Communications Issues [PCM/App/Porsche Tracking]

[tigerbalm]

This is a thread to pull together as much info as possible on a persistent problem that many Taycan owners have with unreliable communication with their vehicle.

The Problem Description

There are in my observations, two variants of the problem:

1. The Communications Box is communicating with the gateway modules (and hence the MIB3/PCM) but fails to connect to the cellular network.

2. The Communications Box fails to connect to the internal gateway.

When issue #1 occurs the following are impacted - thanks to @Scandinavian for some of these:

• No online navigation routing or planning
• No online charge planning
• No traffic alerts or road closure rerouting
• No map updates
• No PCM apps have any data
• No app access – no ability to request pre-heating for example.
• No access to Internet/Online Radio
• No access to Apple Music or Apple Podcasts
• There will not be any download of your seat positions or mirror settings.
• Satellite images no longer available in the navigation.
• Porsche Tracking (PVTS+) has no access to the car and cannot track it. They will not be able to help if the car is stolen.
• No information about trips etc sent to the Porsche servers.

In addition to the above, if issue #2 occurs you will experience:

• No Wifi in the car
• No Bluetooth in the car
• No CarPlay/Android Auto
• No handsfree functionality

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Overview of architecture

If you look on the Porsche regulatory page "Information related to Radio Equipment Directive 2014/53/EU" at the Used Frequency Bands and max. Transmission Power (PDF; 1,9 MB) file, you'll see that the "Communications Box" in the Taycan is called "CONBOX-HIGH".

CONBOX-HIGH appears to be a common VW product manufactured by a company called
HARMAN BECKER in Karlsbad, Germany. This company is owned by Samsung:

https://www.lamborghini.com/sites/i...022/communication_unit/CONBOX-HIGH_EU_DoC.pdf

It looks something like this:

Here is an Audi Technical Services Bulletin that describes how this unit fits in with the wider MIB3 (i.e PCM) architecture:

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2020/MC-10183468-0001.pdf

FWIW, Audi puts out a lot more info on MIB3 than Porsche does. PCM 6.0 is Porsche's "marketing name" for MIB3 - which is the underlying VW/Audi technology.

And here is an Audi service bulletin from 2020 that seems to describe a very familiar issue with this unit not "waking up" correctly after sleeping:

Technical Services Bulletin – Vehicle cannot be reached

So it feels like various brands of VW have all been facing down similar issues – but I have not yet seen anything concrete from Porsche on acknowledging or resolving the unreliable communications that most Taycan owners – regardless if they realise it or not – have experienced.


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Glossary of terms

MIB3: The VW product that underpin's what Porsche call PCM 6.0.

Gateway: This is hardware that acts like a router in a home network. It acts as a central hub in the vehicle that securely interconnects and processes data across heterogeneous vehicle networks to and from functional domains such as powertrain, chassis and safety, body control, infotainment, telematics and advanced driving assistance systems.

Communications Box/CONBOX-HIGH: The VW derived hardware module that handles all internal and external communications in the vehicle. In addition to handling external cellular communications it also presents Wifi/Bluetooth/USB interfaces to mobile devices inside the car. The emergency/SOS call function is directly connected to this module.

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[tigerbalm]

Here is a summary of issues I've had with communications during a recent road-trip.

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...arctic-circle-road-trip-2022.9393/post-139082

 

[Scandinavian]

Good summary!
I have had several long conversations and also caal back from the people at smartmobility. They have tried a number of different things but at the end advised to have the modules checked at Porsche.

Would be interested to hear feedback from others if the have talked to Smartmobility and what yhey have said?

 

[PorscheCH]

Excellent summary I experienced it a dozen times. It seems to happen (at least to me) when I leave the car in an underground car park without LTE for longer stays. As you said, the best is to lock the car and wait a few minutes - personally no need to walk away, I can sit inside, open and close the door and use the key fob to lock myself in. I wait 5 mins and it seems to work

 

[Boss Hogg]

I've had no bluetooth connection to my phone a few times, however recently (touch wood) it has been ok. I've only suffered it on short journeys when not using any satnav so not sure if it was problem 1 or 2, suspect problem 2. I do find that my car regularly loses my favourite radio stations (c. every 2 weeks) which is a PITA.

Connecting to the car from the app is a lottery, even when parking regular locations with good and reliable cell coverage like my work/house. I'd say it connects c. 70% of the time.

