive (the infotainment system's play store).

If you have Android Automotive on an infotainment system and an iPhone and can't connect your iPhone to the infotainment system, you have to download the app twice: iOS App Store and Android Automotive Play Store.

I don't know the numbers, but Android Automotive infotainment systems don't universally support CarPlay. Some only got it via updates over the last couple years (that's also a selling point of them, though, that they could do it via software updates and not a whole hardware refresh).

There's a difference between Android Auto (Google's CarPlay equivalent for phone projection to any infotainment system) and Android Automotive (Google's Infotainment OS).

Any car that supports android auto (not automotive), no matter what software it’s running, is technically capable of supporting CarPlay.

If it doesn’t, that’s a choice the automaker made. Either to disable it or to not write that part of the software.

I know Android Automotive already has all the code to support it. So for an android automotive car to not support CarPlay is 100% a decision.

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