Wow. This is pretty interesting, and stupid, and really surprising. I am one of "those people" who won't even look at a car that doesn't have CarPlay. Yea I'm looking at you Tesla. Bye bye GM, it's been nice knowing you.
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General Motors to Phase Out Apple CarPlay Starting This Year in EV Transition
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I get why they do this.
Just like I get why Facebook attempted to make a phone in the early 2010s.
Control and sweet sweet subscription revenue.
It’s kinda expected that they would kick and scream while tech giants gradually invade their cars (this WWDC we’ll probably hear more about the 2.0 Carplay experience, which even entails Apple taking control of A/C and windows).
I would do the same in their shoes, kick and scream while they drag me away.
Doesn’t mean it will work out well for them. If cars start to be perceived as “smartphones on wheels”, people may want to stick to the established software companies they know and love.
Just like I get why Facebook attempted to make a phone in the early 2010s.
Control and sweet sweet subscription revenue.
It’s kinda expected that they would kick and scream while tech giants gradually invade their cars (this WWDC we’ll probably hear more about the 2.0 Carplay experience, which even entails Apple taking control of A/C and windows).
I would do the same in their shoes, kick and scream while they drag me away.
Doesn’t mean it will work out well for them. If cars start to be perceived as “smartphones on wheels”, people may want to stick to the established software companies they know and love.
Volvo’s latest cars use Google Automotive and the XC60 launched without CarPlay and was criticized for it. After an update (which can’t even be done over the air, well done Volvo and Google), they now support projection of CarPlay and it makes the experience significantly better. This is a terrible decision for Drivers and absolutely is a business decision by GM to get data on customers as an additional revenue stream. I would expect an update to their system, not long after they launch it, that enables support for projection…when their sales aren’t doing well because of their poor decisions
Yikes! I haven't even seen that part yet... Well, no more GM for me.Oh this is just nasty…
Thankfully, all I own from them is a fridge.
It works for Tesla because Tesla is vertically integrated. When Tesla wants to add a new feature, they don't have to have another company involved - the OS, apps, and hardware are all fully within Tesla's control. Tesla eshews CarPlay because it's little more than Remote Desktop. It's like instead of letting you use macOS directly, I told you had to use Windows but I'd let you access an instance of macOS via Remote Desktop. It'd be a poor experience. Better is to just have a better OS in the first place, so that's what Tesla did. They could add CarPlay later. But few Tesla owners want it. You hear bellyaching from people thinking about buying a Tesla about how they want CarPlay. But then within a few minutes of owning the Tesla, they have the Apple Music (or Spotify or Tidal or whatever) and messaging and calls setup in their car and they forget that CarPlay was a thing they used to think they wanted.*
This will likely work poorly for GM - all they're doing is switching from one OS/app provider to another. The hardware will presumably still be from a complicated network of thousands of suppliers.
*It'd be nice if the Tesla messaging app supported sending messages to groups of people... it's a small caveat that only comes up once every few months. Same as the Windows 11 phone messaging integration. Maybe Tesla will push an update to improve that later. The car has a cellular connection already... IDK if maybe they could arrange to make the cellular network talk directly to it instead of using the phone as a go-between? I guess that wouldn't work with CDMA though...
Between maps and music having CarPlay is indispensable. (Probably Android Auto too). Using a clunky, built-in system is just idiotic.
There must be some sort of collaboration to gather user data I suspect and fear. Really dumb on their part.
Automakers make horrible software, just look at any infotainment system as proof; the software is horrendous, the systems are slow, updates are nonexistent (although this is getting better) and the whole experience is lacking. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are popular because they solve all these problems, Tesla is able to make this work because they have solved all these problems. GM is no Tesla and I have little faith in their ability to deliver... What we will be left with is a bunch of GM EV's with outdated and barely supported software and I doubt you'll see anything close to 8 years of support. Google has trouble keeping interest in a product that isn't search, advertising, Gmail or Android for more than a year and GM will just fumble things and pivot to something else once this predictably fails.
Good luck to GM EV owners, I won't be one of them.
Good luck to GM EV owners, I won't be one of them.
This seems like a dumb move to me, but I do wonder how many regular (non macrumors type) people are using these carplay type features. A family member of mine was still using the FM/AUX transmitter from their previous car to listen to podcast when they unknowingly had CarPlay available.
