General Motors to Phase Out Apple CarPlay Starting This Year in EV Transition

[sentiblue]

Their reasoning doesn't make sense. They want a system that allows them to collect data about how people charge their vehicles.

1. How people charge their vehicles hardly gives them any benefits
2. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are not the ONLY system in the car
3. Their own system can be designed to collect charging data and still be able to continue supporting CarPlay

With all that said, ditching the features that apple fans love guarantees they will not buy GM cars. Are they deliberately trying to go bankrupt the 2nd time?

 

[tivoboy]

not the reason at all. apple basically tells the car companies what the hardware needs to be to mirror the image being generated by the iPhone, you essentially are broadcasting an image. that's why as CarPlay gets updated it still works on cars year after year, not because the car companies have to do any work (they don't), but because its just mirroring the image of CarPlay being generated by the phone (which of course is updated from time to time by apple.)

the reason is simple... CarPlay takes nearly the entire interface of the car away from the car company... and GM wants it back so you have to opt into subscription services to get everything from maps to streaming music and more so they generate continuing revenue from cars they have already sold.

While it might take away from the physical onscreen UI/UX accessibility in real time, the functions of the car continue to operate (and can still be operated by physical interfaces, on dash and steering wheel. As an example, I have run the Sirius XM media from the CAR while using CarPlay for google maps and Waze integration. All run through the same media controls, Sirius from the in dash radio works fine (that is a paid sub of course) while Siri, maps audio notifications, Waze notifications, etc come over fine too. As well IF one is also using the in dash NAV, those alerts still come across as well as are integrated into the in car HUD or drivers display console. So, a collaborative working together option and capability is still present.

 

[beermode]

That’s like saying how did people survive before electricity or before they figured out how to move on from caves and build houses.

Just because there are other ways to do things, doesn’t mean they were good. Would you be willing to go back to 8 track tapes and paper maps? I for one would not be.

Hyperbole much?

 

[JoeShades]

That’s like saying how did people survive before electricity or before they figured out how to move on from caves and build houses.

Just because there are other ways to do things, doesn’t mean they were good. Would you be willing to go back to 8 track tapes and paper maps? I for one would not be.

I couldn't survive if I had to use CDs and mapquest LOL

 

[MadeTheSwitch]

Hyperbole much?

Au contraire. It was valid questions and a point that you couldn’t answer. 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[257Loner]

Shots fired! One of the barriers in the iPhone's development was Verizon's unwillingness to become a "dumb pipe" and simply sell phone plans to customers, and allow Apple to sell their own hardware and software. AT&T let Apple sell their own hardware and software, and so AT&T became the exclusive carrier of the iPhone in the U.S. for the first 3½ years (2007-2011).

According to this article, General Motors wants their customers to enjoy their exclusive hardware and software "experience", and let Apple be the "dumb pipe" for once! 🤣

This MacRumors article did argue that "The move is expected to help the automaker...incentivize vehicle-related digital subscription services." However, I didn't catch that part. I hypothesized in my last post that General Motors wanted to control the customer "experience". How wrong was I.

This Macworld article also suggests that General Motors wants to drop Apple CarPlay so that they can sell subscriptions for GPS navigation and entertainment streaming. This is exactly like Verizon vs Apple in 2005, having a dispute over who gets to be the "smart pipe" and sell services, and who will be the "dumb pipe".

 

[LukeHarrison]

GM died for me the moment they killed Saab anyway, so hey ho...

Need to get a CarPlay unit for my 9-3 though.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

This MacRumors article did argue that "The move is expected to help the automaker...incentivize vehicle-related digital subscription services." However, I didn't catch that part. I hypothesized in my last post that General Motors wanted to control the customer "experience". How wrong was I.

This Macworld article also suggests that General Motors wants to drop Apple CarPlay so that they can sell subscriptions for GPS navigation and entertainment streaming. This is exactly like Verizon vs Apple in 2005, having a dispute over who gets to be the "smart pipe" and sell services, and who will be the "dumb pipe".

I will just not get those subscriptions LOL. I use my phone for GPS anyway. I did make them load the chip though before we left the dealer. I made them include it and any other functionality in the price. They did. No onstar, no XM, I want none of it.

 

[NtDs90]

That’s like saying how did people survive before electricity or before they figured out how to move on from caves and build houses.

Just because there are other ways to do things, doesn’t mean they were good. Would you be willing to go back to 8 track tapes and paper maps? I for one would not be.

I actually like and know how to read a paper map. I don’t like GPS. Knowing the old ways is a wise idea.

 

[compwiz1202]

I couldn't survive if I had to use CDs and mapquest LOL

I didn't mind CDs, but I'd rather even 8 tracks than cassettes. And yea MQ was a pain since it would be wrong at the end. You didn't have a different GPS to fall back on, so you had to find help. At least it helped you remember faster as long as it was right though. Usually had it mastered within three trips.

