GM is ditching Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for all EVs starting next year

[Cal Jeffrey]

Cue the antitrust lawyers: General Motors will begin phasing out Apple CarPlay and Android Auto from its electronic vehicles, starting with the 2024 Chevy Blazer. The carmaker wants more control over data collection using a custom infotainment OS built in a partnership with Google. It intends to use harvested information to see how customers drive and charge their EVs.

CarPlay and Auto are very popular technologies from Apple and Google that allow vehicle owners to mirror their phones to their car's dashboards. Customers can use the phone's navigation features or stream music rather than going through the stock infotainment system, which are somewhat lacking in most major models.

The change only applies to electronic vehicles coming in 2024 and later. Reuters notes that gas-powered cars and current EVs will remain unaffected.

Seeing how this impact Google Motors--er--GM's EV sales in 2024 and beyond should be interesting. Google has a dubious reputation for data collection, and GM stands to be affected by that view. Plus, a recent survey found that nearly half of all car buyers want their infotainment systems to have CarPlay and Android Auto support, while nearly 80 percent of Apple users polled demand CarPlay support in their vehicles.

Apple is bound to be disappointed by the move. It has struggled to compete with Android Auto--another Google data collection project. General Motors only started making its infotainment systems compatible with CarPlay a few years ago. It will be fun to watch regulators chase Google down with antitrust suits for tossing Apple out on its ASS (automotive services sector) by locking it out of future GM vehicles.

The CarPlay app transforms your car's infotainment screen into an Appletainment system.

Google has been working with GM on its infotainment system since 2019. Progress in the joint venture has focused on moving from a simple software that controls your radio and a few other features into one tightly woven into more of the vehicle's computers, including GM's Super Cruise--an automated driver assistant.

"We have a lot of new driver assistance features coming that are more tightly coupled with navigation," GM's Executive Director of Digital Cockpit Experience Mike Hichme told Reuters. "We don't want to design these features in a way that is dependent on [a] person having a cellphone."

As for features, the new infotainment system will have all you would probably expect from Google, including Google Maps and Google Assistant. These services will be free to owners for eight years from purchase. Although it won't be present initially, GM plans to add Spotify and Audible to the system eventually. It will also bring other popular apps over time, but it did not mention specifics.

It's also worth mentioning that customers will still be able to use their phones to make calls or send texts via voice commands using their iPhones and Androids. However, it will be through Bluetooth rather than CarPlay or Auto.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/98158-gm-ditching-apple-carplay-android-auto-all-evs.html

 

[yRaz]

I would love a car without any infotainment. When these computers start to fail, and they will given enough time, how are we going to replace them? How many spare touchscreens is GM going to have on the shelves in 10 years time? Ferrari is already having issues in their 360's because because you can't get replacement computers for them. They aren't making new ones and the old ones are failing with time. I know many people like to get new cars every couple of years but when I buy a vehicle I want the option of keeping it for as many years as is financially viable.

I had a 2004 Honda CRV until recently that made a fantastic work vehicle when it was "done being nice". It was great to beat on for work and I could put plenty of miles on it. It ended up reaching 238,000 miles and not because of a lack of maintenance, it was in a car accident that totaled the vehicle or I'd still be driving it.

This might sound like a right to repair tangent, it is not. It's about how electronic components fail overtime and how the extreme environments vehicles see makes them a bad place to be. We've all had a drink spill or a child do something silly to damage a car. The more we integrate computers into vehicles the less reliable they will become.

I mean I guess we don't have much choice with electric vehicles being the future but it's a problem that needs to be addressed. Simply issues in the chip supply line complete crippled manufacturers ability to produce new vehicles. It's a logistical issue on multiple levels.

 

[brucek]

I think GM underestimates the switching cost of a phone ecosystem vs. a car.

When I last shopped for a SUV the four models I looked at were all pretty similar. So similar that it was easy for me to drop Toyota from consideration merely because it was the one without CarPlay and I'm an iPhone user. Not having my phone well-integrated would have been a much more noticeable problem to me in daily usage than any and all automotive benefits it might have claimed to have over the other 3 car models.

 

[bandit8623]

Wifi direct support hopefully will be supported. then you can do higher quality audio. ldac is pretty good though.

