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“Some carmakers” is a strange way to write General Motors, which is to my knowledge the sole carmaker who has announced they’re going to shoot themselves in the foot by dropping a non-negotiable feature required by a majority of new car buyers. I predict they backtrack on this plan pretty rapidly.
Tesla also refuses to support CarPlay and Android Auto, because they believe their software is better. And why shouldn’t we trust them? Tesla has a stellar record for fixing their buggy software even after your car is no longer in warranty. /s
I do wish Tesla had Android Auto, but their software is really quite good.
Mostly I just want different music apps like Plex and Newpipe.
The nav stuff is mostly fine. SMS integration is good. Video apps while parked is good.
Their software is actually good though, unlike anything GM has produced so far.
I would much rather have the software of a Tesla over what I have now, a 2020 Nissan Leaf, whose interface and functions seem to come out of 2010.
It’s not their software. It’s Google’s. It’s Android Automotive (not to be confused with Android Auto, which is an entirely different product).
I’ve not used Android Automotive yet, so I can’t speak for how well or poorly this works for people in Google’s ecosystem, but it sucks for people in Apple’s. And GM is an US company and Apple is half of the US smartphone market.
Voice integration for Apple’s phones blows without proper CarPlay support. It’s also pretty rough if you have iOS apps that have not been ported to your head unit’s OS.
I wish GM did what Volvo and other manufacturers are doing. Embrace Android Automotive, because the vendors who have been making head unit software have blown for years. Let Google give you a nice stable core OS… but THEN allow projectors experiences like CarPlay to passthrough to AA.
Volvo did this a few years ago and they’re now reversing course.
GM is the biggest, but also Telsa and Rivian. Almost all the big players support it now.
I’m looking to buy a new car within the next year. If it doesn’t offer Apple CarPlay, I won’t even bother looking at the car.
If it doesn’t offer Apple CarPlay, I won’t even bother
Can I ask why, what’s the benefit?
CarPlay (and Android Auto) are basically driving-oriented UIs that your phone pushes to the head unit in your car. This means you get a full touch screen UI with your maps and music apps of choice, plus other apps that support it.
It beats mounting your phone over an AC vent because the screen is bigger and the UI is actually designed to be safe to use while driving (fewer, bigger buttons, more use of screen edges and corners so critical functions can be activated without looking).
Car makers don’t like this, because it means users are less likely to pay subscription fees for their shittier built-in internet services.
This means you get a full touch screen UI with your maps and music apps of choice, plus other apps that support it.
Just want to add on that my recent Mazda doesn’t have a touchscreen, but a control knob that works to control either AndroidAuto or Carplay. I’m so happy to not have a touchscreen in the car.
You can use all the apps you are familiar with and have already set up. Like you favourite maps software, your music subscription like Apple Music or Spotify, or things like podcast or audiobook apps, everything right on the big screen of the car.
That and it performs better. I have a ‘22 Niro and the stock interface was laggy when it was new. Swipes would take seconds to register. But I pull up CarPlay and it just works. You’re splitting your attention while driving. While that’s already bad, having a slow UI makes you split attention longer and increases frustration which is also a bad thing to do behind the wheel.
And it will still be usable in 5 years when you have a new phone and your car manufacturer has long since stopped providing free updates to the built-in maps.
It will still be usable, and it will be receiving software updates and improvements.
Ok cool. I can do all that on my phone already though. So it’s mostly just having a larger screen then?
Larger display with a better layout and steering wheel controls.
My personal truck doesn’t have Android auto or Apple car play (I thought it was something I could get when I bought it but turns out I was a year early, whoops) and my work truck has it. I 100% will not be buying any car that doesn’t have it as a feature. It’s not something I need all the time because for most drives just using Bluetooth is perfectly fine but if I want to use the GPS for anything Android auto and car play are just so much better than using your phone for that. Everything is kinda frivolous to though.
Stop looking at your phone while driving.
Also allows me to use media controls on my steering wheel with my phone.
Main reason is that many apps have a separate CarPlay or Android Auto UI that is less distracting, more glanceable, etc.
It’s kind of hard to go back once you’ve lived with it for a a bit. It’s much more convenient. A simple phone mount feels kind of janky and distracting afterwords.
Yes. I don’t like to look at or touch my phone while I’m driving. Its dangerous. CarPlay makes it safer and easier to control my phone - from which I play my music and do my navigation. My current car has Bluetooth, so the music works, but I still have to use my phone to control it. Which as I said, I don’t like to do.
Or you can get it installed from bestbuy. It cost me $300 last time, installation was free.