 

[MadeTheSwitch]

I actually like and know how to read a paper map. I don’t like GPS. Knowing the old ways is a wise idea.

Unfortunately not everyone can read maps. Some people need that turn by turn handholding. Gladly I am not one of them, but have seen others in my family absolutely struggle with paper maps. GPS has been like a miracle to such people.

 

[Trekkie]

I actually like and know how to read a paper map. I don’t like GPS. Knowing the old ways is a wise idea.

knowing them and being forced to use them because of a dumb decision by something forcing it aren't the same thing.

Having used both paper and pencil and a gps/touchscreen to navigate both cars and aircraft (private pilot) I'll take a touchscreen for convenience and a paper map for the end of the world. There are whimsical things about paper maps - like pouring over them looking for weird things to find that is a lot harder to do in a GPS but overall they are an improvement.

 

[0924487]

well I guess my next truck will be something else.....

I think you will still be fine because viable GM electric trucks will not come anytime soon. The GM ICE cars will still have CarPlay if you read the article.

 

[0924487]

I actually like and know how to read a paper map. I don’t like GPS. Knowing the old ways is a wise idea.

The problem with paper maps is it doesn't show you where you are.

 

[kyykesko]

Good luck with that. I won't be buying any GM brands from this point on. The only way I'd bother to go with their new system was if it supported pretty much everything the CarPlay does on my iPhone, and if it did there would be no point to develop such a thing. So bye bye GM.

 

[kyykesko]

Keep in mind people, and plenty of Apple and Google engineers bought Teslas and Rivians despite them having no CarPlay.

Maybe it's not as important as people think? If you put together a decent system to let me listen to music or navigate, I can somewhat be placated. With that said most car infotainment systems looked like absolute ass in the 2000s/2010s. The Toyota one even in 202x cars is still an eyesore from a 10+ year old system that looks and functions like crap.

If all you need is to listen to music and navigate it doesn't matter what system you use. You don't get much benefit from CarPlay or android stuff with those. I use calendar, reminders, contacts and messaging constantly and I do need them to work at all times. There is no way they will be integrating all of that into any proprietary system. Even with Siri working as poorly as it sometimes does I use the voice assistant all the time. My car has it's own voice assistant that can do quite a few things but it fails in all of the ones mentioned above. Lucky it also supports CarPlay.

I was seriously considering Tesla when I last bought a new car but decided against it exactly for that reason: No CarPlay. And yes, I've sat in one. Rented one for 3 months and I've test driven a dozen others. Sure, there are plenty of other issues with them I didn't like (crappy paintjob, shoddy american work quality overall) but the missing CarPlay was one of the main reasons I decided to skip them. It would affect my life every single day, several times a day. Why would I abuse myself like that?

 

[fromgophonetoiphone]

If all you need is to listen to music and navigate it doesn't matter what system you use. You don't get much benefit from CarPlay or android stuff with those. I use calendar, reminders, contacts and messaging constantly and I do need them to work at all times. There is no way they will be integrating all of that into any proprietary system. Even with Siri working as poorly as it sometimes does I use the voice assistant all the time. My car has it's own voice assistant that can do quite a few things but it fails in all of the ones mentioned above. Lucky it also supports CarPlay.

I was seriously considering Tesla when I last bought a new car but decided against it exactly for that reason: No CarPlay. And yes, I've sat in one. Rented one for 3 months and I've test driven a dozen others. Sure, there are plenty of other issues with them I didn't like (crappy paintjob, shoddy american work quality overall) but the missing CarPlay was one of the main reasons I decided to skip them. It would affect my life every single day, several times a day. Why would I abuse myself like that?

Shrug, I rent a lot for work and CarPlay is a must but I don't feel like I miss it a bit at home with my Model 3. With that said, come on. Messages, calendar, contacts, etc? Those are nice to have but unless you're a delivery driver or on the road like a trucker, doing prolific messaging in a car is terrible. I'd be worried about you as a driver if you're so distracted messaging and doing productivity tasks.

When I'm in a car I drive. I pick up calls only from my spouse and that's it, and even then it's not to chat but quick "I'm on the way home" or "I'm on the way to the store, message me what you want me to pick up." I know a LOT of my coworkers take conference calls on the road but as an engineer I'm not doing my best job if I'm driving and chatting. That or I'm being a terrible driver. I know Tesla drivers who literally text and call on the road relying on autopilot but I'd never do that. That's why there's so many terrible drivers out there.

What matters to me is navigation and music and that's it... not because I don't care about other stuff, but because many other features are more distracting than actually helpful. Even podcasts I feel sometimes are a bit sketchy for distracted driving because if the content is too engaging your mind is focused on information. I listen to tons of music podcasts though. Ambient / background noise is more appropriate for driving IMO, but that's just my opinion.

 

[kyykesko]

Shrug, I rent a lot for work and CarPlay is a must but I don't feel like I miss it a bit at home with my Model 3. With that said, come on. Messages, calendar, contacts, etc? Those are nice to have but unless you're a delivery driver or on the road like a trucker, doing prolific messaging in a car is terrible. I'd be worried about you as a driver if you're so distracted messaging and doing productivity tasks.

