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GPS handover fails when disconnecting Android Auto

Bug Reports

While using ABRP with Android Auto, navigation worked correctly and GPS updates were smooth. After disconnecting Android Auto, ABRP defaulted to GPS data from my OBD dongle instead of the phone’s built-in GPS. The dongle refreshes much more slowly, resulting in significant delays in positioning updates.

When Android Auto is disconnected, ABRP should seamlessly switch GPS positioning back to the phone’s internal GPS, which provides a faster refresh rate, instead of relying on the OBD dongle.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Start navigation in ABRP with Android Auto connected.

2. Keep OBD dongle connected via Bluetooth.

3. Disconnect Android Auto.

4. Observe that ABRP continues using the slow OBD GPS feed instead of the phone’s GPS.

Impact:

Navigation becomes inaccurate and lags behind the car’s actual position due to the slow OBD refresh rate.

Where does this happen?
ABRP version number (found at bottom of settings menu)
Posted by Luka David Torkar ·
Status: Completed6 comments

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Comments6

  • Manuel (ABRP)

    Team•

    Sep 17, 2025

    Hi and thanks for reporting, can you tell me which OBD dongle you have? So far I don’t know any that provides GPS and we do not have support for GPS updates provided by OBD dongles.
    What happens when you disconnect the dongle when you face this slow update rate?

  • Bo (ABRP)

    Team•

    Sep 8, 2025

    Thanks for reporting! We will look into this - it was working properly when we last updated this functionality but we could have broken it by mistake.

  • Luka David Torkar

    •

    Sep 6, 2025

    Update: Restarting ABRP seems to fix the issue temporarily. The issue seems to appear even if you open abrp and plan the route without android auto connected. The app just seems to default to any source of position data coming from the car.

    • Samuel_ABRP

      Team•

      Sep 19, 2025

      Hey Luka,

      usually we only get GPS from the car, when it is connected via AA. I also just tried connecting and disconnecting AA and i could see that the GPS logic switches between the two possible sources immediately. Also we do not have an OBD provided location. The location actually comes from the same source always, the Android GPS Fused Location provider. That one can get data from the car if it provides GPS and if not, takes it from the phone. So if the connection is bad after disconnecting from AA, it rather sounds like the GPS of your phones does not provide data properly.

      You also confirm this by telling us that the location is bad, when AA i not connected at all. Do other apps also have issues with GPS? Could you please try other apps in the same moment when you have GPS problems with ABRP?

      Please make sure you also test it while driving, as we have a filter logic, that filters out slow movement to avoid GPS drift, when stationary or driving very slowly (almost stopped).

      If this still does not work properly, please send us a bug report immediately when you see the GPS issues, then we can check the incoming data. You can enable the bug report button in settings and then a button with a bug icon will appear on the map.

      • Luka David Torkar

        •

        Sep 20, 2025

        Hey @Samuel_ABRP !

        I tried replicating the bug again but after multiple attempts I can't seem to replicate it anymore. Location updates remain smooth regardless if aa is connected or not.

        But yeah seems like I was wrong regarding the issue with the OBD dongle. I just assumed that the slow refreshrate meant the location data was coming from the dongle since if the phone messed up it usually just didn't update the location anymore until a full restart of the app.

        Sorry for taking your time on this.

        I think we can close this for now but if it happens again I'll make sure to send a bug report your way.

        • Samuel_ABRP

          Team•

          Sep 22, 2025

          Thanks for your feedback. I’ll close it then.