Ok, I'm saying it - the infotainment system sucks (but who cares)

[Steve24]

Virtually everyone so far on the forum that has made reference to Screen mirroring has said that "carPlay" has been working fine. Given that carPlay uses WiFi for the connection the BlueTooth issue would be unlikely to show up and hence it would be good to understand the breakdown

Do you use (1) CarPlay or (2) Android Auto

I‘m no expert in this area so sorry if I’m misreading something, but Apple CarPlay definitely connects to the system via Bluetooth.

 

[kitkat]

I‘m no expert in this area so sorry if I’m misreading something, but Apple CarPlay definitely connects to the system via Bluetooth.

It uses Bluetooth to establish a connection and then automatically sets up a WiFi network for ongoing communication.

 

[BobbyG]

I'm guessing quite a few of us care about the infotainment system, or we'd have all bought an Evora?

Exactly.

 

[GreenDeal]

Same here: DAB, GPS, Apple Car Play (also wireless) are working very well without any problems. Also the sound quality of the KEF system is very nice, as soon you have good music source like USB, Apple Car Play or DAB

Unfortunately, I am also one of the Emira owners who have problems with the infotainment. And there are quite a few in Germany! I have already approached LOTUS directly about this matter. DAB, navigation is currently still terribly bad! Trip odometer shows trip a and b at the same time? And that for a car that costs 100,000 euros? The KEF system doesn't sound bad, but it doesn't have enough power for my taste and could be significantly louder!! I hope that the problems can be solved next year with a software update.

 

[Nova]

DAB is readily available here so difficult to understand why, when other low volume sales cars have it (and budget cars), they removed it. Unless they are using very old DAB hardware (ie not DAB+) then it would be compatible here.

From a GPS data perspective, Geospatial data is made available by the government here, so even that is hard to understand.

There are a number of reasons I don't want to use Android Auto (including it cooks my phone) and native GPS was actually part of my buying comparison process.

I found the technical "user manual" for the infotainment system, which is made by LG. It uses a NXP SAF360x radio chip, which includes support for AM/FM, HD Radio, DAB/DAB+. The manual itself indicates that DAB+ is supported by the overall design, so the hardware/software is definitely there.

The GPS map issue is that some company is providing the mapping data. The government of Australia may have geospatial data but you still would need the software that interprets the data to display the map and use it for routing. The software vendor Lotus uses may not have implemented adequate support for Australia and you can't simply plug in someone else's GPS software..

 

[JimH]

I found the technical "user manual" for the infotainment system, which is made by LG. It uses a NXP SAF360x radio chip, which includes support for AM/FM, HD Radio, DAB/DAB+. The manual itself indicates that DAB+ is supported by the overall design, so the hardware/software is definitely there.

The GPS map issue is that some company is providing the mapping data. The government of Australia may have geospatial data but you still would need the software that interprets the data to display the map and use it for routing. The software vendor Lotus uses may not have implemented adequate support for Australia and you can't simply plug in someone else's GPS software..

I believe that the maps are supplied by HERE Technologies : https://www.here.com/

And here's their supported country list : https://www.here.com/docs/bundle/pl...r-guide/page/topics/coverage-information.html

So I suspect just a licencing/cost issue for Lotus for Australia?

 

[Nova]

I believe that the maps are supplied by HERE Technologies : https://www.here.com/

And here's their supported country list : https://www.here.com/docs/bundle/pl...r-guide/page/topics/coverage-information.html

So I suspect just a licencing/cost issue for Lotus for Australia?

Possibly. There may be some minimum volume requirement for licensing that Lotus decided was too much for now?

 

[alvitdk]

I think the main point is not that it does not work well anyway, or that CarPlay and Android Auto are superior. The issue is that it was not disclosed to the customer until after the fact, there is simply no excuse for such behavior, no matter the reason...

 

[Robbierob]

Unfortunately, I am also one of the Emira owners who have problems with the infotainment. And there are quite a few in Germany! I have already approached LOTUS directly about this matter. DAB, navigation is currently still terribly bad! Trip odometer shows trip a and b at the same time? And that for a car that costs 100,000 euros? The KEF system doesn't sound bad, but it doesn't have enough power for my taste and could be significantly louder!! I hope that the problems can be solved next year with a software update.

My car is July 2023 build and Trip A/B are different. Navigation is OK, but just basic. You cannot compare it with a modern system, you are right…For a 100.000 Euro car its bad, right.

 

[Johnson]

I found the technical "user manual" for the infotainment system, which is made by LG. It uses a NXP SAF360x radio chip, which includes support for AM/FM, HD Radio, DAB/DAB+. The manual itself indicates that DAB+ is supported by the overall design, so the hardware/software is definitely there.