 

[sorten]

I wasn't aware that Google had an auto platform separate from Android Auto. I have to wonder how many people who are buying new EVs don't own a cell phone. I thought that was a pretty weak justification for the move.

 

[GeforcerFX]

That first picture is my console for my 2015 terrain, which ironically lacks any adroid auto or apple carplay support, if you plug your phone in to the usb port in the center console you get some popup about microsoft media support straight outta windows vista (at least UI wise). I am really pretty simple when it comes to my car audio. Just let me use bluetooth or a usb to have my phone play audio and directions, adding a microphone in the vanity mirror wouldn't be hard and would allow calls. I don't need a touch screen, I don't need any internet features, that's what the phone is for, no custom parts not complex installs, just a basic smartphone. Maybe just have a basic AM/FM integrated if I don't have the phone plugged in.

 

[Dyson Parkes]

I loathe this whole push for 'infotainment' in a car.
Leave the stereo system separate from the climate/everything else.

If I want to build my own stereo system, allow it. My own head unit, speakers, whatever. I do not want some ridiculous tablet awkwardly grafted into the dash. I want a physical dial for climate control, that I can feel without taking my eyes off the road.
Surely some of these designers realise that the extra integration features they add end up causing more driver distraction?

 

[Philchillbill]

Er, April 1st joke anyone?

 

[bviktor]

I would love a car without any infotainment. When these computers start to fail, and they will given enough time, how are we going to replace them? How many spare touchscreens is GM going to have on the shelves in 10 years time? Ferrari is already having issues in their 360's because because you can't get replacement computers for them. They aren't making new ones and the old ones are failing with time. I know many people like to get new cars every couple of years but when I buy a vehicle I want the option of keeping it for as many years as is financially viable.

I had a 2004 Honda CRV until recently that made a fantastic work vehicle when it was "done being nice". It was great to beat on for work and I could put plenty of miles on it. It ended up reaching 238,000 miles and not because of a lack of maintenance, it was in a car accident that totaled the vehicle or I'd still be driving it.

This might sound like a right to repair tangent, it is not. It's about how electronic components fail overtime and how the extreme environments vehicles see makes them a bad place to be. We've all had a drink spill or a child do something silly to damage a car. The more we integrate computers into vehicles the less reliable they will become.

I mean I guess we don't have much choice with electric vehicles being the future but it's a problem that needs to be addressed. Simply issues in the chip supply line complete crippled manufacturers ability to produce new vehicles. It's a logistical issue on multiple levels.

That's PRECISELY what CarPlay aims to solve, genius. That the car doesn't need to have any sophisticated infotainment, because your ever-changing phone does the heavy lifting. And the car becomes quite literally just a display and speakers.

If you think GPS Navi and music playback are useless, that strongly suggests you never leave town. But I do like my satnav, and I do like my music, and I'm most certainly not willing to give them up in my car.

As for spare parts, almost all car suppliers sign 20-year contracts PRECISELY for this reason as well. You're talking about issues that have been figured out like 70 years ago.

There's also Tesla, who does it differently - they don't have CarPlay, but upon request, they retrofit the new infotainment computer into aging cars instead. For a nifty $2250. And that's one of the reasons why I don't like Teslas.

 

[Loadedaxe]

I would love a car without any infotainment. When these computers start to fail, and they will given enough time, how are we going to replace them? How many spare touchscreens is GM going to have on the shelves in 10 years time? Ferrari is already having issues in their 360's because because you can't get replacement computers for them. They aren't making new ones and the old ones are failing with time. I know many people like to get new cars every couple of years but when I buy a vehicle I want the option of keeping it for as many years as is financially viable.

I had a 2004 Honda CRV until recently that made a fantastic work vehicle when it was "done being nice". It was great to beat on for work and I could put plenty of miles on it. It ended up reaching 238,000 miles and not because of a lack of maintenance, it was in a car accident that totaled the vehicle or I'd still be driving it.

This might sound like a right to repair tangent, it is not. It's about how electronic components fail overtime and how the extreme environments vehicles see makes them a bad place to be. We've all had a drink spill or a child do something silly to damage a car. The more we integrate computers into vehicles the less reliable they will become.

I mean I guess we don't have much choice with electric vehicles being the future but it's a problem that needs to be addressed. Simply issues in the chip supply line complete crippled manufacturers ability to produce new vehicles. It's a logistical issue on multiple levels.