If you’re talking about a head unit replacement that get’s difficuld nowadays since they aren’t just Double-DIN and there are vehicle.settings managed in there.
Looks like to do that for mine is about $800-1500 DIY
You can buy just a screen that is basically a tablet for CarPlay and android auto. It connects to your existing system via Bluetooth and to your phone via WiFi. Then it arranges the Bluetooth connection between your phone and the stock system.
If my car lacked CarPlay, this is likely what I”d use, and mount it over or above the stock head unit.
Sorry for my ignorance, didn’t take newer cars into account. I have a 2015 Mitsubishi Lancer, and it was compatible with my dad’s 2019 Hyundai Santa too.
Personally I tried Android Auto it with a company car (nothing fancy).
Couldn’t care less. Give me bluetooth and a USB port to plugin my smartphone and I will bring my phone holder.
No need for stuff that will get outdated and needs dealer updates (if they are even supplied).will get outdated and needs dealer updates
I thought Android Auto and Apple CarPlay both handle updates on the phone side, not the car side?
I don’t know anything about the software but there surely is some implementation on both sides as I don’t believe it’s just a pretty chromecast/apple version of that interface streamed from the phone.
And assuming you keep a car for >5 years and the strides tech does at any point (just look back on phones 10 years ago) and Google/Apple developing the platform further and abandoning older models I don’t see a very bright future.
Assuming I am wrong, I am happy to be corrected.
Edit: No need to downvote me to hell. I was wrong and corrected >_>
I think it might literally be a video feed? or similar to an X11 session? I know it doesn’t work over bluetooth and it requires a wire or wifi, so it’s bandwidth heavy for sure
It is, both use a virtual display device over USB or Wi-Fi and send touch events from the screen to the phone.
It’s basically a Display + HID interface from the car to the phone.
That said, the software on the car side should be updatable over time as well, to fix bugs and add new features.
If that’s actually the case: Neat
Hope they do not drop support for the APIs to allow access via the interface so cars have a long life.
There have been CarPlay compatible cars on the market for 8 years now and they work fine with newer iPhones. Hell, Apple still supports the iPod USB protocol for even older cars on new iPhones.
It’s not much of a concern, in my opinion. And I drive a car with no CarPlay and only built-in infotainment lol
No need for stuff that will get outdated and needs dealer updates (if they are even supplied).
This is specifically why people like CarPlay and Android Auto; they are managed by your phone instead of the car manufacturer. If you bought one of the first CarPlay capable cars in 2014, it still works with the new CarPlay features that just shipped in iOS 17 last week.
CarPlay and Android Auto basically turn your infotainment system into a dumb terminal for your phone. They work by turning it into a second display. All the head unit has to do is relay touch inputs back to the device. It is completely unaware of what actual software is running, it just sees a video signal and your fingers.
This is also probably why Tesla and General Motors don’t like it. They want you to pay them for the new features you otherwise get for free with your phone.
If that is so, that’s really cool.
But other users said it already and I agree: Not everythibg needs to be smart.
Really had attentiom issues with this whole infotainment system while driving.
So I’d agree: Less is better. More knobs amd keys instead of a large pane of touchscreen. Also the whole infosec about cars is probably still only surface level. Who knows what outdated piece of tech lingers in the depths.Ah yes, such overly smart features as… your navigation on the screen, your currently playing music app, and maybe a handful of driving specific apps.
It’s literally just the same stuff you would normally expect, but with the ability to install/change/update completely independently of the car.
Also not sure what the age of the parts of the car have to do with anything. Are you concerned your 20 year old tv is suddenly going to be sprouting an autonomous cellular connection and broadcasting your content to the internet?
In the specific case of a car: Less is better.
Just a personal preference.If the options are a phone in your hand, or a car safe version of the same info on your dash, I think it should be obvious which one is better.
I would much rather a car manufacturer focus on making sure the hardware is nice to use rather than coming out with some Ass-software that they came up with in house. Also, I’m going to connect my phone to the radio anyways so why reinvent software to make it less compatible then the native software my phone manufacturer has already R&D’ed pretty well. I assume there is some licensing bullshit with either CarPlay or Android Auto that could be playing a factor. But I would still rather the manufacturer focus on a nice feeling, high refresh rate, bright display rather than focus on some new clunky interface they develop.
Car conpanies want to sell you subscriptions to services, and killing off carplay/auto would do that.
Need a gps? you either use your phone screen to navigate with audio or be forced to use their navigation service on the hud.
