Why are BMW cars, suddenly, launching without Android Auto or CarPlay?
This might strike a lot of people as strange; BMW cars in the past have supported these services. It seems weird that cars are now launching without them and promising to deliver them at a later date. Well, strangely enough, it’s due to this ongoing chip shortage. Yeah, you’re tired of hearing about this chip shortage, but it has the tech industry by the throat and it’s not done squeezing. It’s going to continue for a while longer, unfortunately. Now, the reason why the chip shortage, which affects hardware, is causing cars to launch sans Android Auto and CarPlay has to do with the chips. BMW purchased its chips from a certain supplier previously. However, due to the chip shortage, the company needed to find another supplier. Unfortunately, that alternative company’s chips just aren’t compatible with Android Auto and CarPlay. Consequently, this new batch of cars can’t use those services just yet. If you can access the car’s production code, check for “6P1”. If you see that, then your car can’t use those services.
But, there’s good news!
If you can’t live without Android Auto or CarPlay, don’t fret. According to the source, (via 9To5Google) BMW is going to issue an OTA with the software required to run Android Auto and CarPlay on the chips. This update will arrive sometime between now and the end of June. It seems like a bit of a wait, but for all we know, it could come earlier. We’ll just need to wait and see what happens.