Computers have been implemented in cars since ~1978 ...

 

[passingposeidon]

Computers have been implemented in cars since ~1978 ...

Not in an even remotely similar way to the way there are now. What's your point? That a 1978 car 'computer' (a few circuits) is comparable to a modern computer system in a car?

 

[Hodor]

"...built in a partnership with Google..."

So, they're gonna make a partnership with the biggest data collector and privacy invader in the world, but for some reason they ditched Android Auto from the same company?? Why not just ask Google to share a bit more of the data they collect through Android Auto?

 

[ScottSoapbox]

You can collect all the data you want and still show my phone’s map on the screen so...

 

[Jim$ter]

Sad all these companies think they can collect data without our permission... When are they going to put a stop to this? Guess never since the government wants to do that as well by tracking our spending using Central Bank Digital Currency(CBDC). I want to go back to the 80's as this world is sick and getting sicker by the minute.

 

[yRaz]

That's PRECISELY what CarPlay aims to solve, genius. That the car doesn't need to have any sophisticated infotainment, because your ever-changing phone does the heavy lifting. And the car becomes quite literally just a display and speakers.

If you think GPS Navi and music playback are useless, that strongly suggests you never leave town. But I do like my satnav, and I do like my music, and I'm most certainly not willing to give them up in my car.

As for spare parts, almost all car suppliers sign 20-year contracts PRECISELY for this reason as well. You're talking about issues that have been figured out like 70 years ago.

There's also Tesla, who does it differently - they don't have CarPlay, but upon request, they retrofit the new infotainment computer into aging cars instead. For a nifty $2250. And that's one of the reasons why I don't like Teslas.

GPS navigation and music are far from useless, I've been into doing car auto since the early 2000s

The din and double din standards are basically gone in modern vehicles. What you are referring to is The Motor Vehicle Owners Right to Repair act. An on going problem in right to repair is that that act does not cover design patents and it was also written in a time that did not include software. While google car play in theory solves this problem, the "head unit" is integrated to the rest of the car. The security software used in cars (which is a joke, cars shouldn't need security software) is not covered under that act. This means you could get a new head unit but it wont work with many of the features of the rest of the vehicle such as steering wheel controls or more "infotainment" on the dash board. In extreme cases, using a non stand head unit will set of alarms and simply not work.

There are devices that work as an intermediary between the head unit and the cars central computer(yes, that's a thing) to make things work but considering these are made by third party companies the results are iffy at best.

But going back to the security issue, because of how connected everything is in your vehicle and how integrated all the systems are together, I could go from your head unit, to the cars central computer and into the cars ECU. I understand that due to emissions and fuel efficiency regulations having a computer micro manage all your engines systems is a good idea. What is a bad idea is having all these systems interwoven together.

As you mentioned early, you can only do some of things with Tesla's good grace. But this simply isn't an issue of companies having to support vehicles for 20 years. These parts are manufactured in "runs" and then stocked on shelves in warehouses. Very rarely are parts made by manufacturers after they stop making a vehicle. They sell the tooling to third parties to make "made to fit" parts which is a great idea, at least on the surface. The problem comes from the chips.

Over time, fabs discontinue nodes. You can't just make a Zen1 CPU on TSMC's 4NM. This is another problem that contributed to the chip shortage. Manufacturers would buy off the shelve chips made on certain nodes. While There was nothing wrong with that node for making that chip, the fab has to upgrade its equipment to remain competitive and it can no longer make that node.

So what does that mean for the longevity of chips in computers? When I said I don't want all these computers in cars you were not thing broad enough. The infotainment problem is symbolic of a bigger problem. So lets Ferrari 360 ECU problem. This issue isn't relegated to Ferrari's, it's just that a bunch of rich people are making a big stink about not being able to fix their Ferrari's at any price. The nodes used to make the ECUs no longer exist, they cannot be made without a massive financial investment. On top of that, many of the computers themselves for managing it run windows 2000, you can't buy Ferrari's tool anymore for managing them. The software wont run on modern hardware or operating systems.

This is what I'm complaining about. Infotainment is just one part of a larger

 

[madboyv1]

Apple is bound to be disappointed by the move.

As are most consumers/drivers even considering the GM superbrand of vehicles.