I seriously wouldn’t buy a car at this point if it didn’t have CarPlay or Android Auto in it. Navigation with Google Maps or Waze is vastly superior to anything a car company is ever going to come up with (props to Apple Maps too for making big improvements in the last several years). Integrated music experiences where I can directly see my Spotify playlists or favorite tracks without touching my phone is just something I’m used to and couldn’t go back. Having a voice assistant that works from Google / Apple (I know Siri is rough sometimes lol) will always be better than any voice controls a car company comes up with. Oh, and huuuge points to Overcast for just reliably being the best podcast app for many years and having a super easy to navigate CarPlay app. I’d lose all of that and more if there was no integration with my phone and we went back to the awful bluetooth pairing that we had before with terrible UI design and no support for third party apps.
At this point, that’s more important to me than whatever engine they’ve stuck in it. Just give me good mileage, pass inspection and last at least 150k miles and we’re good. I’m not drag racing so I don’t need a rocket ship lol
Thanks for going over reasons!
I’m still curious though - how are car play or android auto different from just using your phone in your car?
You get to use the cars screen vs using your phone as a screen (which is statistically smaller).
Auto/Carplay UI is also optimized for driver with better legible text and fewer auxillary buttons that could distract you from driving.
And who are you going to trust more updating the car software experience, 2 companies who is in the business of making full fledged operating systems and software, vs a car manufacturer whose software division miniscule compared to the big companies.
Car companies essentially have 0 history of offering a good software experience. Why would anyone trust them now. Its like the Nintendo paid online stuff. Why would you trust Nintendo to have a better online experience if its paid when they have 0 history of actually making it good. Its just there to dime you for subscription money.
I’m not in love with the idea of CarPlay/Android Auto sucking up all of our personal information, but removing the mere choice of using them doesn’t make me happy.
Car infotainment is traditionally crap when it’s new and systems which update seemingly get slower and generally worse over time. Casting your phone interface let’s you escape the first world problem of shitty UI/UX.
We already give our info to either Apple or Android. Using the car’s software is yet another company getting your info.
IMHO, car manufacturers suck at data privacy. At least Apple tells people what is being tracked, what the data is used for, and gives people prominent opt outs. And now Google is starting to get into that game.
When I was purchasing my car about 6 years ago I was sure I was going to for for a Nissan, as I currently had one that I loved. But they didn’t offer any cars with Android Auto support and that was a deal breaker. It is a make or break thing for me, and I suspect as more and more people adopt it, it will be for them too. We might see this kind of pressure delayed, as car purchases don’t happen every year for most people, and the CarPlay/Android Auto software has really only become quality must-have software within the past few years. Yet, as people approach the time to purchase a new car, I believe the pressure on automakers to integrate these technologies will intensify.
Nissan was definitely late with AA/Carplay then initially just put it in the highest trim levels. They have been a few years behind everyone else with in dash entertainment for a while now.
Most automakers are on board now. Too many people were test driving cars and passing up cars without CP/AA. The big exception being Telsa. All of the other features interesting features in a Tesla made people ignore the fact that Tesla has trash voice control and limited 3rd party apps compared to iOS and Android.
GM thinks they can reverse course and play Tesla’s game.
If GM thinks they have the rizz that Tesla has/had they are absolutely insane.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
This has not sat well with every automaker; in March of this year, General Motors made headlines—and generated a lot of comments—when it announced it was killing off support for casting interfaces (both CarPlay and Android Auto) from its future products.
This little-known feature is only offered to OEMs and allows them freedom beyond the restrictive user interface guidelines laid down by Apple.
The app presents a series of tiles on the screen, configurable by the user, which allow you to change the climate settings, switch between favorited radio stations (AM, FM, and Sirius XM), or change the interior lighting.
The My Porsche App also integrates with Apple Maps and allows you to create favorite locations or local searches (for a coffee shop, for instance).
Although the freedom of the Automaker toolkit would have allowed Porsche to make the app look just like its native infotainment system, it didn’t.
And again, the goal for us is that customers, when they’re not in the car, they are using the iPhone, iPad, MacOS, Apple Watch, they are very familiar with this UX, UI.
The original article contains 626 words, the summary contains 181 words. Saved 71%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
I’d rather cars go back to no touchscreen. Dot matrix displays are fine.
As long as absolutely everything one will press while driving is a physical button, I’m OK with it. However, putting climate control etc on the touch screen is downright dangerous as they require one to take their eyes off the road.
Physical controls I could feel for climate was an absolute must for me as well.
Some cars have physical buttons that are so smooth you can’t even tell what is what without looking at them. I guess they cold work with gloves in the cold, but it was too little for me.
