Elon Musk thinks Apple’s AirPlay could improve Tesla’s audio.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated that Tesla is considering using Apple’s AirPlay to improve its audio quality.
A report by electrek suggests thataudiophiles received Tesla’s audio system well, especially in its Model S and Model 3.
In 2019, a review from Twitter was made comparing the Model 3’s sound system with Bang & Olufsen’s system, which is used in premium vehicles at an additional price.
Musk then replied to the tweet: “Tesla audio engineers come from B&O & many other companies. They literally rock. Our system is highly programmable, so we keep improving it via OTA codec updates.”
With Tesla’s sound system having room for improvements, recently, a Twitter user asked Musk if the automaker could add Apple AirPlay to its systems. The user appreciated Tesla’s audio system, but it is limited by the sound quality sent through Bluetooth when playing music from a phone.
The user further added that AirPlay provides lossless streaming, to which Musk replied:
“Will discuss this and other improvements with Tesla audio engineering. The new Model S and X sound system is incredible.”
APPLE AIRPLAY
AirPlay is a proprietary wireless communication protocol stack/suite developed by Apple Inc. It enables users to stream between two devices. Instead of Bluetooth, AirPlay uses Wi-Fi.
Since Tesla cars are equipped with Wi-Fi, there will be no problems if AirPlay is added.
Accordingly, Tesla has been reticent in adopting Apple software before, most famously over enabling the use of Apple Carplay.
Even though customers kept asking for Apple Carplay in the past, the automaker decided to keep its software ecosystem.
Earlier this year, a Polish developer named Michal Gapinski successfully installed CarPlay into his Tesla Model 3.
Gapinski has found a way around this by using a Raspberry Pi with an LTE modem and a Wi-Fi access point. It should have an Android-based firmware, a micro-HDMI to HDMI cable, and an Ethernet cable.
He posted his work on his Youtube channel. The video shows that the in-car browser connects to the Raspberry Pi and displays the Apple CarPlay interface on the car’s screen. He can access Apple apps such as Apple Maps and Apple Music.