Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I think the main goal of GM, to the exclusion of all others, is to figure out how to make automobiles a subscription service. Warming up a battery for better charging just is a neat trick, but nothing that consumers are going to abandon their phones for.

GM wants consumer driving data, they want to charge for wireless, they want you making continuous payments for as long as you use the vehicle. This is a trial balloon for that.

Sick of the whole subscription model. Personally, I can easily see a future where people ”cut the cord” on subscriptions. the powers that be just want and endless stream of money…
 
So are they right? Does Apple make no affordance for vehicle charging data? If that’s true, there is a potential user experience issue with CarPlay.
GM could easily supply Apple with an API that could query car information — they just won’t. Because Google is paying them for user data, and GM will get additional money for showing you ads on your dashboard.

I’m sure their new experience will be nice (except for the ads and data-mining, obviously), but we need to get the word out to our non-techie friends and family: the GM system WILL be monetizing you, and WILL be collecting data about you. CarPlay WILL NOT.

Essentially, you’re being forced to use an advanced version of Android Auto, only it won’t even work with Android phones!
 
Yep. Let's stop pretending others won't do this. Apple really wants to monopolize the tech in cars, and they will try to strongarm manufacturers to bend towards their will, which is Apple wanting 100% of the monetization.
What monetization would this be then?

I’m sure Apple charges a modest fee for CarPlay compatibility licensing, but there is no ”monetization” in CarPlay itself.
 
Adding AirPlay without supporting CarPlay is just … dumb.
Nope. AirPlay is lightweight and can be done easily. From a customer perspective, it provides a ton of value as a free update. From Tesla's perspective, it can be done with very little engineering work and doesn't give Apple a competitive advantage in the infotainment space (as in, it won't lock Tesla customers into Apple's ecosystem). It's also unlikely Teslas with Intel atom CPUs will be able to keep CarPlay running with system functions (such as dashcam writing 4 streams of video continuously to SSD). Maybe with the newer AMD chips, CarPlay is functional, but Apple has a ton of requirements before they can sign off on a certificate for Tesla.
 
Last edited:
A Cadillac Escalade LowIQ it is. And look, they must have taken that steering wheel from a bus or an 18 wheeler.
 
Just another way for them to lock you into their terrible car ecosystem. Car manufacturer ecosystems are even worse than Apple or Google because they do not continuously update older models. I have a 2018 Audi Q5 with navigation and they gave up on map updates the last one was a 2020 update and when 3G networks were shut down, they just disabled the module in my car instead of offering some sort of hardware upgrade route so I lost remote management functionality. The only time you get new software is with newer car models. So removing Apple CarPlay where you could consciously have updated maps and apps to use in your car is a pretty terrible customer experience.

Essentially after a year or two of support, you're going to be stuck with whatever software/hardware they give you with not even the option to use CarPlay to get some up-to-date features. Not to mention they can also remove features too if they feel like it. Audi removed Google satellite view from my navigation as well due to an "api" change.
 
This whole thing reminds me mobile carriers trying to sell locked-down feature phones so they could monetize ring tones and crappy match-3 games.

Or that Vizio “smart tv” that’s so slow and crappy now, I have to disable everything possible.

0% chance GM turns into a great software company overnight - or ever.
 
Last edited:
While Tesla’s share has declined, they sales continue to grow. This is not an indication that Tesla is failing but that other manufacturers are finally bringing their own products to the market as the market grows even more. I am no fan of Tesla and Musk but I do think that they will continue to be a significant source of EVs. GM will also get past this bump and start pumping out more EVs. That will grow the overall EV market, too.

I dunno, as we’ve seen the originator of an idea and first manufacturer of it often get pushed aside by all the others that end up doing it better, later on. I think a large chunk of Tesla owners are happy with the futuristic car. It feels new and revolutionary. But from my point of view, it seems space and devoid of basic comforts. It feels so cheap inside to me. I would feel like I got robbed even if the car were 20% of its actual cost. A Honda Civic feels more luxurious.

