Report Examines GM's Controversial Move to Abandon Apple CarPlay

[Biro]

The only way to make manufacturers think twice before banning CarPlay from their cars, is voting with our wallets like you’re going to do. If other manufacturers see CarPlay enabled cars sell better, they might re-think their strategy.

This is something everyone here - and all consumers everywhere - need to keep in mind. The ONLY language that any industry understands is money. Unless sales drop by a good amount, you don’t have their attention. If you have issues with what anyone is selling, then don’t buy. Consumers have much more power than they realize - even if it takes a couple of years to get results.

 

[bigboy29]

Car companies have become data brokers.

Also, they provide transportation.

 

[PsykX]

Good luck GM.
Carmakers are usually very bad at writing software - Tesla is an exception of its kind.
CarPlay is made by one of the top 3 best software companies in the world and it's still far from perfect.

 

[lindros2]

working for a company who is part of the automotive / infotainment ecosystem, everyone is mostly be crowded out by Google and in-house development.
As others have noted, Tesla and Rivian do not offer CarPlay, and their higher-net worth owners tend to skew to iOS/Apple ecosystem. Hasn't been a problem with them.
But the mainstream manufacturers - GM, VW, Honda, Toyota, Nissan - have made terrible attempts to build software. VW (Golf 8) and GM (recently) are shining examples of how far in over their head they are.

I love CarPlay. It's fantastic that I can get into my car, my wife's car, or rental car, connect my phone, and everything works - maps, music, phone, etc.

And for me, that is a huge selling point. I pulled my deposit from Cadillac (Lyriq Sport) because of uncertainty around CarPlay (I *think* the 2024 models still have it...) and Volvo (EX90) because they're (Geely) relying heavily on Google.

 

[Mr_Ed]

Bought a 2023 Honda Accord a few months ago. Android Auto for base, with wireless CarPlay and a large, bright display. CarPlay also integrates with the driver display, with turn-by-turn directions and displaying current song. HVAC is all physical knobs and buttons, and should stay that way, off the touch screen.

The absolute necessity with CarPlay is the ecosystem (duh). I have a large music library on my phone. Audiobooks are on the phone. Hands-free phone using my contacts. Voice (Siri) search for map directions.

Honestly, this feels like a mature system that doesn't need a lot of enhancements. Anything that doesn't require the phone (HVAC!, cruise control) should stay on physical controls. The "ideal" infotainment system should minimize touch screen interaction while driving. GM, Mercedes, and others are starting from being years behind CarPlay, and will always be chasing a moving target.

A big AMEN! on physical controls!

 

[kirbyrun]

I said - Apple wanted to control core functions of the vehicle like HVAC, as well as the speedometer and odometer. - That is CarPlay 2. Maybe Apple wanted more from GM, like 30% tax (just kidding), and GM decided not to play.

But GM (and Mercedes) cutting off CarPlay 2 isn't the same thing as GM cutting off OG CarPlay. That's all I'm saying.

 

[cfountain72]

So, based on DOJ (and EU) logic, does this mean that GM is 'forcing lock-in' on their customers? Should they be forced to 'open their walled garden' and allow other software systems to be used as well? Are they a 'gatekeeper' by virtue of their dominant position in the automotive software segment?

 

[bigboy29]

I have found CarPlay to be overrated. I’m in the minority where the lack of CarPlay would not stop me from buying a car.

Have you ever used it wireless? As in - hop into car and by the time you are ready to pull out of the parking spot, the phone is already connected with your maps going and showing possible destinations and your music / podcast is playing?

 

[jrlcopy]

I’m one of those who wants CarPlay in my car, so I would never consider purchasing a GM vehicle for that reason. It will be interesting to see if enough other customers feel the same way.

Same...

The efficiency of CarPlay, I'd never ever consider a vehicle that doesn't have it.

 

[michaeljk]

I have a 2024 Audi. If it hadn't had CarPlay, I would not have purchased it. I can, if I want, purchase their version of an infotainment system, including Navigation, which is mostly just a (much better looking) proprietary interface sitting on top of Google Maps, with some not very good UI for other things like phone calls and music. No thanks. It's something like $400 per year. Are you kidding? Car Play has always been a bit fiddly though, so it's not great. I have had various CarPlay connection issues in the Audi, and in my previous two Toyotas and in my wife's Lexus. The only car that never seemed to have any CarPlay issues was the wired-only connection with my 2014 BMW. In my current car, when I plug in the USB to charge the phone, CarPlay (or my Audi) keeps switching back and forth between wired and wireless, so to make it usable, I have to unplug it. Ack! I have a wireless charger pad but the phone gets too hot.

 

[MNWildFan]

I won't buy a new car that doesn't have CarPlay. I have it in two cars now and it is a must-have. Good luck GM!

