4.1.2 broke GPS for me

[A-A-Ron]

Last Friday I received 4.1.2 ('21 Job 2, non-EA) during dinner. The entire drive home, CarPlay couldn't find my location, I just got the uncertainty ring in various sizes. By the next morning, it had figured out where we were but I've had almost continuous issues since then. Some of the weird things I've been experiencing the last few days:

• Car location freezes for 5-20 seconds before snapping back to the correct location
• Car suddenly reported hundreds of feet away (my daughter finds this hilarious, "look, it thinks we're in the river", "look, we're driving through buildings"). This one's particularly annoying because often it starts trying to reroute me)
• It occasionally has my location but my orientation is frozen - suddenly I'm driving west but my track is still pointing north. Also annoying because it orients the screen track up based on the frozen orientation.

Anyone else seeing any weird navigation behaviors since updating?

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[RickMachE]

Have you tried rebooting Sync? Hold volume down and right seek buttons for 10 seconds.

 

[A-A-Ron]

Have you tried rebooting Sync? Hold volume down and right seek buttons for 10 seconds.

A few times - 4.1.2 did not fix the random guest profile issues.

 

[RickMachE]

A few times - 4.1.2 did not fix the random guest profile issues.

You asked about resetting GPS, not guest profile issues. So rebooting Sync didn't fix the GPS issues?

 

[A-A-Ron]

You asked about resetting GPS, not guest profile issues. So rebooting Sync didn't fix the GPS issues?

I've rebooted Sync multiple times since the update because of the guest profile issues. It has not fixed the GPS issues.

 

[DaMeatMan]

Last Friday I received 4.1.2 ('21 Job 2, non-EA) during dinner. The entire drive home, CarPlay couldn't find my location, I just got the uncertainty ring in various sizes. By the next morning, it had figured out where we were but I've had almost continuous issues since then. Some of the weird things I've been experiencing the last few days:

• Car location freezes for 5-20 seconds before snapping back to the correct location
• Car suddenly reported hundreds of feet away (my daughter finds this hilarious, "look, it thinks we're in the river", "look, we're driving through buildings"). This one's particularly annoying because often it starts trying to reroute me)
• It occasionally has my location but my orientation is frozen - suddenly I'm driving west but my track is still pointing north. Also annoying because it orients the screen track up based on the frozen orientation.

Anyone else seeing any weird navigation behaviors since updating?

Carplay is a function of your iPhone apps being projected on your vehicle infotainment system, and GPS is acquired and provided by the phone (not the car).

Have you checked to see if your iPhone navigation and GPS location is working correctly on it's own, when not connected to the vehicle via carplay?

Have you tried using the built-in navigation provided by Ford Sync? If so is that any better?

 

[A-A-Ron]

Carplay is a function of your iPhone apps being projected on your vehicle infotainment system, and GPS is acquired and provided by the phone (not the car).

Have you checked to see if your iPhone navigation and GPS location is working correctly on it's own, when not connected to the vehicle via carplay?

Have you tried using the built-in navigation provided by Ford Sync? If so is that any better?

Sadly, the CarPlay protocol gets GPS data from the car's GPS system, if available so the issue is with the car's GPS, not the phone's. The phone's GPS works just fine when not connected to CarPlay.

 

[ktn]

Yup, I’m seeing this same issue, happens right when I leave my house. Started with 4.1.2.

I updated my iPhone to 16.3 RC, will see if that helps at all.

 

[scoopman]

I would try this:

Go into the Phone screen on Settings and delete your iphone listing. Then pair and connect your iphone again to create a new listing.

I had this happen to me on an earlier update and this worked for me.

I bet the connection between your iphone and the car has somehow not properly updated itself to the newest version and is corrupted.

JFYI for CarPlay and Android Auto, your Mach Es GPS is indeed communicated to and used by your phone when available to provide precise location, so communication and packet timing issues between the car and phone can definitely cause some of these symptoms.

 

[DaMeatMan]

Sadly, the CarPlay protocol gets GPS data from the car's GPS system, if available so the issue is with the car's GPS, not the phone's. The phone's GPS works just fine when not connected to CarPlay.

Interesting, I was not aware of that. With that said have you checked the oboard vehicle NAV to see if it is also getting inaccurate GPS positioning?

There have been reports of this type of behavior regarding the onboard Nav in previous updates that resolve themselves after a few days as the result of past updates.

 

[zelkito]

This happens to me as well after 4.1.2... It's a bit frustrating as it happens quite often.

 

[kdonnel]

I have never been able to have my phone in my pocket. My very first ride home in my MME had me floating along 1000's of feet from my real location.

I know the CarPlay protocol allows for the car to get GPS from the car but I think it might prefer the phone.

As long as I put my phone in the cup holder or the shelf with the charging mat, my location is fine. If I have my phone in my pocket, my location is a crapshoot. Sometimes it is accurate, sometimes it is wildly wrong. Taking my phone out of my pocket always fixes the location issue.

Googling for carplay gps inaccurate

https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=carplay+gps+inaccurate

Shows BWM, Volkswagen, and generic head units complaining about the same issue as our MME.

With so many manufacturers having the same issue, it seems to me like this might be an Apple issue. Did Apple tell the manufacturers the correct way to present the car GPS signals? Is Apple not correctly reconciling differences between the phone GPS and the car GPS?

 

[RickMachE]

If the phone is providing the GPS, the windshield and sunroof cause issues. My wife's android phone loses GPS at times when sitting in the cupholder.

 

[A-A-Ron]

I would try this:

Go into the Phone screen on Settings and delete your iphone listing. Then pair and connect your iphone again to create a new listing.

I had this happen to me on an earlier update and this worked for me.

I bet the connection between your iphone and the car has somehow not properly updated itself to the newest version and is corrupted.

JFYI for CarPlay and Android Auto, your Mach Es GPS is indeed communicated to and used by your phone when available to provide precise location, so communication and packet timing issues between the car and phone can definitely cause some of these symptoms.

That seems to have fixed it. Thanks!

 

[scoopman]

I have never been able to have my phone in my pocket. My very first ride home in my MME had me floating along 1000's of feet from my real location.

I know the CarPlay protocol allows for the car to get GPS from the car but I think it might prefer the phone.

As long as I put my phone in the cup holder or the shelf with the charging mat, my location is fine. If I have my phone in my pocket, my location is a crapshoot. Sometimes it is accurate, sometimes it is wildly wrong. Taking my phone out of my pocket always fixes the location issue.

Googling for carplay gps inaccurate

https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=carplay+gps+inaccurate

Shows BWM, Volkswagen, and generic head units complaining about the same issue as our MME.

With so many manufacturers having the same issue, it seems to me like this might be an Apple issue. Did Apple tell the manufacturers the correct way to present the car GPS signals? Is Apple not correctly reconciling differences between the phone GPS and the car GPS?

I know on Android, there's algos that take data from multiple sensors to build an understanding of location. This includes car GPS (when available) as well as phone GPS, wireless tower triangulation, and also wifi ssids. I'm sure this is similar to iOS, and these symptoms probably reflect high weight being giving to car GPS, which is inaccurate or not being provided consistently and without packet timing issues.

This is a tough problem of when to ignore a sensor due to bogus data. I will say, however, that when accurate, car GPS is best GPS, because auto makers have a lot optimized for antenna placement, performance, and cold start for GPS. Car makers also have location that is maintained in parking garages and tunnels because the location from the car takes into account wheel position and movement when no satellites are found.

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