Apple Provides Updated Look at Next-Generation CarPlay at WWDC 2024

[rellimie]

It appears to take development resources to integrate CarPlay 2 (and maybe 1) into cars and the makers are deciding that the time could be better spent on their own interface instead?

With few exceptions, auto maker interfaces are garbage. Also, don't think for once second it has anything to do with development time. It has to do with the auto maker having access to and selling your data.

GM Says It's Ditching Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for Your Safety

GM says people won't stop looking at their phones and it wants to minimize that danger inside its cars by removing Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

www.motortrend.com

From the article:

It's Also About Money And Data​

While Babbitt's reasoning is sound, there's more to this strategy than simple altruism. Automakers worldwide have been squabbling with Apple and Google for years over access to, control over, and ownership of data generated in the vehicle. Regardless of whose software the driver is using, enormous amounts of data are being collected on how they drive, where they go, the apps they use while driving, and more. That data is valuable to the automakers and tech companies both for customer research as well as to be anonymized, packaged, and sold to third parties.

This is a badly kept secret around the auto industry.

 

[Hildy]

Why do you prefer Apple has your info? Audi would still have this data, but you are now sharing it with two companies. Ultimately, Audi is the better choice as they are the ones developing your car. Not Apple.

I trust Apple more than Audi to not make me the product. Audi can have my location data, but that is just scrapping the surface of all other complex relationship and interaction data that I don’t want to give them access to.

If I pay market rates for a car I don’t believe I should end up being sold as an asset by the car company.

 

[beanbaguk]

The reality is that while all this data sounds "scary" for car manufacturers to have; What does it mean to you if they have it? Most allow you to opt-out of navigation data, and such, but does it bother you so much that these companies can monitor the telemetry of your cars?

If that's the case, you'd best get something from pre-2007 as all cars do this, and there is no "fuse that you can remove" to disable it. You are effectively disabling the entire infotainment and one of the primary ECU's to do this, which would render your car useless so you simply cannot do this.

If you really want to get paranoid, Apple is no better, and platforms like Waze, Google, TomTom, etc, etc, all monitor your GPS data.

And surprise, so does Apple:

• Location Data:
  • GPS and Navigation: When using navigation apps like Apple Maps, CarPlay uses your location data to provide directions, traffic updates, and estimated arrival times.
  • Frequent Locations: CarPlay can use frequently visited locations to predict destinations and provide relevant information.
• App Usage Data:
  • Interaction Data: Information about how you interact with CarPlay, such as the apps you use most frequently and the features you access.
  • Performance Data: Data on how CarPlay and its apps are performing, including any crashes or bugs.
• System Data:
  • Vehicle Information: Basic information about your vehicle, such as make, model, and year, which is necessary for CarPlay to function correctly.
  • Connectivity Data: Data related to the connection between your iPhone and CarPlay, including connection status and quality.
• Communication Data:
  • Messages and Calls: If you use messaging and call functions through CarPlay, the content of your messages and calls might be processed for features like Siri suggestions and speech-to-text functionality.
  • Siri Interactions: Voice commands and queries made through Siri are processed to provide responses and improve the service.

So unless you are planning a world domination take-over, a bank heist or some other madness, I don't think there is much to worry about.

The alternative is an old banger and a paper map. (Watch out for those traffic cameras though)

 

[beanbaguk]

I trust Apple more than Audi to not make me the product. Audi can have my location data, but that is just scrapping the surface of all other complex relationship and interaction data that I don’t want to give them access to.

If I pay market rates for a car I don’t believe I should end up being sold as an asset by the car company.

But no doubt you will complain should the car go wrong, and your manufacturer doesn't have any telemetry data on your car, so it takes double the time to resolve the potential problem, costing you double.

Equally, the reliability of modern cars is superior to cars without telemetry because manufacturers can monitor issues and deal with them rapidly.

 

[person s]

Tesla has the best UI in any car I’ve seen.

I have a Tesla model 3, wife has a Fiat 500e
I’ve adjusted to not having Carplay, mostly by subscribing to Apple Music
but the interface is inferior to CarPlay - the player is rudimentary, even in the new version
it all works better on the Fiat

That said, I want to be able to choose nav service. Waze in particular. Car play is an easy fix for this, so is an App Store for Tesla.

I’m surprised that Apple and Tesla haven’t agreed on a way to make it happen, something like ‘Carplay for Tesla’ combining Apple Music with a better interface
satnav doesn’t worry me as much as music, but I appreciate that others want better options than a pretty basic map
surely these geniuses can work it out

 

[diamond.g]

With few exceptions, auto maker interfaces are garbage. Also, don't think for once second it has anything to do with development time. It has to do with the auto maker having access to and selling your data.