Agreed

I currently have a '21 Toyota RAV4 hybrid, and I'm in CarPlay in it like 90% of the time

It's not wireless by default, but I have a dongle that has made it such, and it's just so nice to get in my car, start it up, and then have it connected next to right away all without a cable

Hopefully whenever I do have to purchase a vehicle down the line many years from now, wireless CarPlay will be pretty much ubiquitus for almost all vehicles out there

 

[Obioban]

I do not have any evidence. However, if you read the article in theverge, you can see the underlying reason why BMW is not supporting the extended Carplay. For any manufacturer, the same reasons should apply and I do not see any reason why not. Hence, I am assuming that extended carplay (or for that matter even Android Auto), may not get any traction as companies will not cede control of essential functions to 3rd parties.

BMW does support extended carplay.

 

[Unami]

This will only play out over the next few years when people get new cars. I just got a new (used) car, and having carpay was a deciding factor.

 

[Obioban]

GM and the other legacy manufacturers who abandon CarPlay better put some serious processing power into their in-house systems. That’s the biggest issue with the proprietary systems - they’re so, so underpowered and lack responsiveness.

Tesla and Rivian both have extremely responsive and (relatively speaking) powerful in-house systems…yet it’s still a major issue for some. Most people can at least tolerate not having CarPlay if the in-house systems are really good, but I highly doubt GM will do it. Probably gonna be super slow, laggy, and cumbersome to use.

Honestly, I don't care how good/responsive the carmakers setups is. There's two fundamental issues:

1) they'll never have the app support of the phones. E.g. 90% of my time spent in the car I am listening to podcasts on overcast. By using carplay, I get to keep all the overcast features I value (smart speed, skip intro and outros, etc) AND, because it's coming from my phone, what I'm listening to stays in sync between cars.

2) I'm not paying for another ****ing subscription for my car's data plan, for a worse version of what I already have for free (from my cell phone plan).

 

[M999]

As article says GM is doing this to increase their revenue by collecting information and selling add ons. In my opinion this backfires and they loose more customers due to not having CarPlay. I for sure don’t consider a car without CarPlay regardless of price discounts or other features. I want a seamless connection with my iPhone.

 

[MNWildFan]

GM will reverse course on this in 2-3 years for sure.

And I'll be shocked if they don't

Pretty much everyone (aside from Tesla and Rivian) either has committed to supporting the current generation of CarPlay or supporting the new one (the one that will allow it to interface with the entire car); hopefully they'll come to their senses and realize what a giant step backwards this is

 

[Cricfan]

I got to use carplay in a Ford Edge a couple weeks ago, it's trash. Maybe they should fix that first?
I'm truly amazed at how many people say it's a good thing? That carplay randomly disconnected about a million times.
iphone 14 pro max up to date on software. I'm much happier with my everyday bluetooth link that works flawlessly.

If it is about wired connection I had the same problem. I read somewhere that using apple’s own lightning charging cable resolves that. I had a 3rd party cable, replaced it with apple’s cable and it has not disconnected since then.

 

[Mr_Ed]

Have you ever used it wireless? As in - hop into car and by the time you are ready to pull out of the parking spot, the phone is already connected with your maps going and showing possible destinations and your music / podcast is playing?

I use it wirelessly, but my car (not CarPlay) already has maps ready, suggests destinations based on my routine drives, pulls down traffic info, and plays whatever music source was playing when I left the vehicle (HD Radio, built-in media drive library, USB drive library, SiriusXM, Bluetooth-connected library, or CarPlay music app). The car treats CarPlay media sources as just another one of many possible sources, and I actually like that.

 

[BuffaloTF]

Exactly. Also, Mercedes is an outlier because of their extremely high competence in the tech/user-interface aspect of car design. They are also one of the only ones I know of to have a native Apple Music app in their native system (i.e., if you are not using CarPlay). They still include CarPlay, unlike GM, but it is much less critical in a Mercedes than it would be in most other systems.

Toyota has native Apple Music in their system. Tesla does as well.

 

[TheGhostWalker]

I drive a Tesla at the moment, they have added a Apple Music App and more recently Podcasts, however it is not the same as CarPlay, and the music app has the habit of disconnecting from the network. Car Play integration is important to me and next car is likely to be a BMW i5 that does support CarPlay.

I think the difference is that Tesla can actually produce relatively reliable and responsive software

 

[SoldOnApple]

GMs 2024 cars are going to have a lower resale value. People are starting to take car play and android auto for granted.

 

[MNWildFan]

Here's another article with some more quotes and info from folks at GM-

An inside look at General Motors' massive gamble in ditching CarPlay

A little over a year ago, General Motors made what may well turn out to be one of its biggest...

9to5mac.com

The tl;dr is that Android Auto allows Car Manufacturers the ability to view more of your Location Data so that they can sell it for ad revenue, while Apple's "future OS" that no one wants to use does NOT allow Car Manufacturers the ability to peruse all of that sweet sweet location data to sell for ad revenue.

