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It's an unwritten rule that the infotainment systems built into cars are terrible, but systems like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto accept saved many drivers from the monstrosities designed past automakers. Owners of some BMW vehicles accept found themselves unable to admission CarPlay lately, and that appears to be due to an outage in the company's ConnectedDrive system. That's a paid service, and so owners have essentially paid BMW for the privilege of not using CarPlay in their luxury vehicles.

In most cars that support CarPlay or Android Auto, you become the necessary software support at a particular trim level. And then, you plug in your phone and it works — there'south nothing else to worry about. BMW is a chip different. It previously sold ConnectedDrive as an add-on feature at the fourth dimension of sale, but more recently it switched to a subscription model. Information technology opted to put CarPlay behind the subscription wall, and that's condign a sore point for its customers.

Drivers began complaining virtually CarPlay issues nearly a week ago. Calls to BMW support were futile, and no i could tell affected people what was wrong. Inevitably, technicians pointed to the telephone every bit the culprit rather than the car. Now, drivers accept gotten together and worked out that the CarPlay outage coincided with ConnectedDrive bug. Without ConnectedDrive, the car can't validate that the user has a license to use CarPlay, and it fails to start.

Reports around the internet suggest both subscribers with new 2019 cars and those with older one-time purchase systems are having bug. It'south not a universal problem, but it affects a fair number of owners. BMW has yet to make an official announcement almost ConnectedDrive, but techs have started confirming there is a problem when customers ask. In that location is no ETA on a set up, though.

Automakers accept been anxious to monetize in-automobile infotainment systems — drivers are a captive audience, after all. However, the advent of automotive systems from Apple and Google have made that more difficult. Nigh car companies are hesitant to arbitrarily lock features behind a subscription, but BMW is charging $80 per year for ConnectedDrive. Y'all're not going to have a lot of luck selling entry-level Toyota drivers on a subscription for their cars, merely BMW buyers might accept you upward on that. Of form, information technology has to work properly.

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