GM Says It's Ditching Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for Your Safety

GM says people won't stop looking at their phones and it wants to minimize that danger inside its cars by removing Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

www.motortrend.com

From the article:

This is a badly kept secret around the auto industry.

Yeah OnStar has been collecting user data (and selling it) pretty much since it's inception. Heck if you have SiriusXM they are tracking you and selling your data as well.

Advertising dollars are too low of a hanging fruit for these companies to ignore (using it to pad their financials).

I have a Tesla model 3, wife has a Fiat 500e
I’ve adjusted to not having Carplay, mostly by subscribing to Apple Music
but the interface is inferior to CarPlay - the player is rudimentary, even in the new version
it all works better on the Fiat

I’m surprised that Apple and Tesla haven’t agreed on a way to make it happen, something like ‘Carplay for Tesla’ combining Apple Music with a better interface
satnav doesn’t worry me as much as music, but I appreciate that others want better options than a pretty basic map
surely these geniuses can work it out

Back in the early days I would agree that Tesla would have worked something out with Apple. Since Apple provides the API's for podcasts and music it seems Tesla has less of a reason to work closely together with Apple on their infotainment system.

 

[Tagbert]

Yeah OnStar has been collecting user data (and selling it) pretty much since it's inception. Heck if you have SiriusXM they are tracking you and selling your data as well.

Advertising dollars are too low of a hanging fruit for these companies to ignore (using it to pad their financials).

Back in the early days I would agree that Tesla would have worked something out with Apple. Since Apple provides the API's for podcasts and music it seems Tesla has less of a reason to work closely together with Apple on their infotainment system.

The way to work that out is for Tesla to give their customers the option of having CarPlay. It’s by far the easiest way to integrate a bunch of stuff. It’s doesn’t have to the the all-in of CarPlay2. The current limited model would give customers the features they want.

 

[diamond.g]

The way to work that out is for Tesla to give their customers the option of having CarPlay. It’s by far the easiest way to integrate a bunch of stuff. It’s doesn’t have to the the all-in of CarPlay2. The current limited model would give customers the features they want.

I dunno seems like using the web api's they have already made overlays for is far easier than implementing CarPlay.

 

[Tagbert]

I dunno seems like using the web api's they have already made overlays for is far easier than implementing CarPlay.

With CarPlay, they get all of the apps integrated at once.

CarPlay is not a complex integration. It is a video feed from the phone to the car over USB/Wifi with a response channel for touch events.

 

[rgwebb]

It may be simpler to write the low level OS stuff to display carplay and hook into it than making a high quality audio player based on someone else's APIs. Human user interfaces are usually harder to do right than system interfaces and protocols.

The reason some manufacturers choose not to integrate with CarPlay 1 is opinionated user experience positions.

 

[diamond.g]

It may be simpler to write the low level OS stuff to display carplay and hook into it than making a high quality audio player based on someone else's APIs. Human user interfaces are usually harder to do right than system interfaces and protocols.

The reason some manufacturers choose not to integrate with CarPlay 1 is opinionated user experience positions.

For Tesla explicitly that would hamper their yearly UI refreshes. Not sure if CarPlay can be as small as the current media player. Also not sure how cool having CP overlay the full screen FSD visualization would be.

 

[Hildy]

But no doubt you will complain should the car go wrong, and your manufacturer doesn't have any telemetry data on your car, so it takes double the time to resolve the potential problem, costing you double.

Equally, the reliability of modern cars is superior to cars without telemetry because manufacturers can monitor issues and deal with them rapidly.

You make absolutely no sense. I’m not advocating Audi be shut out of their own system. You are making up arguments to a mythical maintenance problem which is in no way related to my position regarding CarPlay.

 

[rgwebb]

For Tesla explicitly that would hamper their yearly UI refreshes. Not sure if CarPlay can be as small as the current media player. Also not sure how cool having CP overlay the full screen FSD visualization would be.

Exactly. The opinionated UX positions don’t have to entirely be about owning the customer. It could mostly be about the only way they know how to do what they think a car should do is by not having to design around a 3rd party window competing for important space in the interface.

 

[Tagbert]

Exactly. The opinionated UX positions don’t have to entirely be about owning the customer. It could mostly be about the only way they know how to do what they think a car should do is by not having to design around a 3rd party window competing for important space in the interface.

On my car, CarPlay only appears when I tap on a specific button, otherwise the manufacturer’s UI is what shows. Tesla should be able to figure out a way to show CarPlay on part of the screen when needed and hidden when not.

