❔ QUESTION Can the Emira Infotainment System do an over the air update?

[BarryH]

I have had issues with the infotainment system since picking up the car, with one of the most annoying being the inability for the native phone app to sync my contacts from the phone - attempting to synch the phone simply resulted in a "synch error" message. I had tried numerous times over the months, with the same outcome.

I escalated this within LCA at the end of the year, and and suddenly on next pairing all contacts were instantly synched (without out any obvious changes on my part at either end).

Over the Air Update to fix a glitch, Christmas gift from Santa ?

It did seem somewhat coincidental that it came good after an escalation to the right people.

Happy New Year to All!

 

[Kimmax]

They don't even manage to fix their software at the dealership... OTA is a big no lol

 

[JimH]

The car has the capability (for example mine happily connects to my home WiFi - there’s a setting) but I don’t believe that the back-end infrastructure is ready yet. It took around hand 2 years (IIRC) for the Lync & Co 01 to get set up (uses very similar hardware) after launch….

 

[Medic518]

The car has the capability (for example mine happily connects to my home WiFi - there’s a setting) but I don’t believe that the back-end infrastructure is ready yet. It took around hand 2 years (IIRC) for the Lync & Co 01 to get set up (uses very similar hardware) after launch….

Nice to know, but what other purpose would there be for connecting to wifi in the mean time?

 

[JimH]

Nice to know, but what other purpose would there be for connecting to wifi in the mean time?

None that I can see......

 

[kitkat]

Nice to know, but what other purpose would there be for connecting to wifi in the mean time?

Nav updates.

 

[JimH]

Nav updates.

I'd consider those as just other OTA updates in terms of vehicle functionality, but granted they are likely to be the most frequently issued and downloaded if the supporting infrastructure is ever implemented.....

 

[BarryH]

I'd consider those as just other OTA updates in terms of vehicle functionality, but granted they are likely to be the most frequently issued and downloaded if the supporting infrastructure is ever implemented.....

If only we had the navigation in the Australian Spec
I'm hoping we get some OTA update that will fix the usability of the Infotainment system (simple things like folders in alphabetical order, or remembering the mp3 you are playing would be nice...)

 

[Medic518]

If only we had the navigation in the Australian Spec
I'm hoping we get some OTA update that will fix the usability of the Infotainment system (simple things like folders in alphabetical order, or remembering the mp3 you are playing would be nice...)

So clear some things up for me - I understood the AUS version did not include DAB, and now you are saying no NAV either, so do you at least have CarPlay/Android Auto to compensate? Also "remembering the mp3" - are you referring to reading from USB drive?

 

[BarryH]

So clear some things up for me - I understood the AUS version did not include DAB, and now you are saying no NAV either, so do you at least have CarPlay/Android Auto to compensate? Also "remembering the mp3" - are you referring to reading from USB drive?

Yes unfortunately LOTUS decided to remove the Nav from the Australian spec, even after demoing a car with the functionality. Hence a number of us only found out either after the fact or just before taking delivery. The subsequent feedback was that the NAV was only to be available in the UK, Europe and the US markets. I have not been able to confirm this is the case as I have not heard confirmation either way from Forum members who have received their cars in the Middle East or North Asia.

To be honest I don't use Android Auto as it tends to leave my Samsung phone hot enough to fry an egg and flat to boot, as it tries to maintain signal strength cross country. I had no end of trouble getting it to not take over the Infotainment system anytime I got close to the car regardless if I was actually wanting to use it (not a great wireless implementation if you still want the phone paired but no wireless-AA).

Many people on the forum have made comments re-using CarPlay, which is architected differently than Android Auto. Hence I do wonder if the issues I have seen are not showing up for the majority of folks (especially if the Oz system is not the same implementation as other markets).

As for the mp3 issue, yes when reading from the USB, if you are mid album/folder and turn off the car, it does not keep track of the file you were on - which when listening to audio books adds an interesting challenge to the journey (eg stopping to grab a coffee). Also while individual files might be in order, listing the artists, Albums and/or Folders is a bit of a turkey-shoot. That said ,the sound quality I have found extremely good.

Let me stress, the car is fabulous to drive (and still one of the prettiest cars on the road) and hence you can forgive it a number of quirks, but the infotainment system - at least the nobbled version here in Oz - is simply not well implemented and negatively impacts the GT experience.

 

[virtualmacho]

The Japan market cars do not have sat nav.

 

[JP__FOX]

Yes unfortunately LOTUS decided to remove the Nav from the Australian spec, even after demoing a car with the functionality. Hence a number of us only found out either after the fact or just before taking delivery. The subsequent feedback was that the NAV was only to be available in the UK, Europe and the US markets. I have not been able to confirm this is the case as I have not heard confirmation either way from Forum members who have received their cars in the Middle East or North Asia.