While I’m certain this is GM wanting to push their own subscription service, I bet they’ve crunched the numbers on users.
While I’m certain this is GM wanting to push their own subscription service, I bet they’ve crunched the numbers on users.
I stopped buying gm cars when Gmac went bankrupt and ally refused to give me a loan even though they saw I had 15 years of credit with Gmac.
Went to kia and got a soul and never looked back.
Went to kia and got a soul and never looked back.
When I was looking for a new truck, my 1 sole non-negotiable requirement was wireless CarPlay so I got a 23' RAM. I will never look at a vehicle that doesn't have CarPlay. Period.
To be fair, it seems like GM is also phasing out making cars as well considering the crap they are making.
Wow, that is a terrible idea. I would never get a car without CarPlay.
Such a horrible decision. CarPlay and Android Auto, mean that your car can have a modern infotainment system indefinitely, without you having to keep updating your car. Also I have never seen a decent infotainment system, that compares to either of those options. Tesla's is pretty good, but I'd CarPlay of that any day.
Offer both, and if your Infotainment system is better than CarPlay user will use it. And when you stop supporting it(after a year, if you even offer updates), users will buy an upgraded car with the newer version, unless it's not better, in which case you're forcing a worse product on your customers. (And in a way encouraging them to buy gasoline engines)
Offer both, and if your Infotainment system is better than CarPlay user will use it. And when you stop supporting it(after a year, if you even offer updates), users will buy an upgraded car with the newer version, unless it's not better, in which case you're forcing a worse product on your customers. (And in a way encouraging them to buy gasoline engines)
And I like my Mazda 6 with CarPlay as well. I drove a big rental GMC this summer past ( large SUV ) and loved I could lay phone on the pad and charge it and also run CarPlay on my large screen. But at 80-90K not a likely purchase ever and I have never owned a GM product. I agreee
Lets wait and see what Honda does in 2024/5 when they start releasing their EVs. This could be a trend with automakers. Not a smart one IMO.
as long as you can install waze on it who cares.
Car infotainment starts and ends with out of date road closures and maps.
Car infotainment starts and ends with out of date road closures and maps.
Yep I am not a EV customer anyway too expensive on my state of Illinois pension. Not gonna pay over 30 K for vehicles any longer like my old Ford Explorer days either. Love my Mazda 6
GM pivoting from selling cars to selling out its customers. Good luck with that.
The last paragraph explains the reason why.
Electric vehicles are the trojan horse to making every little feature in a car locked under a paywall. CarPlay can’t be, so they have to just get rid of it.
Cars won’t be sold with up-front package options anymore, you’ll just pay monthly until you sell the car for the same options. Give it a couple of years…BMW and Mercedes already tested this model.
Electric vehicles are the trojan horse to making every little feature in a car locked under a paywall. CarPlay can’t be, so they have to just get rid of it.
Cars won’t be sold with up-front package options anymore, you’ll just pay monthly until you sell the car for the same options. Give it a couple of years…BMW and Mercedes already tested this model.
this might be the stupidest business decision I've heard in a while... I can only imagine they are making this move so they can offer their own subscription based infotainment service.
Do you remember what mobile phones were like before Apple introduced the App Store? We had absolute garbage apps provided by the carriers themselves. If you wanted to make something, you had to suffer through the BREW development environment and then have the carrier gouge you on price. There was no incentive for anyone to make anything nice.
I guess GM took a good long look at that horrible history and said "Yep, I want to take everyone back to that!"
I guess GM took a good long look at that horrible history and said "Yep, I want to take everyone back to that!"
…and….it’s in bed with Google. LOL. No surprise about the motive here.
“Gather more data….” 🤣. I would stay far away from this.
Sounds like a business opportunity - bespoke CarPlay head units that fit the existing wiring harnesses and dash.
General Motors (GM) will phase out Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in its vehicles starting this year, shifting to a built-in infotainment system co-developed with Google (via Reuters).
Course, given GM and Google, I'd bet that they have deep hooks that will cause the vehicle to stop working if the Google spy computer is disconnected.
On the other hand - they are only doing this to the EVs and not the ICE vehicles. Maybe they are trying to push people to the more expensive cars and trucks in the line?