CarPlay Carplay connection (security) issues

[cragem]

Hi

We do have a MINI Countryman 2018 with Wireless Carplay which works fine.
The car has two keys, one used from my wife the other key is used by myself. Only my iPhone is used with Carplay.

This morning my wife took the car with her key while I was on a conference call with my iPhone 10m away from the car in the house. Unfortunately my iPhone connect with the MINI and switched to Carplay and my wife jumped into my phone call, only after she drove 50m the connection broke.

1) Why my iPhone connects to Carplay with a car which is 5-10m away, this should never happen at all ?! This should normally only happen when the phone is within very close distance to the car.

2) Do you know whether other car's can distinguish between different key and based on each key which is used for driving connect an individual phone linked to the key ?

Thanks

 

[Juicy Box]

1. This is normal behavior for most Bluetooth head units, so I am not sure why it would surprise you that it also happens with wifi.

I am not sure if the head unit knows you are 10 meters away versus 1 meter away, it probably just tries to make a connection when the head unit is powered up.

2. I am not familiar with many new car technologies, but this does sound like an interesting feature, I just don't know of any cars that have it.

I think many cars today have user profiles that you can change certain settings based on who is driving, but I am not sure about profiles based on which key you have.

 

[flynz4]

Our cars have different profiles based on which key is used to unlock the car. This sets things like mirrors, seat and steering wheel position, radio preset, etc. It does not choose which phone would connect.

My wife's Sienna and our Prius will choose whichever is present.. and if both phones are present, it will stay with the last one that was used. That makes it convenient when we are traveling together and we stop for food or gas and keep going. That way the phone doesn't switch drivers.

My Avalon has prioritized list of paired phones. It will default to the higher priority phone if more than one is present. My Jeep worked similarly.

I suspect that if I am at home on a call and my wife takes my car... I will run into the same problem that you experienced.

/Jim