rmorin1249

Played with my phone in the car for a while this morning and finally got it to pair and activate with Android Auto. You have to download the Android Auto App to your phone, use a good mini USB cable and then activate your phone similar to using it via Bluetooth. You then scroll through a few screens reading what Google says about all the features that are now available to you like maps, music, weather, etc. I don't see myself using these as I use my ipod touch for music and I find the GM Nav system adequate for my needs. At any rate, at least it does seem to work as designed. BTW, I have an LG G4 phone.

Rooster OG

Android auto works over Bluetooth doesn't it?

rmorin1249

Negative. Requires a USB cable that allows for data transmission. The setup steps tell you to connect the phone to the car using a cable. I believe phone calls and text messages still use Bluetooth even when using AA.

Coming home this afternoon I played around with the music and map features. The music did sound very good and the Google maps are clear and up to date.

chrsschb

The biggest benefit of AA so far is Google maps and much better voice recognition if you like to use hands free stuff.

Maxpowers

+1

What I like about Android auto is you don't even need to speak out the address...you just need to say the name of the destination (i.e. Bob's Bar in Niagara Falls)...

rmorin1249

HMMM, I'll have to give this a try. Thanks. Does it automatically use Google Maps?

Maxpowers

Yes. That there be where the magic is

defaria

I like - "Let's go home" and it tells me "Your home is 20 minutes away in light traffic... Let's go!". No,

Me: No dumb MyLink - I said 3432 East Main Street
MyLink: Please specify the city and state....

UUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!

bdstrak

Query if the 2014 C7 with the LT3 option package is backward compatible for Android Auto. The androidauto.com/play/ portal only lists the 2016 Corvette as being Android Auto compatible. Can earlier model years be upgraded? Can I download/install the app or do I need my dealer to install it? Once installed, will the USB connection play the app thru the car's video/sound system?

mdchaser

They made significant hardware changes for 2016 so AA is not compatible with the 2014/2015 cars. You can do an upgrade but the cost is over $1k and fairly difficult.

bdstrak

As with a front mounted camera, I think you just convinced me to "not fix what's not broken".
Thanks for the response.

stevedrummer

I believe you need to keep a data plan on the car to use this feature.
I dropped the plan and android auto keeps looking for the car google.
I haven't figured out how to use the phone data plan to link to android auto.
If anybody does, let me know.

cam30era

I'm not sure that I understand what you mean by "android auto keeps looking for the car google". Can you elaborate?

stevedrummer

I no longer have the on star wifi.
When I try to say an address on android auto, it shows searching google, then says google not found.
So I have to set the address on my phone first, then connect to USB to use the navigation.
While the data service was active on the car wifi, I could just say an address.
Hope this explains better.
Is there a way to have the android auto car screen to look for another source to connect to google?

cam30era

I don't have an OnStar subscription. When I press the microphone button on the AA screen and say, "OK Google" then "navigate to Bill Walls" it works (Bill Walls is in my Google contacts). FWIW, I have not yet tried to verbally say "navigate to this address".


Edit: for this to work your phone needs Google Now, or Android Assistant enabled. Otherwise your voice commands will be unrecognized by your phone.

Maxpowers

AA operates independently from Onstar and the car's data plan. It uses the data plan on your smartphone. I just plug my phone in VIA USB, press the AA icon on the infotainment screen and I'm good to go.

cam30era

What he said ^^^^^

defaria

Basically GM uses GPS to find coordinates and your network connection to look up things, get routes, traffic information, etc. Why you wasted time with onstar wifi is beyond me! It'll never really be much better than your cell phone in terms of speed anyway.

So yes, sounds like you just need to have your phone be connected to the mobile network for internet access. I guess a lot of people still worry about data charges - me? I'm on Sprint and have long since be grandfathered into unlimited data so I just leave it on and don't think about it.

Finally, GM does have offline maps. I forget specifically how to get to where they are... Hey! Google it! Anyway, I suspect if you say download map data for offline usage you can get most of the benefits that GM provides save real time traffic info. The offline maps cover a fairly large region and I believe you can have multiple area of offline maps downloaded. I think I created and offline map for some hiking areas like to go to in case the signal gets spotty and, of course, my home area too.

atvBob

If you were once using the WiFi in the car, but opted to NOT renew it, make sure you're not STILL connecting to the car (as a wireless access point).

Forget (delete) that SSID from your phone.

Otehrwise, it would/could be like connecting to your home WiFi router when your cable is down -- you can connect, but get no Interwebz access.

Just a thought.

SCB

I'm pretty sure the GM factory nav maps are all stored permanently "offline" (only the traffic info is fed via XM traffic- if your XM subscription runs out, you won't see the traffic. Even with no GPS signal/reception, it can keep track of where you are based on the compass, etc. (until the signal becomes available again) and can still calculate the route/directions to a POI/Address.

With Carplay/Android Auto, you are using your phone, which normally needs a data connection. So even if you are in your building's parking structure, you may not be able to do much until you get to a point where it can get a signal. It will remember previous destinations, so you can select those, and the system should start to work normally once you start receiving a signal.