When I'm in a car I drive. I pick up calls only from my spouse and that's it, and even then it's not to chat but quick "I'm on the way home" or "I'm on the way to the store, message me what you want me to pick up." I know a LOT of my coworkers take conference calls on the road but as an engineer I'm not doing my best job if I'm driving and chatting. That or I'm being a terrible driver. I know Tesla drivers who literally text and call on the road relying on autopilot but I'd never do that. That's why there's so many terrible drivers out there.

What matters to me is navigation and music and that's it... not because I don't care about other stuff, but because many other features are more distracting than actually helpful. Even podcasts I feel sometimes are a bit sketchy for distracted driving because if the content is too engaging your mind is focused on information. I listen to tons of music podcasts though. Ambient / background noise is more appropriate for driving IMO, but that's just my opinion.

You're free to worry about my working and driving habits all you want. You know about me what you read plus my handle, so enough said. I'm glad you can forget all about your work the second you enter your car and can just enjoy playing music and ...driving, if you really enjoy driving a Tesla. As I said before, if all you need is music and navigation (which you said was true), you can make do with just about anything and GM's choice doesn't concern you. So why are you here?

To quell some of your fears about my reckless driving, I use the said components in connection with each other, through Siri. Just consider a sentence "Hey siri, add a reminder to call Elon Musk when I arrive home". Without the access to my reminders and contacts that wouldn't happen. I also tell it to add crap to my calendar, to send quick messages to my workers to get on stuff right away instead of after I have stopped and so on. Mostly I ask it to tell me to call people when I arrive to my destination and to add tasks I need to get done, tadaa, when I arrive.

All of those commands take a few seconds to complete, but not being able to do those (and spending 1-2h minimum in car per day) means everything would be delayed. Even worse, I might forget some of that if I had to hold it in my mind for that hour's drive. It's better to be able to offload it to my phone as soon as possible so I can do what I'm supposed to do -- you guessed it -- concentrate on driving.

My choices are either to live with CarPlay, fiddle with my phone while driving which is never a good idea, or to stop every five minutes on the side of the road to jot down notes. With a GM car only the last two will be options in the future which is why I will not be buying anything from them again. Not that it really matters, I doubt I'd buy a GM in any case. Then again, 'GM' in this context is more like 'any car that doesn't have carplay', Tesla included.

 

[H_D]

Being on a trip in Ireland lately, it was one of the most impressive things about the rental Golf we got that CarPlay worked flawlessly, combined with the quite good 5G network on the island navigation, music and everything you're used to just worked smoothly, absolutely no need to get used to a new set of menus and UI-stuff. Same with a Hyundai rental we used some weeks back, utterly small and otherwise modest car which to my surprise had wireless CarPlay, something much bigger brands do not offer. That, e.g., Smart#1 offers no CarPlay at all is a reason for many folks to not buy it (and when they will finally open the system and charge for CP, it won't make people happy either, as this quite basic service should be free in a car that costs 50K).
CP just works, it has my choice of navigation system, my audiobooks and music, an interface that I can (barely, though) personalize. Apple should really invest some more work into CP, especially for a new generation of electric cars which need elements of the manufacturers input (360° camera, power usage, car controls etc) but the manufacturers should embrace this and stop trying to come up with their own UI, which mostly suck. As most manufacturers go Tesla, letting go of hardware knobs and controlling the car’s functionality via Software (not really the best idea anyway), there needs to be a middle ground of controlling the A/C unit digitally and using CarPlay as well.

 

[Bodhitree]

There was an interesting piece on Daring Fireball about GM’s ambitions as far as increasing revenue is concerned. Seems they might be pressuring themselves to achieve impossible targets. Apparently they want to maintain subscription fees of about 500 USD a year per subscriber, and convert a lot of electric vehicle owners into paying subscribers.

The question is, what services are they going to offer which are not already built for free into mobile phones? People will just buy a dashboard mount for their phone and do for example navigation from there, rather than pay upwards of 50 dollars a month.

 

[H_D]

>what services are they going to offer
Controlling the car, EV-specific functionality and so on. Media-Integration and Navigation, the iPhone/Android do much, much better.

The main + of CarPlay is that I can prepare things on the go on my iPhone instead of spending my time in front of the dashboard, it's a (more or less) seamless and smooth user experience as opposed to the club-footed way you have to work on the in-car-system. The less friction between you personal device and a car, or a TV-set in a rented apartment, or a Display at a workplace, the more external tech works as an extension whatever the device is you use for organizing your life, the better.

One of the worst things about CarPlay, thus, is that it is so limited. I cannot dictate a note or a DayOne entry while driving directly via CarPlay (but with Messages Speech-to-Text is allowed...?), it's just a frustratingly limited experience that still forces you to use the iPhone or AppleWatch instead.