“Some carmakers” is a strange way to write General Motors, which is to my knowledge the sole carmaker who has announced they’re going to shoot themselves in the foot by dropping a non-negotiable feature required by a majority of new car buyers. I predict they backtrack on this plan pretty rapidly.
Tesla also refuses to support CarPlay and Android Auto, because they believe their software is better. And why shouldn’t we trust them? Tesla has a stellar record for fixing their buggy software even after your car is no longer in warranty. /s
Their software is actually good though, unlike anything GM has produced so far.
It’s not their software. It’s Google’s. It’s Android Automotive (not to be confused with Android Auto, which is an entirely different product).
I’ve not used Android Automotive yet, so I can’t speak for how well or poorly this works for people in Google’s ecosystem, but it sucks for people in Apple’s. And GM is an US company and Apple is half of the US smartphone market.
Voice integration for Apple’s phones blows without proper CarPlay support. It’s also pretty rough if you have iOS apps that have not been ported to your head unit’s OS.
I wish GM did what Volvo and other manufacturers are doing. Embrace Android Automotive, because the vendors who have been making head unit software have blown for years. Let Google give you a nice stable core OS… but THEN allow projectors experiences like CarPlay to passthrough to AA.
I’m looking to buy a new car within the next year. If it doesn’t offer Apple CarPlay, I won’t even bother looking at the car.
If it doesn’t offer Apple CarPlay, I won’t even bother
Can I ask why, what’s the benefit?
CarPlay (and Android Auto) are basically driving-oriented UIs that your phone pushes to the head unit in your car. This means you get a full touch screen UI with your maps and music apps of choice, plus other apps that support it.
It beats mounting your phone over an AC vent because the screen is bigger and the UI is actually designed to be safe to use while driving (fewer, bigger buttons, more use of screen edges and corners so critical functions can be activated without looking).
Car makers don’t like this, because it means users are less likely to pay subscription fees for their shittier built-in internet services.
This means you get a full touch screen UI with your maps and music apps of choice, plus other apps that support it.
Just want to add on that my recent Mazda doesn’t have a touchscreen, but a control knob that works to control either AndroidAuto or Carplay. I’m so happy to not have a touchscreen in the car.
You can use all the apps you are familiar with and have already set up. Like you favourite maps software, your music subscription like Apple Music or Spotify, or things like podcast or audiobook apps, everything right on the big screen of the car.
That and it performs better. I have a ‘22 Niro and the stock interface was laggy when it was new. Swipes would take seconds to register. But I pull up CarPlay and it just works. You’re splitting your attention while driving. While that’s already bad, having a slow UI makes you split attention longer and increases frustration which is also a bad thing to do behind the wheel.
Ok cool. I can do all that on my phone already though. So it’s mostly just having a larger screen then?
Main reason is that many apps have a separate CarPlay or Android Auto UI that is less distracting, more glanceable, etc.
It’s kind of hard to go back once you’ve lived with it for a a bit. It’s much more convenient. A simple phone mount feels kind of janky and distracting afterwords.
Yes. I don’t like to look at or touch my phone while I’m driving. Its dangerous. CarPlay makes it safer and easier to control my phone - from which I play my music and do my navigation. My current car has Bluetooth, so the music works, but I still have to use my phone to control it. Which as I said, I don’t like to do.
Or you can get it installed from bestbuy. It cost me $300 last time, installation was free.
If you’re talking about a head unit replacement that get’s difficuld nowadays since they aren’t just Double-DIN and there are vehicle.settings managed in there.
Looks like to do that for mine is about $800-1500 DIY
You can buy just a screen that is basically a tablet for CarPlay and android auto. It connects to your existing system via Bluetooth and to your phone via WiFi. Then it arranges the Bluetooth connection between your phone and the stock system.
If my car lacked CarPlay, this is likely what I”d use, and mount it over or above the stock head unit.
Personally I tried Android Auto it with a company car (nothing fancy).
Couldn’t care less. Give me bluetooth and a USB port to plugin my smartphone and I will bring my phone holder.
No need for stuff that will get outdated and needs dealer updates (if they are even supplied).
will get outdated and needs dealer updates
I thought Android Auto and Apple CarPlay both handle updates on the phone side, not the car side?