The console, which many love, I hate. I don’t want to do everything through the console. I like the way normal cars function. I believe Tesla did this to save money. They figured out how to reduce the cost and complexity of the car. And many people like the sparse, futuristic feel that brings to bear. I’m just not one of them. It feels like a step backwards to me. AC should be a physical button. Amazing it has a steering wheel.

Everything inside the car feels so cheap to me. For that much money, I’d much rather have a really nice BMW or Porsha. The one thing Tesla does have that I would very much like, is how fast it accelerates. I could see that being very cool. It’s needed, but it would be nice to have.

I’m also not a fan of the way the car looks. It just rubs me the wrong way. I don’t like they design of it at all. If I am going to pay that much for a car, I need to be in love with the car inside and out.

I think over time, others will come out that are appealing inside and out, and not f-ugly. Even the NIO looks better. It feels unfinished. And I have seen way to may of them with parts just falling off. Quality just isn’t there.
 
I see it as being caught between a rock and a hard place.

You either turn potential customers off by not including CarPlay, or further increase your reliance on another company while also losing another means of differentiating your product.

Neither is an appealing proposition.
I doubt if GM's motive has to do with: losing another means of differentiating your product. IMO it is overwhelmingly about one thing: mining users' personal data for resale and reuse.
 
Last edited:
It’s not surprising how much nicer the Apple Car project CarPlay display interface is much nicer than all current EV displays available today yet the Apple is still a research project.

I shouldn’t be surprised but outside of Porsche and Kia Telluride to a lesser extent EV dashboard displays are horrendous and a HIG/Human Factors design failure.
 
Which means. “We’re gonna see how this no CarPlay thing works and if it fails…we’ll add CarPlay”. 😆
And lose more market share and piss off more potential customers in the process… neither of which would be reversed by them adding CarPlay.

I can see the likes of BMW or Honda getting away with something like this. One is “the” luxury brand with an insane snob appeal, the other has a cult-like following based on its reputed reliability. Tesla could get away with that (and many other things) when it was a de-facto only major electric vehicle brand on the market and people were tripping all over themselves to get one (I think these days are quickly coming to an end). For the life of me, I can’t see Chevrolet, Buick or Cadillac being able to pull this off without losing a large chunk of their customers to competitors. They aren’t perceived as cool, or super reliable, or cutting edge. They are just… there.
 
Tesla has only gotten away with it because, until now, they have had a unique product. As competition increases, they will have to integrate CarPlay too.

No... they put in the work early and have never needed CarPlay. CarPlay and Android Auto exist because OEM infotainment was so woefully lacking, slow, and outdated. Tesla started ahead of the curve and continues to update it to remain so. The only thing you can't do in a Tesla, today, that you can do in those others... is choose a different map.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RaoulDuke42
Pretty sure BYD is the number one selling EV in the world.

Kudos to Tesla as yes they do sell about half a million cars per quarter. They sell a lot of cars. Their charging network is second to none. And I’d add that their charges are well maintained. They actually work when you arrive. BUT … They lie about their range, which has been all over the news. I understand why, and I am even somewhat sympathetic. However, their quality is sub-par. So many people experience panels that just fall off, or seals that do not keep the rain out. The car is so sparse to keep the cost down. I wouldn’t be buying one.

If I had a house, and a solar roof, owning a Tesla would make all kinds of sense. I also feel that the grid cannot really accept everyone owning one without adding solar. This is all very nice if you have the money to go all the way. Even if I did, which I don’t, I wouldn’t buy a Tesla. I guess I am one of the few that believes it is too soon for pure electric unless you have that home and solar roof. I live in an apartment. A hybrid makes more sense for me. Getting 50 miles to the gallon, which costs about $5 in California seams reasonable to me. I can fill up in a few minutes and have more than 600 miles of range.

