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Major problems with Android Auto

TheArcane
Star II
I have a 2021 Peugeot 3008 and I have major problems using Android Auto with the Zenfone 8.
The car has a type-A USB port, so I can't use the original cable provided with the phone.
I went through 5 or 6 different cables already, most of them do nothing at all. Starting from old cables I can't even remember from which device, through a brand new cable rated for 10GBps data rate. For most of them Android Auto doesn't launch at all and the car may or may not say "device not recognized" or something of the sort.
The best result is with an original cable from a OnePlus Nord 2. With that cable Android Auto launches and works, but after 10-20 minutes it disconnects and doesn't connect again until I reset the phone and/or the car head unit. Didn't experiment enough with this yet.
Does anyone have a similar experience and maybe a solution? Is my phone broken or should I keep looking for a cable that works? I'm really disappointed as this is a complete deal breaker for me...
Thanks for any advice...
20 REPLIES 20

Willem_NL
Star II
TheArcane

I have a 2021 Peugeot 3008 and I have major problems using Android Auto with the Zenfone 8.

The car has a type-A USB port, so I can't use the original cable provided with the phone.

I went through 5 or 6 different cables already, most of them do nothing at all. Starting from old cables I can't even remember from which device, through a brand new cable rated for 10GBps data rate. For most of them Android Auto doesn't launch at all and the car may or may not say "device not recognized" or something of the sort.

The best result is with an original cable from a OnePlus Nord 2. With that cable Android Auto launches and works, but after 10-20 minutes it disconnects and doesn't connect again until I reset the phone and/or the car head unit. Didn't experiment enough with this yet.

Does anyone have a similar experience and maybe a solution? Is my phone broken or should I keep looking for a cable that works? I'm really disappointed as this is a complete deal breaker for me...

Thanks for any advice...


Major problems with Android Auto
--- SOLUTION ---
As you can read in other posts of me in this thread, I did an investigation to this problem and found a reasonable solution. By using a USB 2.0 hub you can get around the problem
It seems to me that the Android Auto problem with the Zenfone 8 and Peugeots and other PSA cars occurs due to an electrical issue such as transmission line characteristics.
By placing a USB 2.0 hub between the car and telephone, the data connection is electrically interrupted. The hub acts as an intermediary between telephone and car. DO NOT connect more devices to the hub at the same time. Your car is not designed to connect multiple devices at the same time. The hub's sole purpose is to clean the electrical signal between phone and car.
My advice is to use a USB2.0 hub and not higher versions of the USB standard. Higher versions of the USB standard may cause similar problems as a direct-connected phone. This is because higher speeds require much more critical timing.
Although almost all of these small hubs get their power from the USB port, it is wise to be careful not to buy a hub that requires an external power supply, as you normally do not have 230VAC in your car.
This is the USB2.0 hub that I have tested successfully:
usb20hub.jpg
I expect that you can get around the problem with other USB2.0 hubs as well.

TheArcane
Star II
Thanks! Will definitely try that.

landsome
Rising Star II
I have found that with one of my cables - an original Google PD USB cable - the Z8 works flawlessly if I insert the cable one way, but keeps disconnecting if I insert it the other way. So the USB interface is a bit iffy.

kzm
Star III
This sounds like a bug in Zenfone8... is it @Irene2_ASUS ?

Willem_NL
Star II
That conclusion is a bit premature. It looks like a timing problem on the USB bus. You will have to measure with special equipment who is causing the timing issue. It is a collaboration between two devices, it is impossible to say in advance who will go wrong with timing.
So it can be the Zenfone, but also the car. In addition to timing, impedance mismatch can also be the cause. Due to the high speeds, a USB connection is very prone to errors.
Fortunately, there is a work arround for this problem with the USB hub.