It helps to be informed as to WHY these decisions are being made.

And that point of Apple's next gen CarPlay not allowing for your location data to be sent back to the auto manufacturer for ad revenue and stuff is probably why so many of them are STILL reluctant to make the leap up to it

 

[owl16]

An in-depth Bloomberg report today resurfaced General Motors' decision to replace Apple CarPlay with its own software.

Last year, GM announced that it planned to forgo Apple CarPlay in its new electric vehicles, starting with the 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV. Instead, the automaker introduced a proprietary infotainment platform, aiming to control and customize the digital experience within its vehicles. This transition is part of GM's strategic pivot toward enhancing its software capabilities and establishing a stronger digital services revenue stream. However, the change has not been without its hurdles, with numerous customers and automotive reviewers reporting technical issues and a steep learning curve associated with the new system.

CarPlay has become a staple of most new vehicles, offering drivers a familiar interface that mirrors their iPhone's functionality onto the vehicle's dashboard. Apple reported in 2022 that 79% of car buyers in the U.S. insisted on CarPlay support when considering a new vehicle purchase.

GM's new in-house system, Ultifi, is envisioned as a comprehensive digital platform that offers a range of services such as navigation and media streaming, enhanced by subscription-based add-ons to drive revenue. Despite these aspirations, the rollout of Ultifi has encountered significant obstacles such as software malfunctions that dealerships have struggled to resolve.

GM's move is driven by a wish to reclaim customer connections and data insights from third parties, but customer resistance to abandoning a familiar and popular system like CarPlay that directly integrates with their iPhone poses a significant challenge to GM's strategy.

The outcome of GM's decision could influence future industry practices significantly. If GM can refine Ultifi into a robust, user-friendly platform that rivals or surpasses CarPlay's functionality, it may set a precedent for other automakers to follow suit. Conversely, if consumers continue to prefer established systems like CarPlay, automakers may find themselves in a difficult position, needing to balance their corporate interests with consumer preferences.

See Bloomberg's full article for more insights into GM's move to abandon Apple CarPlay.

Article Link: Report Examines GM's Controversial Move to Abandon Apple CarPlay

Common mistake: steep learning curve means quickly learnt; shallow learning curve actually means harder to learn. I believe the author meant the latter.

 

[michaelsaxon]

I’m sure I’m in the minority here, but I prefer the built-in vehicle UI for most things.

What manufacturer are you referencing here? I've not yet seen one better than the CarPlay UI.

 

[Klongeiger]

An in-depth Bloomberg report today resurfaced General Motors' decision to replace Apple CarPlay with its own software.

Last year, GM announced that it planned to forgo Apple CarPlay in its new electric vehicles, starting with the 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV. Instead, the automaker introduced a proprietary infotainment platform, aiming to control and customize the digital experience within its vehicles. This transition is part of GM's strategic pivot toward enhancing its software capabilities and establishing a stronger digital services revenue stream. However, the change has not been without its hurdles, with numerous customers and automotive reviewers reporting technical issues and a steep learning curve associated with the new system.

CarPlay has become a staple of most new vehicles, offering drivers a familiar interface that mirrors their iPhone's functionality onto the vehicle's dashboard. Apple reported in 2022 that 79% of car buyers in the U.S. insisted on CarPlay support when considering a new vehicle purchase.

GM's new in-house system, Ultifi, is envisioned as a comprehensive digital platform that offers a range of services such as navigation and media streaming, enhanced by subscription-based add-ons to drive revenue. Despite these aspirations, the rollout of Ultifi has encountered significant obstacles such as software malfunctions that dealerships have struggled to resolve.

GM's move is driven by a wish to reclaim customer connections and data insights from third parties, but customer resistance to abandoning a familiar and popular system like CarPlay that directly integrates with their iPhone poses a significant challenge to GM's strategy.

The outcome of GM's decision could influence future industry practices significantly. If GM can refine Ultifi into a robust, user-friendly platform that rivals or surpasses CarPlay's functionality, it may set a precedent for other automakers to follow suit. Conversely, if consumers continue to prefer established systems like CarPlay, automakers may find themselves in a difficult position, needing to balance their corporate interests with consumer preferences.

See Bloomberg's full article for more insights into GM's move to abandon Apple CarPlay.

Article Link: Report Examines GM's Controversial Move to Abandon Apple CarPlay

When choosing my last car, CarPlay integration was one of the main factors for the model I actually picked.
Instead of the rather reasonable “we want to control our customers experience” argument, GM is surprisingly forward with the reasons for dropping CarPlay: we want to sell our customers even more stuff, either through subscriptions or through the data we collect, so we remove the option to avoid that.
Why anyone would choose to buy into this is beyond me. There a plenty of alternatives to GM.