BMW shipping cars sans Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, chip shortage to blame

German luxury car marquee BMW is reportedly shipping several popular and high volume cars including 3-Series, 4-Series, Z4, and several crossovers without connectivity features like Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, due to the ongoing chip shortage. Automotive News reports that BMW has switched its chip suppliers to mitigate the chip shortage impact. However, the new semiconductors aren't fully functional, lacking Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity. However, BMW has reportedly said the cars that are being delivered without the abovementioned connectivity features will receive them through future updates.

The automaker reportedly said that it would install the software features via an over-the-air update by the end of June 2022. The new chips are also claimed to lack wi-fi capability. The report claims that BMW didn’t specify the number of affected models or disclose where they are being shipped. However, ANE reports the cars were delivered to the US, France, and Italy among other countries.

This is not the first time BMW has taken such a decision to sell its cars sans the technology features. The automaker was previously forced to drop touchscreen functionality in multiple popular high volume cars.

Besides BMW cars, the other brand Mini, which is owned by the BMW Group, earlier this week announced it would stop manufacturing manual transmissions in order to streamline its product lineup keeping eye on the current chip shortage and supply chain issues.

The chip shortage has been rampaging the auto industry operations like production and sales for more than a year and the dampening effect is continuing in 2022 as well. It is not clear yet when the chip shortage and supply chain issues will resolve. In September last year, BMW and Mercedes-Benz predicted that the chip shortage could last until 2023 or later.