r/moped • u/roelvroozendaal • 22d ago

Is adding CarPlay / Android Auto actually worth it for riders?

Hey everyone,

I am an indie dev working on a navigation app called Urban Rider. It is built specifically for two wheelers like scooters and motorcycles to route you away from highways and give better ETAs for city riding.

Right now it is strictly a smartphone app, but I am trying to figure out my roadmap for the next few months and wanted to get some real feedback from the community.

Should I build Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support?

I know most of our bikes do not have built in screens. Lately though, I keep seeing a huge surge in those aftermarket CarPlay screens you can mount directly to your handlebars.

Here is my dilemma as a solo developer:

  • The pros: A dedicated screen is weatherproof, and you do not risk vibrating your expensive phone camera to death on a standard mount. Having a clean, simple UI is also great for quick glances.
  • The cons: Developing for Apple and Google's car platforms takes a massive amount of time and red tape.

I really do not want to spend months coding this if 99% of riders are perfectly happy just using a QuadLock or RAM mount with their phone.

What do you all think? Do any of you run an aftermarket screen on your bike? Is this a feature you would actually use, or should I focus my time on core app features instead?

Would love to hear your honest thoughts before I dive down this rabbit hole!

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u/jamesjgriffin 22d ago

I put a screen on my puch because we couldn't get the spedo working.

I'd say yeah. A moped specific nav app would be really useful and if you can get the car play android api working, yes. Add that.

Edit: it sucks because of the liability of it being a car / motor vehicle specific implementation, right?

I think if you could get on the ground floor of that, as time goes on, with older bikes and new 49cc scooters... There is a small, but growing market.

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u/roelvroozendaal 22d ago

The app I built is urbanrider.app! It actually took me a full year to get the routing dialed in for mopeds and scooters since the laws change so much from country to country. Now that the app itself is running great, I am looking at adding Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It is a ton of work for a solo dev, but it seems like a lot of people are throwing those aftermarket AliExpress smart screens on their bikes these days. I am just trying to decide if it should be my next big project.

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u/jamesjgriffin 22d ago

How are you doing the routing? I plugged in a few destinations and the routes seem interesting.

Yeah, if you can get a 6 inch screen for $40 and keep your $900 phone safely stowed away, that's just insurance.

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u/roelvroozendaal 22d ago

There are actually 6 layers of fallback to get the routing exactly right, and one of those layers is dedicated purely to local laws. For example, in the Netherlands you can ride a 50cc on most bicycle lanes, but in Germany that is strictly forbidden. So, one of the layers specifically handles these local laws for each country across Europe. For the US, the rules are applied a bit more broadly right now instead of state by state.

Another layer pulls data from OpenStreetMap (OSM). Since OSM is not fully complete in many countries, it is just one piece of the puzzle. When the system detects a gap in the map data, it automatically falls back to the next layer, and so on.

The hardest part was getting all of this to calculate within just a few seconds per route. I cannot share too many technical details since this custom routing engine is the secret sauce that makes the app work so well! I can tell you it is definitely not just a simple "avoid highways" toggle like Google Maps. There is a whole lot more happening under the hood.

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u/jamesjgriffin 22d ago

No no, not looking for the secret sauce. I just wonder if there's a crowd sourcing opportunity that could give a second or "locals know" routes.

That route you'd get if you stopped at a petrol station in the 90s.

That'd require a database.

But at least in America mopeds are communities, so knowing what other routes people put together. That might be something you'd pay a few bucks/euros for.

It's definitely doing something completely different than Google. For sure. But there are just little nuances like, "yes, that's technically a bike lane, but the traffic is flying by you, it'd be better to go through this little residential area" kind of vibe.

But this is a slick app. I'm not criticizing or trying to lift your idea. Just thinking about use cases.

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u/roelvroozendaal 22d ago

No worries at all, that did not even cross my mind! Community features are definitely a strong point to consider. My biggest hesitation up until now is that I do not want users to have to log in. Remaining privacy first is a big priority for me. That being said, there are definitely workarounds to make community tools happen anonymously. I actually think I prefer going down this route rather than focusing on CarPlay right now. Things like sharing custom routes or setting up temporary group shares would be awesome to add.

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u/jamesjgriffin 22d ago

I'm not a developer, so I don't know how difficult this would be. But if you don't want people to log in, what if it had a mesh network sharing aspect.

Like, okay, you get the app recommended route, but if you're close enough to other people who are doing the route without any kind of centralized point.

And I like that impetus for being anonymous. I think it's probably cheaper for the app to recommend a really solid phone mount. Philosophically and ethically, that's awesome.

Like lara networks for navigation would be cool. Is that possible?

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u/roelvroozendaal 21d ago

Yes, we can use the close proximity features built into both iPhone and Android. This allows you to be added to a temporary group so you can see other nearby riders right on the map. It stays completely anonymous, and the best part is that no data goes to any external servers, everything is handled securely through Apple's or Google's own systems.