GM Admits No Technical Reason CarPlay Couldn't Be in Future EVs

[Sasha-1]

Sigh... it's the best selling car in the world. Maybe that changes when Q2 numbers are released any day now, but that's where it stood after Q1.

And Tesla is experiencing YoY growth, meaning that they sold more cars than the year prior and are continuing to grow. Every car they make, sells. They've opened new factories, those all sell out. Their market share of the EV market could be 100%, but as soon as someone else shows up and sells 1 whole car, their market share falls. That doesn't mean they're in some free fall - it means the market grew. It's a very useless stat at this stage since the EV market is just now growing out of its infancy, in the next decade it'll likely settle into a transitionary stage and maybe you can glean information from it. But this isn't the half-ton truck market, where Ford losing market share might indicate something in a mature market.

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.

 

[Chazak]

In the future meaning after Tesla puts them out of business? 😂

That will not happen.

 

[mallbritton]

Crikey that dash is an eyesore. Give me some simple gauges and call it a day, maybe one screen for maps/Carplay.

Agreed! I'm not piloting a space ship. I'm driving a car. Don't distract me!

 

[tripsync]

To be fair, Tesla doesn't support Carplay either.

That's one of the reasons Tesla is not an alternative when I'll replace my current EV. The other ones are lack of instrument panel (or at least a HUD), build quality, and weird decisons: e.g buyers suddenly didn't get parking sensors, as they were removed.

Instrument panel is unnecessary. Adjusting my eyes to look down right instead of down didn't take long.

My 2018 Model 3 holding up fine other than a backup cam recall which was a design flaw, not a build quality issue.

Ultrasonic sensors are highly inaccurate. Everyday I leave my house, it's a xylophone symphony because the USS thinks I'm almost crashing every time. Also going over dips causes USS to warn that I'm about to hit the ground. Parking sensors are now handled by cameras which have the ability to be much more accurate.

Non issue.

 

[tripsync]

That will not happen.

It will. Agree to disagree.

 

[tripsync]

Tesla's U.S. market share has dropped from around 78% in 2018 to 62% in 2022. Globally, Tesla's market share is much smaller and has also declined. As far as GM and Ford are concerned, they are hardly the only manufacturers making EVs. BYD and Volkswagen alone produced more BEVs in 2022 than Tesla.

I don't think you understood what I wrote or didn't even bother to read it.

Do you understand why 78% marketshare is not something any automaker is expected to hold in any major market?

 

[Crowbot]

I'm only asking here because you're all talking about cars. I've always lived in cities and I never owned a car. I ride the subway so I'm not accustomed to a comfy ride.

My question: Is it possible to buy a car without all the electronic doodads? I'm talking about something like the 1960's VW Bug. Just a well made, solidly built CAR, not a motorized computer. As an outsider, car wise, it just seems like a lot of over-engineering.

 

[AdonisSMU]

CM are going to sell fewer cars anyway. At least CarPlay was the least destructive route. GM needs to invest in public transportation and bicycles.

 

[swarlos]

That dash looks fugly as hell.

 

[skiguy45]

they probably are banking on the popularity of Tesla despite the lack of CarPlay

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.

 

[skiguy45]

Suspect people have more loyalty to their phone brand than their ride’s

Doesn’t matter what phone brand you have. No android auto either. GM is locking out the center of people’s digital lives in the hopes people will make their car that new center. They are blowing smoke up their own asses.

 

[BeatCrazy]

These new Android Automotive (based) systems are a huge step backward in vehicle personalization. CarPlay and Android Auto allow drivers to natively control their preferred music, navigation and other supported apps regardless of the vehicle system. It'll be especially jarring to iPhone owners, as most people buying vehicles at this price point will be coming from a wireless CarPlay vehicle. We're essentially regressing a couple decades to bluetooth only control. Most people will handle their phones more often for messaging, controlling music, navigating, etc.