 

[Uncle Al]

That will be a loser .....

 

[mrvco]

I would love a car without any infotainment. When these computers start to fail, and they will given enough time, how are we going to replace them? How many spare touchscreens is GM going to have on the shelves in 10 years time? Ferrari is already having issues in their 360's because because you can't get replacement computers for them. They aren't making new ones and the old ones are failing with time. I know many people like to get new cars every couple of years but when I buy a vehicle I want the option of keeping it for as many years as is financially viable.

I had a 2004 Honda CRV until recently that made a fantastic work vehicle when it was "done being nice". It was great to beat on for work and I could put plenty of miles on it. It ended up reaching 238,000 miles and not because of a lack of maintenance, it was in a car accident that totaled the vehicle or I'd still be driving it.

This might sound like a right to repair tangent, it is not. It's about how electronic components fail overtime and how the extreme environments vehicles see makes them a bad place to be. We've all had a drink spill or a child do something silly to damage a car. The more we integrate computers into vehicles the less reliable they will become.

I mean I guess we don't have much choice with electric vehicles being the future but it's a problem that needs to be addressed. Simply issues in the chip supply line complete crippled manufacturers ability to produce new vehicles. It's a logistical issue on multiple levels.

All three of our vehicles don't have screens / infotainment. We'll maintain those as long as possible, fortunately all three are reliable and replacement parts aren't expensive. I loathe getting into a rental car anytime I'm traveling and having that screen glaring in my eyes.

 

[Zinixo]

The first thing I do to any vehicle I purchase is to rip out the piece of crap head unit and speakers.

 

[nismo91]

The moment your car infotainment screen controls more than your music, you're screwed. okay maybe not so if you're driving a hybrid or ev but in a gas car, your car should be able to function 100% with the infotainment turned off or removed, except for the rearview camera which of course will not work without a screen.

in some cars you can't even adjust A/C without touching the infotainment. in others you can't adjust your heated seat without the infotainment. the more expensive the car is, more likely features are only accessible by the screen.

honestly at this point what I want is just a standard headunit that has modern bluetooth (preferably aptx hd) and a strong smartphone holder in place of the infotainment screen. today's phone are about as large as double-din screens back in the day, "docking" your phone is no different than having a 6 inch removable double din infotainment.

 

[zamroni111]

I wasn't aware that Google had an auto platform separate from Android Auto. I have to wonder how many people who are buying new EVs don't own a cell phone. I thought that was a pretty weak justification for the move.

I guess new people join google's car product management and wants to make something new while don't care that existing products work well.
it just like when google renamed google talk to hangout then "innovated" to split them into multiple apps.
I work in a sv based company before and such thing happens everytime new person joined product management.

 

[PEnnn]

I bought an "old" 2015 Santa Fe Sport a few weeks ago. One of the the best things about this really good car? It has no infotainment system (whoever came up with this silly moniker deserves a nice kick in the family jewels). But I have a USB with 4000 songs on it and that's all I care about. Bluetooth it is.

Let GM, Google or whatever company of data vultures collect data from that!!

And it also lacks a back up camera, so I had BestBuy install one.

Now my rear-view mirror / backup camera is a 1080 resolution camera screen with an incredible 180 degree viewing angle. Let them collect data from that as well!

You can only imagine how much car companies charge for such an....infotainment junk that spies on you!

 

[bandit8623]

The first thing I do to any vehicle I purchase is to rip out the piece of crap head unit and speakers.

there will come apoint in time you cant buy a older car thats not too old. anything past 2010 its hard to find a din system

 

[Jim Shoes]

"...built in a partnership with Google..."

So, they're gonna make a partnership with the biggest data collector and privacy invader in the world, but for some reason they ditched Android Auto from the same company?? Why not just ask Google to share a bit more of the data they collect through Android Auto?

Yet another Google hater/Apple fanboy. So tired of this "Google is evil" garbage. You want Apple to be the sole provider? You should encourage competition that pushes Apple.

 

[BobHome]

I wasn't aware that Google had an auto platform separate from Android Auto. I have to wonder how many people who are buying new EVs don't own a cell phone. I thought that was a pretty weak justification for the move.

It's not about the phone, but about the data collection IMO.
A more closed ecosystem, kind of like Apple.