I live close to my office. That’s by choice. I want to be able to walk to work. So I don’t actually need or own a car. But if I were to buy a car, it would most likely get a hybrid from Honda And I hope would have CarPlay. Tesla seems to me to be of poor quality. I’m not particularly fond of Musk either so I won’t be contributing to his bank account either. But more than my dislike of Musk, I just don’t like the quality of his efforts. His vehicles leave much to be desired. I think an everyday Honda Civic has a better sense of quality than a Tesla costing five times the price.
Don’t forget that Tesla was the first mainstream EV to the market, they faced no real competition in their brand new segment, they had a superb aesthetic design, and were choke full of "cool" features. Many of them unpractical, or not working as advertised, or outright dangerous - but cool nevertheless. The “ludicrous” driving mode upgrade, the Autopilot, the huge tablet instead of a boring old car screen, the gull wings in model X (gimmicky and very unpractical but looks cool as hell), the whole idea of it not being your average boring car company but a future looking startup led by the real-life Tony Stark-like visionary... Musk used to be a genius level promoter.

Tesla probably couldn't pull a rise like this today. But if I am sure of one thing, it's that General Motors will never be able to pull it. Not without completely changing their corporate leadership and their entire structure and their entire culture. Which is about as likely to happen as me winning a billion dollars tomorrow. So while Tesla could get away with not supporting CarPlay (and many other things which were a whole lot more impactful), GM... well... tough.
 
I honestly don't prefer CarPlay over my car's built in navigation and audio software. CarPlay was great when my car didn't have GPS, but now I could do without all the phone notifications.

I had several aftermarket solutions (available as OEM options in different markets), by TomTom, Garmin, Navigon, Pioneer... and the ONLY redeeming feature they had over Google Maps, Apple Maps and Waze was the larger screen than the phone, and that you could control them from your car and had the sound thru the car speakers. In every other aspect, the phone app was superior

Getting an aftermarket Pioneer unit supporting CarPlay was a huge step up.
And now even the cheap Korean car with CarPlay supported from factory is a step up on THAT.

Car manufacturers have always lagged waaaay behind in updating the map material, and often enough just give up on updating the software. Goes for all brands. So at least let me upgrade the damn phone after a few years to get the up-to-date features.

Consumers will simply not buy cars without CarPlay or Android Auto once they had them.
 
I’m also not inclined to get a Tesla, but I’m curious what your reasons are, just if you care to share. For me, I believe they are the best EVs one can buy and good value (particularly the 3 and Y), but I think the brand still causes a lot of people to make assumptions about the owner, assumptions that I don’t want associate with me. I very much like to go low key. Perceptions are definitely changing as Teslas become more commonplace, but there are still many pockets where old assumptions linger. I want to give it more time. And there are also some decent competitors.

Not having CarPlay is a bummer, but the Tesla software seems to be top notch. Also I think there is a rumor it’s getting AirPlay which might be almost as good for me.
I'm leasing a Bolt EUV instead of a Model 3 because it's cheaper, has ventilated seats and a sunroof you can fully open and shade, and also the Bolt is smaller so better for parking. Supercharger network doesn't factor because I don't do any long distance driving. If I did need to do longer range driving and didn't mind a larger vehicle (and had more money) I'd probably go with a Tesla. The lack of physical controls and CarPlay does irk me, as does Elon's doucheyness, but if you're really taking into account what other people think of your ride choice then you might as well get a ginourmo F-150 Extra Super Duty Murder Edition or whatever.
 
You aren't alone in liking the Tesla interface, but this still doesn't mean GM can live without CarPlay. For one thing, Tesla is one of only a few manufactures that arguably could put their interface next to Apple's. In addition, some Tesla owners disagree with your assessment, and many non-owners passed on Tesla because they wanted CarPlay. Put differently, even if you accept that Tesla's interface is preferable -- which is not conclusively right or wrong -- you still have a massive number of people who simply want CarPlay on whatever they buy. And those people certainly overlap with the target market for Cadillacs. If you add in the possibility (probability?) that GM won't design a competitive system, this decision could sting them badly.
I can agree with this. The reason that the Tesla interface is a real competitor to CarPlay is because Tesla has been doing car UI for 10+ years, with monthly updates/improvements.

GM's UI is pretty much garbage, and never gets updated. Maybe this will change with their new platform. But they have a tall hill to climb, and they're starting way at the back.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.