I don’t know anything about the software but there surely is some implementation on both sides as I don’t believe it’s just a pretty chromecast/apple version of that interface streamed from the phone.
And assuming you keep a car for >5 years and the strides tech does at any point (just look back on phones 10 years ago) and Google/Apple developing the platform further and abandoning older models I don’t see a very bright future.
Assuming I am wrong, I am happy to be corrected.
Edit: No need to downvote me to hell. I was wrong and corrected >_>
No need for stuff that will get outdated and needs dealer updates (if they are even supplied).
This is specifically why people like CarPlay and Android Auto; they are managed by your phone instead of the car manufacturer. If you bought one of the first CarPlay capable cars in 2014, it still works with the new CarPlay features that just shipped in iOS 17 last week.
CarPlay and Android Auto basically turn your infotainment system into a dumb terminal for your phone. They work by turning it into a second display. All the head unit has to do is relay touch inputs back to the device. It is completely unaware of what actual software is running, it just sees a video signal and your fingers.
This is also probably why Tesla and General Motors don’t like it. They want you to pay them for the new features you otherwise get for free with your phone.
If that is so, that’s really cool.
But other users said it already and I agree: Not everythibg needs to be smart.
Really had attentiom issues with this whole infotainment system while driving.
So I’d agree: Less is better. More knobs amd keys instead of a large pane of touchscreen. Also the whole infosec about cars is probably still only surface level. Who knows what outdated piece of tech lingers in the depths.
I would much rather a car manufacturer focus on making sure the hardware is nice to use rather than coming out with some Ass-software that they came up with in house. Also, I’m going to connect my phone to the radio anyways so why reinvent software to make it less compatible then the native software my phone manufacturer has already R&D’ed pretty well. I assume there is some licensing bullshit with either CarPlay or Android Auto that could be playing a factor. But I would still rather the manufacturer focus on a nice feeling, high refresh rate, bright display rather than focus on some new clunky interface they develop.
Car conpanies want to sell you subscriptions to services, and killing off carplay/auto would do that.
Need a gps? you either use your phone screen to navigate with audio or be forced to use their navigation service on the hud.
I seriously wouldn’t buy a car at this point if it didn’t have CarPlay or Android Auto in it. Navigation with Google Maps or Waze is vastly superior to anything a car company is ever going to come up with (props to Apple Maps too for making big improvements in the last several years). Integrated music experiences where I can directly see my Spotify playlists or favorite tracks without touching my phone is just something I’m used to and couldn’t go back. Having a voice assistant that works from Google / Apple (I know Siri is rough sometimes lol) will always be better than any voice controls a car company comes up with. Oh, and huuuge points to Overcast for just reliably being the best podcast app for many years and having a super easy to navigate CarPlay app. I’d lose all of that and more if there was no integration with my phone and we went back to the awful bluetooth pairing that we had before with terrible UI design and no support for third party apps.
At this point, that’s more important to me than whatever engine they’ve stuck in it. Just give me good mileage, pass inspection and last at least 150k miles and we’re good. I’m not drag racing so I don’t need a rocket ship lol
Thanks for going over reasons!
I’m still curious though - how are car play or android auto different from just using your phone in your car?
That’s awesome! I think there’s a newer generation of CarPlay from Apple that lets the auto-makers use the Apple UI for everything, including the spedometers, climate and other gauges. If that data can be integrated into third party apps, I think developers would come up with some really cool things.
I really wish my Hyundai would let me do that, maybe I should look into Nissan for my next car haha. How have you been finding the Leaf? I’ve only heard good things about it from others.
It has an adapter to plug into the CCS2 standard-compliant connector, right? Otherwise you’d be left out of the vast majority of the charging network.
I would not recommend a leaf. I had a ton of fun with that car, and it was a great intro to EV car. But it’s short range and the fact that it’s a discontinued model are a turn off for me though. If you like Nissan the Ariya is a good choice I hear though
I’m not in love with the idea of CarPlay/Android Auto sucking up all of our personal information, but removing the mere choice of using them doesn’t make me happy.
Car infotainment is traditionally crap when it’s new and systems which update seemingly get slower and generally worse over time. Casting your phone interface let’s you escape the first world problem of shitty UI/UX.
