This sucks. CarPlay is merely a layer using someone else's OS with someone else's hardware, seemingly.
I doubt Apple can leverage the quality and UX we're familiair with without fully integrating the hardware and software.
So you suggest what instead? Do nothing?
In case you hadn't noticed, cell providers and ISPs also suck. But we (including Apple the company and all its customers) put up with it because there isn't a realistic alternative. As much as you may love the idea of Apple magically somehow becoming a competitive manufacturer of automobiles, that's unlikely to happen any time soon.
Half a loaf is better than none.
We have one (2007) car which has a built in sound system which is, to put it bluntly, crap. It claims to support MP3 CDs, but at least once a month it does some sort of reset screwup and jumps to the beginning of the CD. Maybe not a big deal if you listen to music, but FSCKING irritating if you listen to audiobooks.
Plus other screwups like occasionally not displaying the metadata properly, noticeable amount of time to go from ignition to audio is actually playing, can't play VBR MP3s worth a damn, etc.
The second (1992) car had the old audio system die and replaced with a 2012 head unit which can talk to iPods. So I play the audio books from a 1st gen iPod nano. This system has, NOT ONCE, ever caused any sort of problems. Delegate the audio playback and metadata display to Apple (via the iPod) and it actually works. Amazing.
Yes, yes, we can all imagine some sort of marvelous future where the car isn't just using a CarPlay layer but is based on Apple Steel and Apple Tires and an Apple Steering Wheel. But how about we enjoy the fact that the system we get TODAY is a whole lot better than what was available last year?
----------
The biggest hurdle Apple is going to face is the UI and responsiveness.
The problem with car headunits is that, unlike a phone, they serve a much different purpose.
Capacitive touch for example isn't really that good a feature in a car. How many people wear gloves when driving? I know i't sbeen on average -15c for most of this winter. I drive with gloves on. You can't use a capacitive touch display with gloves on... and since its the car, you kind of have to for certain things.
you also don't want the headunit to require fine motor control to interact with. its a car and you're driving while using it, meaning the less attention you need to do give the display while interacting, the better. pinch to zoom a map while driving? thats too much attention IMHO.
Car displays have to be usable by covered gloved hands, as well as be primarily 1 digit.
So, they're likely all going to contain slower and more cumbersome touch input... its just the nature of the beast.
It's VERY likely that Apple has stringent licensing arrangements regarding CarPlay --- just like they have regarding AirPlay, Lighting, and other 3rd party hardware. They'll vet your HW, and if it sucks, no license for you.
This is just common sense. Android and Windows are in the business of allowing any random HW vendor to connect to their SW, not matter how lousy it may be. This has NEVER been Apple's business model, so why do you think it's suddenly going to change?
