carbonizedbrett
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Brett
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2020
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- 1
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- 132
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- 98
- Location
- Montgomery Township, NJ
- Vehicles
- '21 Mach E 4X, '17 Outback, '10 Jetta, '01 Beetle
- Occupation
- Scientist
TL;DR: I think my vehicle stopped sharing position and heading information from its GPS with my phone via via Android Auto.
TL:
A few weeks ago, I started having "searching for GPS..." issues with Android Auto using my Pixel 7 Pro. It had worked perfectly from when I got it in October 2022 until this recent development. I am in the Google Maps Beta program.
I'm fairly certain the issue was present with Waze on Android Auto as well but that testing was perfunctory.
I started a case with Google because my first instinct was that it was hardware issue with the phone's GPS. (I have not yet followed up on the case after I followed their "clear the cache, uninstall updates" troubleshooting steps.)
Expecting to have to have my phone repaired or replaced, I set up my Pixel 6 Pro and it occurred to me that I should do more testing to establish whether my first thought that it was a hardware failure with my 7 Pro.
As it turns out, the 6 Pro had similar poor performance under the same conditions. It had worked fine before I got the 7 Pro in October.
I then loaded GPS Test on both phones, my wife's 7 Pro, and a really old LG G5 with broken GPS antenna. (The G5 had a hardware design issue with its GPS antenna; when the issue reappeared on the warranty replacement, I attempted to fix it myself and made it worse.)
What I noticed:
With Android Auto disabled or disconnected, all the Pixels got poor signal when placed in the console with the wireless charging pad - whether they were charging wirelessly or not.
Signal was better if placed on the dash but they'd still occasionally lose a GPS "fix."
That old G5 actually supports Android Auto and I used to to navigate to work this morning. It kind of sort of worked as one might expect with no GPS antenna - location updated when I was in locations where I'd expect there to be Wifi signals.
I find it highly unlikely that my car suddenly started interfering with GPS reception.
My hypothesis:
The charging pad location gets poor GPS signal reception.
This was not obvious because the car normally shares location and heading information from its GPS fed by the roof-mounted antenna with the phone via Android Auto.
Something changed (for me) a couple of weeks ago and I suspect this data sharing broke.
I could be a system or app update to my Pixel 7 Pro. And my Pixel 6 Pro. But there's no way a system or app update broke anything on the ancient G5.
Next steps:
Test a non-Pixel Android phone with my car.
Test one of our Pixel phones with a different vehicle that supports Android Auto, noting the typical phone-based GPS reception with the GPS Test app.
I am also considering calling Ford. @Ford Motor Company
TL:
A few weeks ago, I started having "searching for GPS..." issues with Android Auto using my Pixel 7 Pro. It had worked perfectly from when I got it in October 2022 until this recent development. I am in the Google Maps Beta program.
I'm fairly certain the issue was present with Waze on Android Auto as well but that testing was perfunctory.
I started a case with Google because my first instinct was that it was hardware issue with the phone's GPS. (I have not yet followed up on the case after I followed their "clear the cache, uninstall updates" troubleshooting steps.)
Expecting to have to have my phone repaired or replaced, I set up my Pixel 6 Pro and it occurred to me that I should do more testing to establish whether my first thought that it was a hardware failure with my 7 Pro.
As it turns out, the 6 Pro had similar poor performance under the same conditions. It had worked fine before I got the 7 Pro in October.
I then loaded GPS Test on both phones, my wife's 7 Pro, and a really old LG G5 with broken GPS antenna. (The G5 had a hardware design issue with its GPS antenna; when the issue reappeared on the warranty replacement, I attempted to fix it myself and made it worse.)
What I noticed:
With Android Auto disabled or disconnected, all the Pixels got poor signal when placed in the console with the wireless charging pad - whether they were charging wirelessly or not.
Signal was better if placed on the dash but they'd still occasionally lose a GPS "fix."
That old G5 actually supports Android Auto and I used to to navigate to work this morning. It kind of sort of worked as one might expect with no GPS antenna - location updated when I was in locations where I'd expect there to be Wifi signals.
I find it highly unlikely that my car suddenly started interfering with GPS reception.
My hypothesis:
The charging pad location gets poor GPS signal reception.
This was not obvious because the car normally shares location and heading information from its GPS fed by the roof-mounted antenna with the phone via Android Auto.
Something changed (for me) a couple of weeks ago and I suspect this data sharing broke.
I could be a system or app update to my Pixel 7 Pro. And my Pixel 6 Pro. But there's no way a system or app update broke anything on the ancient G5.
Next steps:
Test a non-Pixel Android phone with my car.
Test one of our Pixel phones with a different vehicle that supports Android Auto, noting the typical phone-based GPS reception with the GPS Test app.
I am also considering calling Ford. @Ford Motor Company
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