GM Again Attempts to Explain Its Decision to Drop CarPlay in New EVs

[Chevysales]

Having spent the past 23 years with GM/Chevrolet selling Chevys at same dealership and becoming ops manager (owners problem solver) before my retirement.

Say all they (GM) want I have zero confidence in GM’s ability to develop infotainment/operational software in house or service it at 3,000 plus dealerships. Period. Full stop.

Being a retired GM employee and taking advantage of such in our 4 car (Chevrolet) family for decades. I will never ever buy a GM of any type without CarPlay.

Now if they prove to me over 3 years minimum that they magically came out with comparable or better software I’ll be back in.

But I’ve been involved to deeply to have any faith in that over my life time.

Good luck with that. On top of hiring enough engineers to work in the trouble shooting end with service techs. It’s hard enough to do that on manufacturing we excel at let alone something new. I feel bad for those early buyers.

 

[xpxp2002]

I would have bought an EV Chevy Equinox this year but I'm not going to because of this sole reason

Same. I had several family members who retired from GM. Always had GM vehicles. But this is a bridge too far. I’ve held onto my current vehicle two years longer than I planned to, and will continue to until GM reverses course or I have to replace what I have.

If GM isn’t offering a CarPlay-capable EV when the time comes, I’ll go somewhere else. I want CarKey and next-gen CarPlay, too. Seeing that GM is still standing firm against support for all of these things again today, it looks unlikely to change before I’m ready to buy.

Shame that they’re self-sabotaging though. Listen to what your customers tell you they want instead of trying to dictate to us what we want.

 

[xeiteu]

Finally, will 3rd party apps write a separate app just for GM (Spotify?)

I'm more concerned by GM trying to make themselves kingmaker of what goes on in your car. Hard to make the next spotify or waze competitor if car makers decide they dont want it running on their car for competition's sake alone.

 

[gbc204]

So, so, so dumb. The reason people want CarPlay/Android is because they don't even want to have to think about navigation/music etc. They just want to plug it in and go. No one wants to learn even more new stuff when you get a new car. Imagine taking all that time to design new cars, and then no one wants to buy them because of some software that no one asked for. I'm not sure who'd be more pissed, the people designing the cars, the dealers, or the people buying the cars who didn't know.

 

[gjpinc]

Ill never buy a GM from this point forward unless this attitude changes.

 

[Think|Different]

I have never owned or even considered a Ford – well, let's just say I just bought a new car and guess what I just ended up with, rather than GM...A Ford! And this was A TOP 5 REASON. Anecdotal? Sure, but I and you are not unique. Their take is just pathetic, do you but recognize reality that people want this option, plain and simple.

 

[acgmph]

*checks data*
On average, a US-based person spends this much time daily interacting with a car or a phone.

• Phone usage: 4 hours 25 minutes
• Car travel: 46 minutes

That's 6x, by the way. So why would I use a different interface with different UX and different data vs. the one I use 6 times more every day?

For me, no CarPlay = no car.

 

[M999]

No rational mind can see this succeed. The chance of failure even magnified if they do a Monthly charge for it. This strategy significantly reduces their pool of customers. This reminds me of Apple Pay and how at the beginning many companies wanted to do their own strategy! The dream of charging monthly subscription is sweet but this will be a nightmare for them!

Another point that I remember from Apple regarding Apple Pay that totally resonated with me was that …. “We don’t want to be exclusive choice for customers. Let merchants offer all services/choices and then let the customer make the decision which one to use!

 

[kerr]

No CarPlay or Digital Key = no purchase for me

 

[Christopher.D]

The TLDR for me is…no CarPlay, no sale. Also, now that 2025 is almost upon us, the same goes for no NACS in an EVs…no native NACS no sale (CCS to NACS adapters don't count...charging internals for CCS are still different and adapters tend to be glitchy compared to native NACS).

I am old enough that I have had many cars with "smart" head units...until CarPlay they all were mediocre at best. CarPlay is not perfect, but it is consistent and supports more than enough features for driving. Plus, I can pick my app of choice for a given operation or situation. There are more than a few car manufacturers that have figured out that you can still have your own car diagnostics/features/branding/etc. and split screen/multi-screen to allow CarPlay/Android Auto.

Apple is not perfect, but I trust their user information protection policies and software quality control more than any car manufacturer. Also, I fully admit I am not a fan of Android. I say this not to raise the ire of those that do. Both Apple and Google are leaders in the mobile space. I have built software and solutions for both. Each ecosystem has its pros and cons. But I was sucked into the Apple walled garden with my first Apple IIe, and in the decades since I may have used Windows and Google services, I have always migrated back to Apple.

Finally, I cannot provide commentary to anyone that says, "Siri sucks" or "Siri doesn't understand". Siri in the car (and at home) has always work well for me (and it sure as hell beats out anything a car manufacturer has done with voice activation). Now, I did take the time (took maybe about 5 minutes) to learn about "her" initial limitations, and I have kept up on "her" new features, so perhaps that has made my experience more prone for success

 

[The_Martini_Cat]

I have never experienced CarPlay but I still would not buy a GM car🍸😹 Yhe interview with the GM software guy was good, tho!

 

[timber]

Wait until the EU hears that GM is wanting to control the entire experience of their vehicles.

GM is a regional manufacturer irrelevant in the EU

 

[B4U]

Arrogance at its finest.
Let them burn and figure it out on their own.