August 2021 CT4S.

 

[Alex74]

The summary is more then correct. The 22 nd of march , the
dealer will put a new pcm ( third one) in my ct.

 

[Boss Hogg]

speak of the devil..... this morning mine failed to connect to the phone via bluetooth and I had all the issue 1 and 2 problems.

 

[tigerbalm]

speak of the devil..... this morning mine failed to connect to the phone via bluetooth and I had all the issue 1 and 2 problems.

Simple fix: Boil a cauldron with eye-of-newt then ...

 

[Midlifecrisis]

Mine is currently sitting at the dealer while they try to figure out why the app won’t connect to the car. It used to, but now won’t. But I can send a destination to the car from the app for navigation and the satellite overlay works on the navigation. But the app won’t connect to set timers, see battery charge etc. And it lost my radio stations.

They had the car last week while I was away and seemed a bit slow getting round to sorting it, probably because they had it for a few days. Still not sorted and communicating with their technical team. We will see what they come up with but I don’t think they have any idea what the problem is

 

[Midlifecrisis]

Apparently they are stripping it down to the communication box (not sure if that is exactly correct), leaving overnight and seeing if it will connect tomorrow. And they have got a new sensor coming in case it won’t. Not really sure if she meant a sensor or something else. Hopefully that will sort it. ?

 

[Dee]

This is a thread to pull together as much info as possible on a persistent problem that many Taycan owners have with their vehicle.

Lol.
Define "many"...
Mine is perfectly fine with just two or three minor hick-ups in 20.000km/2 years.
Actually, it solved itself every single time.
How 'bout that?
It's hilarious to see how people want to "investigate" a PCM problem on a forum.
And then what?
Solve it?
There's too many variables in here, both in software and hardware.
We don't have PIWIS software to look into very specific problems.

I'd suggest to just inform Porsche, your dealer or whatever.
Let them know.
They are the ones that can solve problems, even with custom software.
This kind of topics are useless and may give the impression that most of the Taycans have PCM problems which isn't the case at all.
Most of them are perfectly fine.
Only on rare occasions there may be a problem, it may be very specific, it may be even temporarily.
That is common when a new car enters the market.
There are lemons, always have been, always will be.
Problems end up on internet but it's not a good indication of the situation.
Anyway, good look with this topic.

 

[tigerbalm]

Says the person who had their OTA hardware replaced twice and creates threads about it.

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/porsche-connect-app-porsche-server-down.4215/

?

 

[rs38]

BTW also have OTA hardware (so it's obviously CONBOXhigh) already replaced and a software patch installed, but still have the same issues with unrealiable connections and config bugs as disappearing Icons and menu settings.

 

[Dee]

Says the person who had their OTA hardware replaced twice and creates threads about it.

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/porsche-connect-app-porsche-server-down.4215/

?

Like I said: we didn't solve the issue, my dealer did.
They are awsome.
Besides, it works flawlessly ever since so yeah: good luck with your "investigation".
Lots of response here from "so many people who have communication problems"...
Looks like these problems aren't as common as you want to believe.
I don't see any useful info here either besides a quote about my solved issue.
Still, it's good you want to solve things, nothing wrong with that.
Keep up the good work.
Still following this topic, you'll never know what comes up that is actually useful. ??

 

[rs38]

may be you are lucky or more likely, you do not really realize when connectivity is down!

There are so many issues that deal with "smartmobility" I cannot count them all. And most of the driver get used to it or use Carplay which hides it quite well, letting your IPhone manage mobile data instead of Porsche.

Look at the many recalls of Porsche, they even did not manage to get the motors and inverters behave like expected and need to re-patch and repatch again.

Many cars have issues because they are mostly parked underground with no reception, others have insulated glass, which obviously also is troublesome for mobile use in the car, some never use range-mode, so they will never come across the annoying range mode 90 /60 bug, and there are guys that concentrate on painting and printing ugly diffusors and sell Taycan parts...??‍

@tigerbalm I really appreciate your work and insight and still have not given up on hoping the Taycan will get better from software. At least both Porsche Apps have quite improved in the last 2-3 months. Let's hope and provide good error feedback to Porsche. Currently for me there is only one or two open tickets and I hear all the same shit from many Audi drivers with MIB3.

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