 

[beanbaguk]

You make absolutely no sense. I’m not advocating Audi be shut out of their own system. You are making up arguments to a mythical maintenance problem which is in no way related to my position regarding CarPlay.

You, along with others are suggesting privacy concerns with OEM systems. The point I’m making is if you think Apple is some angel in all this, you are mistaken.

In fact, the use of CarPlay actually shares your data with more people as most people will have 3rd party apps installed and all your information goes to Apple AND those 3rd party apps.

Frankly, I couldn’t care less but for many it bothers them.

Unless I want to live off the grid, I honestly stopped caring a while ago.

 

[diamond.g]

On my car, CarPlay only appears when I tap on a specific button, otherwise the manufacturer’s UI is what shows. Tesla should be able to figure out a way to show CarPlay on part of the screen when needed and hidden when not.

I was under the impression that a CP window of some sort was supposed to be active/visible while CP is active.

 

[HJM.NL]

It’s about options and personalization. I want both and don’t seen any reason why the vehicle maker can’t allow for that. Are they afraid of competition?

And this is the reason you choose Apple? 🤔😂🤣😂

 

[Tagbert]

I was under the impression that a CP window of some sort was supposed to be active/visible while CP is active.

No, I can switch back to the built-in UI to do things while the podcast and maps directions from CarPlay continue in the background and are there when I switch back.

 

[Hildy]

You, along with others are suggesting privacy concerns with OEM systems. The point I’m making is if you think Apple is some angel in all this, you are mistaken.

In fact, the use of CarPlay actually shares your data with more people as most people will have 3rd party apps installed and all your information goes to Apple AND those 3rd party apps.

Frankly, I couldn’t care less but for many it bothers them.

Unless I want to live off the grid, I honestly stopped caring a while ago.

You failed to make that point.

 

[beanbaguk]

Deleted

 

[beanbaguk]

You failed to make that point.

I suggest you read all the comments and not just one or two. Hopefully, that clarifies it for you. If not... 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[H_D]

Having wireless CarPlay, to me, is a deciding factor in buying a car. It's far from perfect, but it has my music, my books, my favorite Nav, my messages, it just taps into what is already there.

Still, if you control all the car by screen, as Tesla does (and the rest seems to follow down that particular rabbit hole), I wonder if various manufacturers are standardized enough to really do that. Android seems to think so, it's just apt that Apple follows that approach. The end result, however, would be that the rolling computers that cars invariably are now are either controlled by Apple or Google, depending on your device, and not by BMW, Daimler, BYD, whatever... they would simply provide the hardware for the two of the world’s biggest software companies. It would free them from having to work on the mostly garish and lousy developed self-made UX implementation most cars feature, but at the same time would take a lot of control away. Not sure I see that happening. As a user, the car being a part of the ecosphere of my «devices» used would be a step forward. Frankly, I am not sure if «owning» a car makes sense in the upcoming years, as software and computing hardware makes the cars obsolete much faster than ever before. A classic ICE-muscle car from the 60—80s will still be fine today, an 8-year-old EV would feel outdated like a 10-yo smartphone. The display, the software, battery, integrations... it's all not up-to-date anymore.

 

[prayingnantes]

If Apple really wants next-gen CarPlay to succeed they need to profit share with the vehicle manufacturers. Apple already has our payment information and I am much more likely to subscribe to services through them over a car company. Also people have their lives on their phones, we are comfortable with them and have them set up the way we want. No one wants to have to completely duplicate their existing phone ecosystem in the car. Apple should just say to manufacturers look, let us handle all the details and you will get to keep X percentage of the profits. Manufacturers would be on board with it because it makes the in-car service business easy for them and helps them move product. They could even charge a subscription for next-gen CarPlay itself and split that. At the end of the day it needs to benefit both parties.

 

[diamond.g]

If Apple really wants next-gen CarPlay to succeed they need to profit share with the vehicle manufacturers. Apple already has our payment information and I am much more likely to subscribe to services through them over a car company. Also people have their lives on their phones, we are comfortable with them and have them set up the way we want. No one wants to have to completely duplicate their existing phone ecosystem in the car. Apple should just say to manufacturers look, let us handle all the details and you will get to keep X percentage of the profits. Manufacturers would be on board with it because it makes the in-car service business easy for them and helps them move product. They could even charge a subscription for next-gen CarPlay itself and split that. At the end of the day it needs to benefit both parties.

No one is going to pay extra for CarPlay (as BMW has found out).

 

[prayingnantes]

No one is going to pay extra for CarPlay (as BMW has found out).

Depends what the package comes with.