 

[ZipZilla]

1,000% every car manufacturer should support CarPlay and Android Auto. Give the people what they want

 

[jfreedle2]

American automaker General Motors (GM) last year announced it would be phasing out support for CarPlay and Android Auto in its new electric vehicles, in favor of its own software platform called Ultifi. The decision has been very controversial, as many drivers consider CarPlay to be a must-have feature in a new vehicle. In 2022, for example, Apple said 79% of U.S. buyers would only consider a vehicle that works with CarPlay.

To make matters worse, GM's rollout of Ultifi went rather poorly, with some early reviewers of the Chevrolet Blazer EV last year experiencing technical issues with the platform. Some of those problems have since been resolved, but it is clear that the automaker might not be as effective at developing software as a tech company like Apple.

In a statement shared with MacRumors last year, GM said its software strategy is "driven by the benefits of having a system that allows for greater integration with the larger GM ecosystem and vehicles." In other words, the automaker wants to control the entire in-vehicle experience, which is both a reasonable and a risky decision.

In a recent interview with The Verge's Nilay Patel, GM's senior vice president of software Baris Cetinok further attempted to defend the automaker's decision to phase out CarPlay. Cetinok worked at Apple between 2012 and 2021, helping to spearhead the launch of Apple Pay, Find My, iCloud Drive, and more, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Cetinok joined GM months after it announced its decision to phase out CarPlay and Android Auto, but unsurprisingly he stands by the automaker's decision. He told Patel that GM believes with "strong conviction" that creating its entire in-vehicle experience provides "a better customer experience" with "end-to-end magic."

2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV with GM's Ultifi software platform​

"But we have a strong conviction that effort pays off in a better customer experience," said Cetinok, speaking on the Decoder podcast. "You get the most out of your vehicle because now we're the company that builds the vehicle and is also creating the infotainment experience, the cluster experience, the app, and everything. We're going to build that one day and maybe a voice assistant on top of it. The only way you can create that end-to-end magic is to have a strong conviction that you want to own all of these."

He said GM wants to offer a seamless experience that does not require having to switch in and out of phone mirroring systems like CarPlay and Android Auto.

"When you want to create something so seamless, it's hard to think about getting into a car and going, 'Okay, so I'm doing highway trailering, but let me flip to a totally different user interface to pick my podcast,'" said Cetinok. "By the way, it's a single app-obsessed interface — it's still hard to believe. So I pick my podcast, flip back to trailering. Oh, now I can also do Super Cruise trailering. Let me manage that. Then, wait, we're now getting into potentially Level 3, Level 4 autonomy levels that should be deeply integrated with talking to the map where the lanes lie. But wait a minute, the map that I'm using doesn't really talk to my car."

The full transcript of the interview with more CarPlay commentary is available on The Verge.

Article Link: GM Again Attempts to Explain Its Decision to Drop CarPlay in New EVs

And sales will continue to decline as long as they offer Android Automotive instead of the new version of CarPlay. It would be a requirement of mine that they remove Android Automotive and replace it with the new version of Apple CarPlay if they want to sell a car to me.

 

[jb310]

He told Patel that GM believes with "strong conviction" that creating its entire in-vehicle experience provides "a better customer experience" with "end-to-end magic."

That's very admirable of him; I have a similarly strong conviction in not buying GM vehicles. 😌

 

[ignatius345]

He said GM wants to offer a seamless experience that does not require having to switch in and out of phone mirroring systems like CarPlay and Android Auto.

There's no "switching in and out" though. When you get into your car, every single map destination, music playlist, podcast etc is already there because you're using the same device that's in your hand before and after you drive. There's never any "syncing" anything to to the car because, again, it's literally the same device.

Sounds a lot like GM just wants to get its hooks into your contacts, music and every other piece of data they can hoover up and use to build a profile. Hard pass!

 

[contacos]

I turn on my car and car play starts to play music and opens the map app to start a navigation. How more seem less can it be. Does he think people are idiots?

 

[sentiblue]

In 2022, for example, Apple said 79% of U.S. buyers would only consider a vehicle that works with CarPlay.

Despite Apple's survey.. GM decided to remove the feature. I really don't get it.

GM believes with "strong conviction" that creating its entire in-vehicle experience provides "a better customer experience" with "end-to-end magic."

They have always been terrible at the infotainment system. My wife drives a 2023 Cadillac XT and if you tap the touchscreen, sometimes it takes up to 2-3 seconds to respond. She repeatedly mistakenly stop/start music because the device just doesn't respond timely making her think that her tap didn't register.

 

[magicschoolbus]

A car without CarPlay is not even up for consideration in my household.

 

[bunce66]

I never once had a remotely positive experience using a computer interface made by a car company. Guaranteed this will be a terrible experience.

 

[ignatius345]

*checks data*
On average, a US-based person spends this much time daily interacting with a car or a phone.

• Phone usage: 4 hours 25 minutes
• Car travel: 46 minutes

That's 6x, by the way. So why would I use a different interface with different UX and different data vs. the one I use 6 times more every day?

For me, no CarPlay = no car.

I get why they want it: to get their hooks into what you're doing that other 4h 25m

 

[Numbah One]

If you have to perform a 'Ctrl-Alt-Delete' on your car, you're doing it wrong.

 

[turbineseaplane]

The best GM to buy right now is the Honda Prologue

…which is a Blazer EV with CarPlay and a Honda logo

 

[dmr727]

The reason people want CarPlay/Android is because they don't even want to have to think about navigation/music etc. They just want to plug it in and go. No one wants to learn even more new stuff when you get a new car.

Exactly, and I don't even need to plug it in and go - the phone stays in my pocket and everything is instantly available to my car. And my wife and I share cars from two different manufacturers, but still enjoy one interface to get what we need. It's a win/win all the way around.