Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2024 January 24

= January 24 =

Uber app in Tesla computer?
Heavy Uber/Tesla users and perhaps Tesla owners can probably answer this quickly.

I recently took three Uber/Tesla rides and each driver had the Uber (driver's) app on a phone. They told me it could not be installed on the nice big Uber computer. At least two of them mentioned Elon Musk in their explanations.

Is it true that the Uber app cannot be added?

If so, why?

Also, what can you tell me in general about the Uber screen/computer? Is it more or less like a tablet, with Tesla-specific apps? Hayttom (talk) 18:31, 24 January 2024 (UTC)


 * The idea of adding apps to in-car entertainment systems is quickly falling out of favor. Protestations from old school car CEOs aside, most consumers use CarPlay or Android Auto to run their apps from their phone and display them on the in-car entertainment screen. It's not just easier, it's faster, and often is far more seamless with all the different options and capabilities.  Tesla Android, CarPlay, and mirroring are also available.  Uber drivers can now use the Uber app via CarPlay in their Tesla, although there is some configuration involved.  Wireless adapter kits make this easier. I was recently on vacation and had to rent a car.  With CarPlay, my entire trip itinerary, maps, and phone were on display and active in the new car within seconds.  This is how it's done now, even though the car companies keep fighting tooth and nail against it.  They keep trying to push this Wall Street, monetize-the-oxygen-they-breathe, subscriber model on car buyers, and it's done nothing but backfire in their face. Viriditas (talk) 22:30, 24 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Interesting. Do CarPlay and Android Auto accept touch-screen interaction? Hayttom (talk) 03:26, 25 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Yes. You’re basically using your phone on the entertainment screen. Viriditas (talk) 04:34, 25 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Note that per our article, Android Auto is only supported in certain countries [//www.android.com/intl/en_nz/auto/] (click the FAQ item "Is Android Auto available in my country?"). Poland is on that list, but Ukraine is not. Getting it to work seems to be complicated [//www.reddit.com/r/AndroidAuto/comments/12p0i2e/is_anyone_using_android_auto_in_countries_where/] as there seems to be some countries where you just have to get the app (e.g. sideloading) and some countries where you need to do more depending possibly also the version of Android and or Google Play servies; and car (I assume their service). Also even in countries where it is supported, acceptance is likely to vary depending a host of local factors including when support was added. E.g. for Poland this seems to be September 2021 [//9to5google.com/2021/09/08/android-auto-europe-indonesia-expansion/] which is a reasonable length now, but still not that long. Just like e.g. Waze or What's App are more popular in some countries, but Google Maps or other services like Facetime more popular in others. (Also dependent on other factors e.g. Waze especially for those who want to know about stuff like where there's any sort of traffic law enforcement going on.) Also while it might be possible to use Android Auto in Teslas in some ways, I suspect the willingness of people to those efforts is likely to vary [//www.reddit.com/r/nzev/comments/15n46cb/adding_carplay_and_android_auto_to_a_tesla_in_nz/] [//www.reddit.com/r/TeslaModelY/comments/14yr0g8/carplay_orand_teslas_android_hack/]. Uber seems to the sort of thing where you don't want any flakiness, so if you're able to do all you need on your phone in the car, plenty of drivers are not going to want to risk fooling with anything else. (If your Spotify stops workings, most people will cope. Even if your navigation stops working for general purpose driving, you might be able to continue to somewhere you can safely pull over to fix it. If you Uber doesn't work properly you might miss customers or worse, be late for a pickup or screw up the drive resulting in negative feedback.) Nil Einne (talk) 11:56, 25 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Note that several users in the Reddit thread linked above also reported poor experience with Android Auto. The mention of 5 years ago, raises an important point. While the time between upgrades of phones is increasing, still in many countries I think the average is under 5 years. By comparison, in many countries it's still very common for people to use a car 10 years older or more. I don't know how much work needs to be done by the head unit with Android Auto, but if Google etc are developing their apps and increasing the requirements imposed on the head unit people's experiences in olders cars may be poor. You can get similar problems with smart TVs, but many people just use Chromecast dongles or similar with them anyway or start to ones there are problems. And even there AFAIK it tends to be more the case people simply stop supporting apps for older TVs rather than the apps starting to work poorly on older TVs because they have higher requirements. (Or maybe more accurately when that happens, the developers simply abandon support for the older devices.) Interesting enough, while TVs with Android are an option, the TV manufacturer proprietary OSes (especially Samsung and LG) seem to be much more popular in some countries, and I can't help wondering if this is part of the reason. (Although I think in most countries, people tend to upgrade their TVs more often than they do their cars.) Nil Einne (talk) 12:18, 25 January 2024 (UTC)
