[RashmiRathi]

Dear All,

I stay in Thane. I have discovered that whenever I drive through this particular 100m stretch of road, my Android Auto connected to my Tata Safari through bluetooth gets disconnected for a moment. After passing this stretch it gets connected automatically. This has happened multiple times during various parts of the day.

Otherwise, Android Auto is working very good and there is no disconnection problem.

This strange phenomenon baffles me completely.

Can any auto experts or electronic experts in this forum throw light on this .

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by RashmiRathi

Dear All,

I stay in Thane. I have discovered that whenever I drive through this particular 100m stretch of road, my Android Auto connected to my Tata Safari through bluetooth gets disconnected for a moment. After passing this stretch it gets connected automatically. This has happened multiple times during various parts of the day.

Otherwise, Android Auto is working very good and there is no disconnection problem.

This strange phenomenon baffles me completely.

Can any auto experts or electronic experts in this forum throw light on this .

This is due to interference in the 5GHZ spectrum, happens in almost all wireless android auto systems.
Try connecting to 2.4GHZ spectrum if you have that option.

[Kosfactor]

Android Auto relies on WIFI once the connection is established through bluetooth from what I have seen the phone does. So if your phone finds a known WIFI network in that area it may disconnect from your car and connect to that one - that is one possibility. Other than that it could be some sort of radio freq interference in that area like some places where your keyless entry systems stop working etc.

[GTE]

Wireless android auto is a hit or miss experience for me in the Comet it seems to have a mind of its own.

[narayans80]

I have seen this geography specific behavior with wireless Carplay in my Alcazar too. And its not just Carplay/Android Auto that disconnects. If you are connected to bluetooth on some other phone, that also disconnects.

This is only a small percentage, I've learnt to live with this occasional quirk.

[tilt]

This reminds me of the following complaint to Pontiac:

“This is the second time I have written you, and I don’t blame you for not answering me, because I kind of sounded crazy, but it is a fact that we have a tradition in our family of ice cream for dessert after dinner each night. But the kind of ice cream varies so, every night, after we’ve eaten, the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream we should have and I drive down to the store to get it. It’s also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my trips to the store have created a problem.
You see, every time I buy vanilla ice-cream when I start back from the store my car won’t start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just fine. I want you to know I’m serious about this question, no matter how silly it sounds: ‘What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any other kind?”


BTW, the "problem" was solved


Cheers

[hrman]

Probably some form of radio frequency interference. I face this in my KIA Sonet, whenever I pass through a particular stretch near South India mall on BG road, Bangalore.
I incidentally changed my phone (not due to this and the new phone also disconnects from wireless android auto at the same stretch.

To circumvent this, I now connect it through wired AA, since this happens in my daily office commute. Losing the music or calls while driving is a bit irritating.
Not a solution to your issue but you are not alone.

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by tilt

This reminds me of the following complaint to Pontiac:

BTW, the "problem" was solved

Cheers

Offtopic.

This was the first thing that came to my mind after reading the OP.

But then saw that other responsible BHPians have already given rational explanations, so didn't want to mention this case study.

[Naetik30]

You know what, I have had the exact same observation on Bannerghatta road in Bangalore. This is the Arekere junction in front of the Rose Garden apartments on Bannerghatta road. It happens everytime. For about 100-200 metres Android auto would disconnect and then work again like nothing happened.

I have the Motorola MA1 wireless android adapter on my Hyundai Alcazar.

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by Naetik30

You know what, I have had the exact same observation on Bannerghatta road in Bangalore. This is the Arekere junction in front of the Rose Garden apartments on Bannerghatta road. It happens everytime. For about 100-200 metres Android auto would disconnect and then work again like nothing happened.

Right on! All cars and my 7OO as well, drops connection at the Arakere traffic lights for Android auto as well as Apple CarPlay! I do not have any hidden houses or family members in that area to which my phone auto-connects and drops Car Wifi With full confidence, I can state that this has to do with interference on the Wifi channels (within the 5 GHz band) being used by most automobiles!

The best part is: that Android Auto still has your BLE connection and hence the phone calls will not be dropped from car to handset. Just the display and maps but then Android can pick up the last navigation without any manual intervention too so not much of an issue. The CarPlay is totally another issue! When an iPhone connects with CarPlay, it drops BLE and if CarPlay is dropped, BLE won't automatically switch between iPhone and Car! Imagine being on the conference call and on mute at that crazy traffic junction and the connection drops - the phone is automatically unmuted and the audience hears your ranting about the active speaker on the call

Ok jokes apart: this is purely to do with 5GHz Band and channels being used for connectivity by cars and not specific to any car brand, Apple or Android. You can keep forcing the connection to switch channels but then with so many devices around us, somewhere someone will have interference anyway. That's just like saying we got signal garbage all around us anyway.

[prad]

Originally Posted by RashmiRathi

I stay in Thane. I have discovered that whenever I drive through this particular 100m stretch of road, my Android Auto connected to my Tata Safari through bluetooth gets disconnected for a moment. After passing this stretch it gets connected automatically. This has happened multiple times during various parts of the day.

Same stretch, same problem

Have identified several similar stretches in other part of the city, highways and in other cities too - esp over flyovers.

I suspect some radio wave interference - one can see radio repeaters on several flyovers - they are one source of interference. Interference could be from other sources too - radio based remotes, microwaves, etc.

I agree it is a pain. The alternative is to have a wired android auto connection!!

[cupid101]

I though I was the only one experienceing this. It always disconnects at one of the flyovers in Manyata tech park Bangalore.

Since I'm using a Chinese android head unit, I never bothered to look into it. Just a minor inconvenience.

[darthvader001]

Right on! All cars and my 7OO as well, drops connection at the Arakere traffic lights for Android auto as well as Apple CarPlay!

Exactly, same issue with my Android Auto (AA) wireless dongle. The wireless AA always disconnects near Arakere signal both while coming from Meenakshi mall and from IIM-B side. Initially thought the patchy roads were causing this but when I saw the pattern that it happens 100% of the time so deduced it to be some interference. There few places in the Bangalore city where this happens.
Also I did few trial and error to resolve it but in vain. I disabled 5G in my phone thinking if phone was switching between 5G and 4G there causing wifi to disconnect but nah. So some communication interfering with the AA wifi channel. What we need is to have wifi snoop logs and check how the disconnection happening. I will be happy to do all that but the snoop devices are all in office and I cannot take them out.

The best part is: that Android Auto still has your BLE connection and hence the phone calls will not be dropped from car to handset. Just the display and maps but then Android can pick up the last navigation without any manual intervention too so not much of an issue.

No, when AA disconnects then both wifi and BT gets disconnected. Meaning if call or Nav ongoing then they don't show up in the head unit. We need to wait until the wireless AA connects again. Also if we're stuck in signal in the same place then it keeps connecting and disconnecting.
For sure, Nav will resume after successful and stable connection.

[Kiran Melkote]

The most likely explanation is there is either a powerful radio-transmitter or a jammer nearby.

I have this issue at home (I live adjacent to an embassy of a foreign country) and the rooms nearest to the embassy do not get a mobile signal.

There are a few other embassies nearby and this always happens when I drive past one.

Also noticed this near the delhi airport when you drive close to the boundary walls (not in the terminal)

[Otto]

This happens on Palm Beach Road in Navi Mumbai near the Palm Beach Galleria and Satra Plaza malls.

Signal jammers / Radio interference is my guess.

Like my bluetooth audio cutting out near a few traffic lights in Mumbai.

Has happened to me quite a few times.