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Buyers of new BMW vehicles may not be able to enjoy using CarPlay at first, with the global chip crisis forcing the car producer to change its electronics, but an update will re-enable support by June.
The global chip shortage is causing problems in many different areas, with the automotive industry one of the biggest victims of a limited supply of chips. In one of the effects of the shortage, a change in supplier for BMW has led to the company temporarily giving up on support for Apple’s in-car platform.
The chips used by BMW for its infotainment system aren’t fully compatible with Apple’s CarPlay and Android Auto at the moment, reports Automotive News Europebut an update can enable support at a later time.
“The chips built into these cars in the first four months of this year need updated software in order to be fully functional and offer Apple CarPlay/Android Auto and Wi-Fi capability,” said BMW in a statement. An over-the-air update will be offered “by the end of June at the latest” to renable support.
Not all BMW cars will be sold without CarPlay, with the company stating cars with “6P1” as part of their production code will be affected. Though BMW didn’t say what markets would be impacted, the report adds customers in the US, UK, France, Italy, and Spain have reported a lack of CarPlay in their purchases.
BMW first offered CarPlay as an upgrade to its vehicle systems in 2016, though in 2018 BMW intended to provide it as a subscription feature, a choice that the company backed down from the following year. BMW has also been an early adopter of Apple’s newest technology, with it among the first to support Apple’s CarKey.
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