BUT, I think these 100% touch interface systems are awful and should be outlawed. They're a huge safety issue:

1. Drivers need to hunt down settings to adjust basic settings like temp, fan speed, volume, seating controls, etc,
2. Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap takes a lot longer to decrease or increase volume/temp than spinning a knob.
3. There is no tactile feedback for making adjustments without taking your eyes off the road
4. Settings are constantly moving/replaced by settings for something else (climate, sound, seats)

Until vehicles are completely autonomous, certain functions need to be controlled with physical buttons/knobs. I don't care how many safety features manufacturers add, unless they plan to take full responsibility for accidents, don't make the driving experience more dangerous.

You use voice control. It actually works well.

 

[Kar98]

Does somebody knows wether navigation with maps in CarPlay uses the vehicle satellite navigation or the iPhone GPS?

Uses the phones GPS.

 

[BeatCrazy]

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 won’t. As as current owner of a CarPlay vehicle (as well as two prior) and a Tesla without it, I actually prefer the Tesla. Especially for navigation.

Maybe next-gen CarPlay changes that. When CarPlay get satellite view on a 15” screen, maybe it will change my mind.

 

[banfiz]

Not having a car that has CarPlay I will never do that again, no CarPlay no buy, for me its a deal breaker.

 

[bluespark]

No CarPlay!
What a dumb decision!

GM is going to lose so much money. They're going to love selling fewer cars. It's going to be fun to watch!

And the problem is that they have no way to account for these lost sales. It's not like we're going to e-mail them to tell them that they could have had our business. We'll just find a manufacturer that gives us what we want and buy from them instead. Bye, Cadillac!

 

[bluespark]

No they won’t. As as current owner of a CarPlay vehicle (as well as two prior) and a Tesla without it, I actually prefer the Tesla. Especially for navigation.

Maybe next-gen CarPlay changes that. When CarPlay get satellite view on a 15” screen, maybe it will change my mind.

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.

 

[Tagbert]

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.

Why do you have those notifications enabled anyway? Turn them off to be less reactive.

 

[Tagbert]

Tesla's U.S. market share has dropped from around 78% in 2018 to 62% in 2022. Globally, Tesla's market share is much smaller and has also declined. As far as GM and Ford are concerned, they are hardly the only manufacturers making EVs. BYD and Volkswagen alone produced more BEVs in 2022 than Tesla.

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.

 

[Tagbert]

Does somebody knows wether navigation with maps in CarPlay uses the vehicle satellite navigation or the iPhone GPS?

Everything on CarPlay runs on the phone. The CarPlay screen is a secondary screen generated by the phone and projected to the car’s screen. The processing and GPS are all on the phone.

This is why it doesn’t take a lot of work for a car builder to integrate CarPlay or Android Auto. The phones basically provide a video feed that the car can show on its screen. There are some touch events and audio events that are pushed back to the phone over the CarPlay APIs, but all of the processing happens on the phones. That is why a new CarPlay version can launch and the car doesn’t even need to know about it.

 

[Jonkil]

Spending 130K on a vehicle that isn’t European is just dumb, especially anything American, loud, unrefined and terrible quality control with a driving experience reserved for a rowing boat.

Hello Mercedes-Benz, anything else just doesn’t cut it. Ultimate refinement and sheer engineering brilliance that others struggle to even dream of let alone come near matching.

 

[Tagbert]

Spending 130K on a vehicle that isn’t European is just dumb, especially anything American, loud, unrefined and terrible quality control with a driving experience reserved for a rowing boat.

Hello Mercedes-Benz, anything else just doesn’t cut it. Ultimate refinement and sheer engineering brilliance that others struggle to even dream of let alone come near matching.

Jon, cars have changed since the 1980’s. You might need to recalibrate. Especially with EVs.

 

[forrie]

It's reasonable to allow customers to select their preference. But really, the EV market is promoting vehicles at bloated pricing --- the Escalade is a good example. I wonder how long they'll be able to get away with this -- is it an attempt to cash in on the novelty phase, etc.

 

[ilikewhey]

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.

not necessarily, although i'm evaluating solar panels, charging off peak at night by setting a schedule in my tesla app only cost me 5 bucks for 300 miles. the only caveat about the range is how much battery drain you experience during extreme winter and summer, if you park directly under the sun without a glass roof cover do expect the ac to kick in to cool the cabin, and in winter, depending on how cold your area gets, i lose about 4-5% of charge per day. other than that the range is fully advertised.

 

[CoolSpot]

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.