To be honest I don't use Android Auto as it tends to leave my Samsung phone hot enough to fry an egg and flat to boot, as it tries to maintain signal strength cross country. I had no end of trouble getting it to not take over the Infotainment system anytime I got close to the car regardless if I was actually wanting to use it (not a great wireless implementation if you still want the phone paired but no wireless-AA).

Many people on the forum have made comments re-using CarPlay, which is architected differently than Android Auto. Hence I do wonder if the issues I have seen are not showing up for the majority of folks (especially if the Oz system is not the same implementation as other markets).

As for the mp3 issue, yes when reading from the USB, if you are mid album/folder and turn off the car, it does not keep track of the file you were on - which when listening to audio books adds an interesting challenge to the journey (eg stopping to grab a coffee). Also while individual files might be in order, listing the artists, Albums and/or Folders is a bit of a turkey-shoot. That said ,the sound quality I have found extremely good.

Let me stress, the car is fabulous to drive (and still one of the prettiest cars on the road) and hence you can forgive it a number of quirks, but the infotainment system - at least the nobbled version here in Oz - is simply not well implemented and negatively impacts the GT experience.

You can tell android auto to not connect automatically in the settings.

Even though its wireless, if I'm doing a reasonable length journey, I plug it in with the cable to charge the phone and my Samsung doesn't get hot.

 

[Medic518]

Yes unfortunately LOTUS decided to remove the Nav from the Australian spec, even after demoing a car with the functionality. Hence a number of us only found out either after the fact or just before taking delivery. The subsequent feedback was that the NAV was only to be available in the UK, Europe and the US markets. I have not been able to confirm this is the case as I have not heard confirmation either way from Forum members who have received their cars in the Middle East or North Asia.

To be honest I don't use Android Auto as it tends to leave my Samsung phone hot enough to fry an egg and flat to boot, as it tries to maintain signal strength cross country. I had no end of trouble getting it to not take over the Infotainment system anytime I got close to the car regardless if I was actually wanting to use it (not a great wireless implementation if you still want the phone paired but no wireless-AA).

Many people on the forum have made comments re-using CarPlay, which is architected differently than Android Auto. Hence I do wonder if the issues I have seen are not showing up for the majority of folks (especially if the Oz system is not the same implementation as other markets).

As for the mp3 issue, yes when reading from the USB, if you are mid album/folder and turn off the car, it does not keep track of the file you were on - which when listening to audio books adds an interesting challenge to the journey (eg stopping to grab a coffee). Also while individual files might be in order, listing the artists, Albums and/or Folders is a bit of a turkey-shoot. That said ,the sound quality I have found extremely good.

Let me stress, the car is fabulous to drive (and still one of the prettiest cars on the road) and hence you can forgive it a number of quirks, but the infotainment system - at least the nobbled version here in Oz - is simply not well implemented and negatively impacts the GT experience.

Wow! Seems Lotus loves their surprises.. I will be on the CarPlay side of things, so I hope you are right about the CarPlay implementation. However, I am going to have to wait, Lotus pushed the AMG based Emira another year here in the US (was told Jan '24 - then was given the Christmas gift of "early '25").

Thanks for all the information..

 

[BarryH]

You can tell android auto to not connect automatically in the settings.

Even though its wireless, if I'm doing a reasonable length journey, I plug it in with the cable to charge the phone and my Samsung doesn't get hot.

You are correct the Android Automative settings does specify the ability to disable the wireless connection in Android Auto. However when I toggled the option, it physically unpaired the phone - hence could not use it for the native phone app or for music etc from my phone. Conversely as soon as I repaired in the the bluetooth settings, Android Auto was back and active.

Based on Google removing the ability to totally disable AA in the car, the available options ("always on", "as per last trip" and "defined by OEM") point to LOTUS taking the OEM approach as "always on".

The only way I was able to pair the phone and not have Wireless Android Auto was to physically disable wireless AA in debug mode on my phone. Hence If I have to use AA it is only via the wired connection, and the phone drains faster than it charges.

While my Galaxy S phone is not the latest, GPS is a CPU intensive function and does actually require a cell connection. Here in OZ when you are in the country the cell towers are spread out (or non existent) and hence the phone boosts power to the receiver/transmitter to maintain connection which leads to the increased power draw.

Unfortunately the choice to remove the native GPS and rely on the "fallback" of use CarPlay / Android Auto is not a great solution for a market where distances can be great and cell coverage minimal. That is partly the reason why Android Automative (the embedded Vehicle OS) has the ability to have the tiles and data locally on the car itself.

To be honest I was left feeling like it was a sloppy implementation of Android Auto, but this could also be an artifact of the nobbled system or even defective end user. But in the later case, I had others try to do the same thing, with a similar result