The GPS map issue is that some company is providing the mapping data. The government of Australia may have geospatial data but you still would need the software that interprets the data to display the map and use it for routing. The software vendor Lotus uses may not have implemented adequate support for Australia and you can't simply plug in someone else's GPS software..

Interesting. I’d be happy to pay to enable DAB… so I don’t have to start CarPlay each drive. I wonder if it can be done individually?

 

[BarryH]

Here you go @BarryH

How to enable developer mode in Android Auto, and why you might want to

Just like for an Android device, Android Auto allows you to enable developer mode to get access to setting you...

9to5google.com

It's in the developer menu in the Android Auto app on the phone. Once you enable the developer mode by following the above guide, the link to actually get into the developer mode menu will be in the three-dot menu on the upper right corner of the app.

You can disable wireless Android Auto entirely, but still retain wired Android Auto functionality that works just as you expect. Including normal Bluetooth function.

View attachment 33388

Excellent Thank you so much! The local dealer was adamant it could not be done.
In truth the only documentation they gave us was a quick start guide (50 Pages in total) so I have been struggling through the interface (envy the folks who got the entire 280+ page user guide - I'm going to question why that was the case - did they forget to give us the actual manual???)

 

[BarryH]

Interesting. I’d be happy to pay to enable DAB… so I don’t have to start CarPlay each drive. I wonder if it can be done individually?

I found the technical "user manual" for the infotainment system, which is made by LG. It uses a NXP SAF360x radio chip, which includes support for AM/FM, HD Radio, DAB/DAB+. The manual itself indicates that DAB+ is supported by the overall design, so the hardware/software is definitely there.

The GPS map issue is that some company is providing the mapping data. The government of Australia may have geospatial data but you still would need the software that interprets the data to display the map and use it for routing. The software vendor Lotus uses may not have implemented adequate support for Australia and you can't simply plug in someone else's GPS software..

Very interesting! Thanks for doing the research!

There are certainly several GPS systems for Android Automotive, but obviously it would needed to be skinned etc. It sounded from the response from Hethel that it was technically possible, they just screwed up with the contract and kept it secret (they indicated that it would be a significant cost to them to re-contract with the supplier, to put this in - not that it wasn't possible).

The fact that LOTUS appear to have taken the route of inferring to their prospective customers here, that the functionality was in the product they were buying, does not make me confident in the morals and customer centricity of the brand.

 

[BarryH]

On a completely orthogonal topic. I am trying to load my contacts into the phone app in the infotainment system and the synch continually fails with the message to enable contact synch on my phone. Unfortunately the slim Infotainment guide does not actually cover getting contacts into the system only how to select them.

Given I have never had to do anything with my phone to get it to load contacts into my other cars, I'm somewhat confused.

Happy to admit it might be "end-user error" in this case, so would appreciate any guidance.

Cheers,
Barry

 

[Kimmax]

There are certainly several GPS systems for Android Automotive,

The car is not running on Android Automotive

 

[Porter]

The car is not running on Android Automotive

Yes it is, they said so specifically in the early tech information and they even had a press release about it.

 

[Kimmax]

Yes it is, they said so specifically in the early tech information and they even had a press release about it.

I'm very interested if they also scrubbed it because the car doesn't seem to show anything I expect from Android Automotive. Where can I find said press conference?

 

[Porter]

I'm very interested if they also scrubbed it because the car doesn't seem to show anything I expect from Android Automotive. Where can I find said press conference?

Not a conference, a press release. There was a whole thing about it. And there's also early video interviews with journalists where they discuss it. There's even a video that I remember where two British journalists visited Hethel and actually showed off the development rig they were using that mimics the center stack of the vehicle with all of the screens and buttons.

 

[Porter]

I'm very interested if they also scrubbed it because the car doesn't seem to show anything I expect from Android Automotive. Where can I find said press conference?

FYI. My Acura also runs Android Automotive and looks completely different from other systems I've seen.

The Emira system is supposed to be a rehash of the AA setup from the Lynk & Co 01 and the recent Volvo cars. Same displays, same buttons, same functions. They even reused big chunks of the manual from Volvo.

Looking at the fonts, the iconography, and the style of the tiled layouts, I just can't imagine the Emira not using Android Automotive. It seems so clearly an AA native interface with a skin.

 

[JimH]

Excellent Thank you so much! The local dealer was adamant it could not be done.
In truth the only documentation they gave us was a quick start guide (50 Pages in total) so I have been struggling through the interface (envy the folks who got the entire 280+ page user guide - I'm going to question why that was the case - did they forget to give us the actual manual???)

Full manual is online/download only and can be found here : https://www.lotuscars.com/en-GB/emira-handbook

 

[Nova]

Here's info from the DCY11 technical manual indicating the OS: