The global chip crisis often affects car manufacturers, who have to adapt their production and, in extreme cases, even have to pause it. To avoid the latter, BMW initially dispensed with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay for certain vehicles until April and plans to provide the features via an OTA update from the end of May.
BMW had to do without the integration of Android Auto and Apple CarPlay in some models, Automotive News Europe (Paywall) reported last Friday. The background is the current chip crisis, which among numerous companies is also affecting the automotive industry. Alternative chips for the infotainment system have not yet been certified for the two solutions from Apple and Google, which is why the screen in the vehicle cannot be played from the smartphone.
Vehicles with BMW OS 7 affected
After consultation with BMW Germany, ComputerBase can confirm the lack of equipment, but the fact no longer applies to vehicles that have been produced since May. Affected are vehicles produced from January to April 2022 for the German market and other European countries that still use the infotainment system with BMW Operating System 7. The BMW OS 8 has so far been used in the iX, i4 and 2 Series Active Tourer (test). In addition, use in the new 7 series and thus also the i7 is planned for the end of the year. All other BMW models still use an older generation infotainment system with OS 7.
In addition to Android Auto and CarPlay, WiFi is also affected
As a company spokesman confirmed to the editors when asked, supply bottlenecks with semiconductors were the reason for the lack of Android Auto and Apple CarPlay in the production period mentioned. BMW relies on new hardware for the head unit of the infotainment system, the software of which could not be certified in parallel with the new hardware, so that BMW could not provide some functions directly for delivery. In addition to Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, the Wi-Fi hotspot in the car and Remote Software Upgrades (RSU) via WLAN are also missing. The RSUs, i.e. the OTA updates from BMW, are basically still possible via the LTE mobile radio module in the vehicle.
OTA- Update from the end of May
BMW also wants to use exactly this way of updating to submit all of the missing functions mentioned later. The software has now been certified and is already being used ex works in vehicles produced from May. With the RSU 03-22, which is expected for the end of May but, according to Automotive News Europe, will be available by the end of June at the latest, the missing features are to come into the vehicle.
Temporarily annoying, but easy to solve
The restrictions that existed until April may be annoying for affected customers, but in this case they can be solved comparatively easily solve, since it is only a matter of missing software functions that can be submitted later via OTA update without restrictions, without customers having to visit the workshop. The situation was different at the end of last year with the lack of touchscreens, which BMW has been able to offer in full again since February.