california t apple carplay retrofit

there was at least one thread here a while ago of something doing it, I believe in Hong Kong

It's possible, involves changing the head unit/bezel to a CP unit, and running a CP cable to the center console, and then programming. I would imagine just doing that is expensive enough with the components, let alone the labor to R&R the unit.

 

I don't honestly know.

I would believe the official answer will be "NFW", as Ferrari (over)charges for the option, and i'd suspect Harman (the OEM) and Apple would want to get their piece of the action

I do not know what, if any, hardware/firmware/software differences exist in the units, BEYOND the Apple CarPlay button on the bezel, and the dedicated CarPlay USB port.

So far I have not seen any OEM offer Apple or Android "updates" to existing units, likely due to commercial/licensing reasons and some actual technical reasons.

We now have 3 cars with CarPlay. Overall, for what it does, it's great. With iOS 10, the maps are actually better (but still far behind WAZE), the Siri interface is really improved, and it offers a lot of "convenience" - i.e. being able to grab an address from calendar to add to navigation. iOS 10 also enables using it wirelessly if the car is setup for it, though I find that interesting but not relevant since heavy use in the car (music, nav, et al) drains the battery, might as well have it plugged in and charging.

Having said that, the number of apps is very limited; the single app I think people would like is Waze but that will never happen. For what it does, it does well, but it also does very little...

Came standard (no cost) on our VW Golf, was punitively expensive on the F cars. To me, I personally would not find the value of having it worth the considerable expense of doing a retrofit.

 

Does wireless CarPlay work with your F cars equipped with the option? I'm really hoping it does support it.

I have not upgraded my iOS to 10 yet because as engineer I don't upgrade to first .0 releases.

 

I have iOS 10, and Apple CarPlay in my California T. It does not work wirelessly right now. Maybe an upgrade that will make it work wirelessly. Would be cool if it did.

I really like CarPlay over the default entertainment interface.

I do not know if you can add. I'm confident there are after market 3rd party options.

 

No wireless in F cars.

I think BMW just started delivering some of their models (2 series) with wireless enabled.

IMHO, I use the plug to keep it charged so wireless is less relevant to me, others may prefer it.

 

No wireless in my 2015 Cali T. I was one of the first builds to get CarPlay so maybe some of the newer head units will support it...

 

Personally I hate CarPlay. With over 18,000 miles on my T it interferes with other apps operation. It has a single volume control over everything so if you turn down the music and get a phone call you must turn up the volume SIGNIFICANTLY to hear the call! It forces you to use the Apple map software which is crap compared to what you already have in the head. Since I am on my third California and my second FF I can say that no future new Ferrari will have CarPlay! On the T I use the regular USB connector to play music from my phone and the Bluetooth for the telephone, that all works perfectly, without stupid CarPlay.

 

Rick, I reported that volume issue to Ferrari back in February of 2015... it still plagues those of us who have CarPlay.

 

I think it is in the CarPlay software in the phone itself? Note the iOS 10 post I did yesterday with my FF, when trying to connect the music through Bluetooth it totally locks up the radio display and all controls, not a CarPlay car though. I'm getting pretty tired of Apple crap and hopefully the Pixel grows to something way better and I will switch away from stupid Apple.

 

It's possible. I did it at Japan and is a complete replacement of the info unit and re-program. It's not wireless but not sure now as I did it 1 year ago

 

Fair warning that this post will conclude disappointingly but feel its worth documenting in this thread for the sake of others who might be curious.

I've been looking into retrofitting CarPlay for the 2017 California T which has the factory Infotainment with Navi but without CarPlay. The Ferrari Genuine 2019-19 Genuine Accessories - Out of Range Models Out of Range Car Models catalogue lists the availability of CarPlay Kit for the California T:
https://auto.ferrari.com/en_EN/ferrari-genuine-accessories/equipments/000000000000016/detail/P000000260/

1. My local AD quoted ~USD17K for the parts to do the retrofit which involves replacing the Becker NIT unit, Remote Display, Panel with buttons (bezel) and lots of cables, connectors and miscellaneous items.
2. Sourcing from an independent parts supplier, the total cost for parts in this kit is ~USD10K

This is a long way off what it reportedly cost @fc3288 when the AD in Japan did the retrofit. It made me think that there must be a sane way to get CarPlay on the existing Infortainment unit which is after all a display interface for iOS devices. The OEM unit is essentially the Harman/Becker VP4 running a proprietary derivative of Android Auto: https://www.android.com/auto/ with Ferrari's UI. Software updates are available only through the AD (mine was recently updated to the latest ver). I'm miffed that Ferrari does not offer the CarPlay as a feature app even at a premium. I'm willing to pay the usual outrageous mark-ups, much in the way they asked ~USD600 for map data updates for legacy Navi, but not $10K~$17K for the hardware solution.

This led me to looking at aftermarket CarPlay retrofit kits which are aplenty along two approaches:

1. Android Auto app ("Autokit" in this example) and connecting to USB through an adapter (my guess; to scale the video data signal): https://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-CarPlay-Adapter-for-Android-Car-head-unit-Plug-and-Play-for-Touch-screen-EC/362591952397
2. Video adapter with "controller": https://www.navtool.com/carplay-2.aspx . NavTool have developed vehicle specific solutions for Lamborghini, Maserati and others.

Disappointingly, I've not found a solution that will work with the Ferrari Infotainment system and no suggestion of any in development. It is likely that this is considered a risky pursuit with the likelihood of incurring the wrath of Ferrari's lawyers. Ferrari should consider offering a CarPlay app with one of the many adapter options currently available for some equitable cost to cover development. Other than that, perhaps a clever software engineer will come to our rescue. Be very interested to hear from any experience of others...

 

Cfr one of my previous posts, Carplay does not work properly on the California (and other models).
I have had plenty of issues mainly due to the poor quality of the infotainment system (usb power issues) and the lack of Ferrari updates to match new iOs verisons. You do not want to spend that much money on carplay. Really not.