My 22' has wired AA and CarPlay built in. I currently use a wireless adapter for AA which works great. I also enjoy playing music from a USB Stick that I have loaded with high quality files that sound much cleaner than over the air Bluetooth with AA. For some reason while AA is connected, the USB drive is greyed out and unplayable. I can only play from the USB drive when AA is disconnected. Kind of annoying. Is there any way to have the USB drive play while AA is connected?

Edit: Since @tecman addressed my initial issue with Android Auto, I've decided to add to this thread to highlight a completely different issue for those of us using Android Auto in LC500s prior to the touchscreen implementation. LC owners with a touchpad cannot highlight the arrow on the right side of the search bubble in Google Maps to collapse/minimize the search bar's history. It's odd that in other Lexus models with a touchpad, users can minimize the search history, but for those of us with a $100k car, we can't.I recently submitted feedback to Google regarding this issue, and I encourage others who use Android Auto to do the same. If you could spare a few minutes, here's how you can provide feedback: Open Google Assistant on your phone, tap your profile icon in the top right corner, select "Feedback," and write a brief description of the Android Auto issue, including the make and model of your car. Be sure to mention how the arrow cannot be highlighted or clicked using the touchpad.

The more feedback we provide, the better chance we have of getting this issue resolved.





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I can only get the bottom USB port to work for my wireless carplay adapter.

 

Well there's my answer. Extremely annoying that I have to turn off Bluetooth to get the USB drive to play my music.

 

Can you explain your use-case one more time.
I can switch between Bluetooth and USB audio source without turning Bluetooth off on my phone.
when you switch to android auto the audio is not going by Bluetooth but by cable.
I am not sure how wireless AA adapter sends audio, but it sounds like your phone wirelessly connects to adapter and that one connects to headunit by wire. Can you explain how your phone connected to AA adapter and why do you need Bluetooth to be on

 

To get wireless Android Auto I use an adapter that plugs into the USB port in the center console. My phone connects to that adapter via Bluetooth. While my phone is connected to that adapter, the Lexus head unit doesn't allow me to play music from a USB Drive that I have loaded with music that is connected to the secondary USB port in the center console. The only way I can get the USB Drive to show up on the Lexus screen is by disconnecting from Android Auto.

 

Yep, only one of the two ports can be used for data transfer at a time. If one is used, the other one only delivers power out, no data transfer.

 

@Enzo954 if you do same but connect your phone using wire and launch AA will not allow you to play music from USB correct?

What if you turn of AA and keep BT on can you switch to USB?
I try to understand the root cause.

 

This is a known issue and affects other vehicles using AA. There are many posts on the web detailing user frustration. I use AA on my 2018 LC with a dongle from Ottocast. The dongle works GREAT But, as you say, a good portion of the screen is lost to the search bar and two search suggestions. A real bummer Google is aware of the issue and so far, has chosen not to make it an option you can disable. My truck also has AA, but it has a touchscreen, and a finger touch disables it, BUT - it will come back on again with other searches

Lou

 

I know someone who has an ES350 and they can use the touchpad to highlight the arrow and minimize the previous searches. Why won't it work for LC500 owners?

 

^^^^Don't know When I choose the ^, it gives me all my previous searches. It does not eliminate the searches like it does on my truck.

Lou

 

With the LC you can't highlight that Arrow specifically like on other vehicles. On the LC we can only highlight the entire search bubble. Are saying that on your LC you can highlight only the arrow?

 

Yes - BUT, today, for the first time, there was a change in how the Search Bar acted. On startUp there were two suggestions just like always - BUT when I started to drive, those suggestions vanished leaving just the Search Bar. I am hoping this is a software fix I'll know more when I drive my truck tomorrow and see if I get the same results.

Edit: Drove the truck today - The behavior showed no change, the two suggestions came up and remained on the screen

Lou

 

@Enzo954 not that it matters as far as the maps issue or playing a usb stick while AA is connected but it is my understanding the android auto only uses bluetooth initially and briefly, to connect to the adapter. from there it establishes a WIFI connection which is much faster. bluetooth is inadequate (too slow) to communicate the screen updates. you can see the adapter's wifi network name on your phone.

as someone mentioned, the car can only handle one usb data stream at a time, so with the adapter connected and active (which means data is pouring in for the screen updates even if you're not playing music), the car can't stream music off a usb stick as well. this isn't that surprising, and not saying there's anything wrong with doing it but i bet the percentage of owners who play music off a usb stick is close to zero.

so if you want to play music off the usb stick you'll have to disengage wireless android auto entirely (not just music). one way to do that without constantly plugging and unplugging would be a usb 'switch' cable like this: Cable Matters USB 3.0 Extension...

 

How would the AA adaptor switch to Wi-Fi if I don't have any Wi-Fi connected to my phone? I just have a simple plan on my phone. Also, the connector you showed would work like you stated and I thank you for that, but since it would be located in the center glove box along with the wireless adaptor, there really wouldn't be much difference between unplugging the adaptor and flipping that switch when I want to disconnect the adaptor.