GM Dropping Apple CarPlay and Android Auto

[NTXTremor]

Not that I would ever buy another GM car, but GM deciding to drop Apply CarPlay and Android Auto in favor of developing their own solution with Google is another reason never to buy one.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/heres-why-gm-is-dropping-apple-carplay-164546895.html

They cite wanting to "collect more of its own data to not only better understand drivers, but to pad its longer-term profit margins."

HARD PASS

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[jtzako]

I wouldnt buy any new vehicle that cant do android auto/apple car play. (or that requires a subscription to use them like certain others do) Factory nav is always pretty terrible compared to those apps and I do not want to have to mount my phone to the dash for nav.

 

[Friday yet?]

HARD PASS

THIS!!!

 

[Waxthis]

This decision to go proprietary will bite them in the ass. Google does not play nice with Apple and vice versa.

 

[Dr_Strangelove]

I had read an article from the tech industry perspective (vs. auto industry,) and to paraphrase; the author had the opinion that GM must have some aces on their development team that have given executives an abundance of confidence that they will be able to access the API's from Apple and Google without licensing. The author was opining that there is no other way they could see a superior system than using the phone as the "brains of the operation." The elegance of Carplay and Auto is they update with your device, not the vehicle. Live traffic with choice of navigation platform (Maps, Waze, etc.) Choice of entertainment platform (Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Deezer, I think there's one called Tidal...)

So that is why the author had come to the conclusion that GM's engineers must have found an alternative method to accessing these API's... Tech authors tend to have opinions of forward-thinkers and are always concocting some sort of Rube Goldberg in their head. I fear GM has something much more blunt and hammer-like; like a subscription-based service in mind.

 

[NTXTremor]

I had read an article from the tech industry perspective (vs. auto industry,) and to paraphrase; the author had the opinion that GM must have some aces on their development team that have given executives an abundance of confidence that they will be able to access the API's from Apple and Google without licensing. The author was opining that there is no other way they could see a superior system than using the phone as the "brains of the operation." The elegance of Carplay and Auto is they update with your device, not the vehicle. Live traffic with choice of navigation platform (Maps, Waze, etc.) Choice of entertainment platform (Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Deezer, I think there's one called Tidal...)

So that is why the author had come to the conclusion that GM's engineers must have found an alternative method to accessing these API's... Tech authors tend to have opinions of forward-thinkers and are always concocting some sort of Rube Goldberg in their head. I fear GM has something much more blunt and hammer-like; like a subscription-based service in mind.

Exactly!

 

[Dgc333]

I find nothing compelling with CarPlay or Android Auto. My wife uses CarPlay in her Jeep only because it didn't come with factory Nav. I have factory Nav in my Ranger and only used Android Auto to know if it worked.

I really don't care if GM stops support for either but charging a subscription to use their system won't happen with me. If GM goes that way I am sure everyone else will too, if that happens I will be back to a standalone nav system.

 

[JasonTremor]

I can't imagine ever using factory navigation again after using Android Auto. Android auto responds to natural speaking language where the factory navigation is way more structured than it needs to be.

 

[NTXTremor]

I can't imagine ever using factory navigation again after using Android Auto. Android auto responds to natural speaking language where the factory navigation is way more structured than it needs to be.

OEMs would be better off deleting factory nav in lieu of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, but I am sure that part of their interest in keeping nav is working towards self driving vehicles. They want more of a closed system, even though that certainly must get nav data from a 3rd party source, to charge more and build more features against. Whatever. I have yet to see any factory nav hold a candle to Google Maps, Apple Maps or Waze which get much more frequent updates, too.

Hypothetically, since GM is working with Google on this solution, they could be embedding Google Maps into the new system, which is fine assuming that they truly update the maps and software as frequently as you do on your phone.

But Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are about much more than navigation; it's the whole user experience, the whole ecosystem. It is far easier to just select your music, your podcast or your destination on your phone or through the equivalent on-screen app.

 

[rydfree]

Ford is replacing with a Google system also . I thought I read by 2024 .

EDIT :
Ford and Google to Accelerate Auto Innovation

 

[NTXTremor]

Ford is replacing with a Google system also . I thought I read by 2024 .

Replacing Sync with a new system is not a big deal to me, even if it is a Google system, but getting rid of Apple CarPlay or Android Auto would be a mistake in my opinion.

 

[Frenchy]

Not interested in General Motors anyways so it doesn't hurt my feelings

 

[mtbikernate]

The elegance of Carplay and Auto is they update with your device, not the vehicle.

Indeed. I'm perfectly happy with the in-vehicle systems being relatively dumb for control of the vehicle's own systems. But trying to put the brains of everything else embedded into the vehicle's systems is just begging for everything to go out-of-date and obsolete.

only way I could see this being prevented is by requiring mandatory subscriptions for those updates.

and that doesn't address how long it'll take for the hardware itself to become out-of-date. we've already seen in-vehicle 3G modems get deprecated. How long before the in-vehicle 4G modems suffer the same fate? Or the vehicle's Wifi systems? or the processors required to run the software? what happens when the next software update requires a newer hardware version than is equipped on the vehicle? Will it let you run the old software version indefinitely? will your vehicle's head unit get bricked until you change it out?

 

[gwhalin]

To be fair, Google created Android, so I envision this won't be dramatically different than Android (likely even android under the hood). Meaning all Android apps would still work without having to get app builders to build for their dedicated APIs. I would also imagine the UI to be pretty similar to Android/Carplay. Assuming no subscription is involved, I would prefer to not have to rely on my phone for access to apps via Carplay. But of course, the devil is in the details. And given the shift from the auto industry to want to own the software of the car and charge for it, I suspect much of this will end up requiring a subscription. And if GM does it, I would be money that Ford and Toyota and all the others will follow along because, hey why not make a few more bucks.

 

[RedDakooter05]

I'm not terribly worried about them data collecting.
Unless you're a pedophile or dealing with terrorism... Well, not much is differant than using Facebook or even this site. Probably end up with a little more ED spam emails...

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