2020 Prius Prime - "Android Auto" ?

not that i have read.

as i understand it, with CarPlay or android auto, your phone is basically emulated on the screen.

without them, you are integrating with entune, which is a nightmare, but does allow phone calls, music and a few other basic services.

toyota may be working on a deal for android, and like CarPlay, it might show up at some point. i wouldn't buy a car hoping it could be retrofitted if i had to have it.
but you can always change the h/u, not sure with the prime massive screen.

 

I've been looking at options and prices on the 2020 Prius Prime XLE or Limited, but I can't see buying it without Android Auto. (The XLE seems to have all the options I want if I add the optional heads up display.) I probably won't be ready to buy until next spring or summer, so I hope they have an update by then, or I'll probably look at a Chevy Bolt or Nissan Leaf.

 

they're starting to add android to other models, so patience is a virtue

 

I'm neither patient nor virtuous so I pulled the trigger and bought a Prime Limited. I'm still hoping that Android Auto gets added at some point but if it doesn't there are enough workarounds that I can live with it... barely. I was going to keep my old 2010 Prius IV and change out the head unit with one that has Android Auto, but I balked at spending that much money on a 9-year-old car. It made so much more sense to buy a new car instead LOL

 

I would prefer to have the phone mirrored to the large screen with Android Auto but since most new phones have a 6" screen, I manage quite well with the phone only. I have given up on the terrible Toyota nav system and only use the screen for the occasional hvac adjustment. It's frustrating to have this giant 11" screen and not use it for anything but I got tired of dealing with it.
I use a magnetic mount on the left vent next to the 11" screen. My phone is no lightweight but it has never fallen off and is easy to see with less glare than the 11" screen. I suppose that would vary depending on your phone.

 

Toyota was stupid for trying to make their own car apps rather than just integrate with everyone's phones.

However, I've never understood the logic of the infotainment system being a serious factor in buying a car. You can pretty much get 90% of same functionality with a phone/tablet + car mount. Personally, I prefer cars that get the core functions of a car right rather than ones with fancy accessories.

 

The manufacturers should give up on trying to integrate infotainment into the cars. They almost never get it right and even if they do it will be obsolete in a couple of years; long before the useful life of the car is over. I upgrade my phone every two years to get current features, better performance and battery life; not my car.

The auto manufacturers figured how to build multiple universal cup holders. They need to build a good universal phone mount into the car and forget about chasing the infotainment phantom. They probably will never abandon the infotainment options. Can't charge thousands of dollars for a built in phone mount.

 

Agree.

But there are a few things that should probably stay with the auto manufacturer, such as security items (door lock/unlock, remote start, for PHEVs/BEVs the ability to remotely control charging, etc).

 

I think that was the idea behind the Entune app suite, mediocre that it may have been.

And for that reason, it might make more sense for that nicely located big screen built into the car to be integrated with a suite of phone apps specific to the car and which could be upgraded. The car maker could even license an API to 3rd-party software manufacturers for non-safety related functions.

Tesla seems to have no problem upgrading their cars' software. So I suspect it is just the legacy car makers not being able to figure out the marketing implications of having a component of a car which gets updated within the useful life of the automobile. Possibly they're thinking about it as if it were replacing the tail lights on your 2015 model with 2020 versions.

 

I can say that I'm seriously considering a non-Prius for the first time in 12 years due to the lack of Android Auto support. I'd really like to get a Prius Prime as my next car, but unless they add Android Auto by spring when I'll be buying, I'll most likely go for a Honda Insight.

Entune is sufficiently useless that I've just deleted the app from my phone after a brief trial on my last 2 Priuses. I don't use any of the supported apps, and none of my heavy use apps are supported. And that big screen on the Prime would only annoy me, if it couldn't display Google Maps.

 

I rented a mitsubishi for a while and running the Waze satnav app via Android auto really did enhance the driving experience. The rubbish sat nav on my 2nd gen Prius really cannot compare and the cost of updating the maps is criminal. Android auto also reads (speaks) text messages and allows you to reply by converting your voice to text. The latest version does not need to be connected via usb but knowing Toyota, I bet their brand new version (when it arrives) will be the usb version. Having said that...the latest version of Google allows all that to happen just on your phone without connecting to the car. It's still a bit of a pain mounting the phone where the screen can be seen and I would prefer to use the bigger care screen

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Will android auto/ apple car play allow for remote control of the climate system?

It's starting to get cold and I'm looking forward to preheating/ defrosting my car.

 

yes i think the climate control stays in the lower portion of the screen, and car play the upper

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I think question asked was "Remote Climate Control", which I believe is not possible with Android Auto.

AFAIK, No, they won't. Nither Android Auto nor Apple Car play has any way to communicate with car's climate control even while wired to the car when driving. Remotely, when unplugged, it has no connection to the car at all.

 

yes indeed , after rereading the post i stand corrected.

i just hope toyota gives us the android auto , i can live without the rest

 

will there be some sort of update for Android auto? I see that the 2021 model will. Will this be available for 2019 primes?

 

I doubt it will be available for your model. The 2021 Prius Prime with Android Auto is only for LE model with a smaller 7" display. If Toyota can't figure out how to install AA in the 2021 PP XLE and Limited with 11.6" display, I doubt they can retrofit previous models with the same 11.6" display.

 

man that sucks. seems like it could be a simple software update