 * I had more of a look and it seems that the headunit is mostly just acting as a display so the requirements shouldn't change much over time. OTOH, I found lots of reports of problems and in most cases people say they can't offer suggestions without, the phone, connection type and headunit so I don't think the headunit is irrelevant. Factory resetting the headunit seems a common suggestion too. I have very little interest in Apple products, still while some people did report Carplay was better, others don't agree [//www.reddit.com/r/cupraborn/comments/17w3tq5/android_auto_really_slow_responsiveness/]. Note that I'm not saying I expect most car built in systems to be better but now that I've looked, I'm not particularly surprised to find that for many people using Android Auto is definitely far from seemless or something that just works without issue even if they have a headunit in their car which nominally supports it and a decent phone. That said, as much as I dislike Tesla and the proprietary closed ecosystems in general, as well as the IMO crazy subscriber models for basic services for cars you own, I'm also not particularly surprised if plenty of people are fine with what Tesla does if it supports whatever apps they want. Since AFAIK, like Apple they tend to be good at making stuff just work if you're willing to accept the limits they impose. Of course since the headunit is doing all the work the risk of problems developing as they age and the hardware starts to be limited compared to newer models is likely to be greater even if the manufacturer has more control over the ecosystem. It's likely to depend a lot on how much they care, one advantage I guess of a subscriber model is they're more likely to car as long as there are enough subscribers to make it worth their while. (Easily hardware upgradable head units is another option but this depends if people feel it's worth while.) Nil Einne (talk) 13:01, 25 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Sorry it looks like I was mislead/confused by updates on the earlier link, I think support for Android Auto in Poland was added in December 2020 [//www.theverge.com/2020/12/3/22150166/android-auto-expands-countries-europe-africa-asia] not September 2021. So a little longer, still well after initial launch. Also besides sideloading, changing region for you Google account or adding another Google account to your phone or tablet, set to a different region and using that account to install the app would likely work and allow updates to work fine. But I assume this still doesn't help if you're in one of those countries where Google tries to block Auto's use. Nil Einne (talk) 12:30, 25 January 2024 (UTC)
 * I do not have a Tesla. I have a Mazda. But, my experience is related. I can install Uber on my Mazda's built-in display, but I don't because it costs a lot of money. To install Uber, it is $250 (approximate because dealers add to the cost to make a few dollars). But, that isn't all. I have to have Mazda navigation installed. That is $800+ and has to be updated yearly. So, I'm basically looking at $1000 to install the Uber app in my Mazda. Instead, I have it on my phone and use Android Auto, which is free, to display everything on the infotainment screen. I also saw the note about touch screen. The Maxda uses a "hockey puck" down by the gear shift to move a cursor around the screen. It is weird at first, but that is the only way I interact with it now. I don't have to take my eyes off the road and aim my finger. I have memorized the puck motions to get from menu to menu very quickly without even looking at the screen. But, the main point is that Mazda charges a lot of money to add anything to their built-in system. Mazda is midrange. It is not luxury in any way. So, more expensive cars likely charge more because why not? If you are paying twice the cash for a very similar car, you will pay twice the cash for an app, right? It is the same reason that apps on my android phone tend to cost a lot less than the same app on my brother's iphone. 75.136.148.8 (talk) 12:58, 25 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Depending on how much you like your current screen, you can get a new, wireless/wired, fully compatible, Android Auto touchscreen with all the bells and whistles for between $100-200. On more sketchy sites, you can even find them for $50-100.  Depending on how much screen real estate you want, there are basically three different types: 1) the full head unit replacement (which you probably don't want or need, but is something to consider as it is a popular but more installation heavy option); 2) the portable heads-up variety, which is smaller in height, but wider (similar to what Lexus and others use pre-installed now) but allows you to put it just about anywhere. Most people place it right on top of their dash with an attachment.  If you live in a warm, humid, and hilly area, I've found that the glue-type attachments will fail over time and the screen will fall off of the dash.  There are other, more secure mounts, of course; 3) there are a variety of non-head unit, non-dash Android Auto screens that you can put just about anywhere.  One of the more popular can sit on your rear-view mirror or even attach to your sun visor.  The only question becomes how you will connect the audio to your main stereo system, if at all.  Most can connect wirelessly, but there's also usually a wired attachment included.  There's a lot of options, and honestly, one of the easiest ways to go is to use a large, but cheap tablet, a nice strong and sturdy tablet mount, and just screen mirror your phone to tablet.  That way, you get the Tesla-like visuals with little money, and its basically win-win with all the features of CarPlay/Android Auto.  It's surprising to me that more people don't do this.  Law enforcement figured this out way back in the 1990s, which is when they all started using huge laptop mounts in their patrol cars.  It's basically the same idea. Viriditas (talk) 21:38, 25 January 2024 (UTC)