GM eliminating Apple CarPlay in future EV’s

[Jerry1]

GM plans to phase out Apple CarPlay in EVs, with Google’s help

This is a bad move in my opinion. I really like the interconnection between my phone and my car. Of course one thing stated in the article makes sense - that they don’t want to design future driver assist functions around a persons cell phone.

One other thing that caught my attention was the discussion of subscriptions. Apparently, the service would be included for 8 years then you have to buy a subscription. It really irks me to have to pay to retain the functionality I had when the car was delivered.

Then there’s this:

We do believe there are subscription revenue opportunities for us,” Kummer said. GM Chief Executive Mary Barra is aiming for $20 billion to $25 billion in annual revenue from subscriptions by 2030.

They’re going to go from a vehicle producer to a subscription provider. I can see vehicles becoming something that you only lease and never own.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/01/business/gm-apple-play-evs

 

[statsman]

Well, I know which manufacturer we won't be purchasing a new vehicle from in the future. This coming from someone who, either when growing up, in college, or as an adult has always been around at least one GM vehicle. One of our two vehicles is GM.

 

[KarenC]

I don't know whether this is a bad decision from GM's perspective, but I do know that I'll no longer consider GM vehicles when making a purchase.

 

[Chuckanut]

If I needed another reason to not buy a GM product, they have just given me one.

Or is this a ploy to get Apple to do something to Apple software that GM would like but Apple won't go along with?

I don't know. But, even if GM changed their decision and threw in an new state of the art iPhone I would not buy a GM product. The Pontiac I owned cured me of any desire to own and operate a GM product.

FWIW, my Toyota has a subscription service of some type that I don't pay for. They seemed to have gotten the message as the number of emails I get extolling its virtues has gone way done in the past year.

 

[marko]

Surprisingly, my 2020 Mercedes ONLY allowed AA or CP. I am unable to get Sirius, navigation, Pandora et al on my screen unless I use AA.

It is also NOT wireless so I have to use a wire to connect to my phone to get AA. The way my life is, I'm in and out of the car every 10 minutes doing daily errands so I'm constantly plugging and unplugging until I just don’t use it at all unless on a rare long drive.

I would not have bought the car had I known! ( been a Mercedes guy for 35 years)

I'd gladly pay for the service.

 

[Jerry1]

Maybe not the best option, but they make an adapter for that.

https://www.amazon.com/Android-Wireless-Adapter-Convert-Interface/dp/B0BJZ6ZB77

 

[REWahoo]

DW and I are in our mid-70's and between the two of us drive only 12-15,000 miles a year. We have two cars, both with AA and CP: a 2021 with 36,000 on the odometer and a 2022 with 5,000 on the odometer.

Since it is unlikely we will ever purchase another car, I'm not going to chime in to say what a totally stupid, money-grubbing strategy this is.

 

[Midpack]

I love Apple Car Play and I would miss it. But like it or not, there’s a good reason automakers who plan to add self driving can’t use other map apps. Most if not all autonomous driving software has to be tightly integrated with a completely predictable HD maps system. The added complexity to allow owners to choose whatever maps they’d like would be unnecessarily difficult.

So the automaker has to choose detailed maps that control and know can’t be eliminated, changed or modified in some way that would compromise the (coming) autonomous functionality. For example, if they chose Apple Maps they lose non Apple users as customers. And Apple would then have some control over the automakers product, obviously that’s not a good idea.

Furthermore, like Tesla, other automakers can learn and improve their cars based on the millions of cars on the road. Now if one or just a few cars have a bug, they can quickly correct the issue with an over the air software update for not only that car, but every car in their fleet. That’s a huge step forward from today, where physical recalls take forever to reach the entire fleet.

Yes there are other reasons GM and others want to gather data from their owners cars, but self driving is one good reason why they can’t embed some third party apps/systems in their central functions.

You can use all the functions on your iPhone in any car, you just won’t be able to display them on the cars main screen factory equipped. That said there are third party accessories that will add Apple CarPlay to the screen for Teslas. And Tesla now has Apple Music to assuage Apple Music users at least, but I don’t think CarPlay will ever be included. And other carmakers will probably phase out CarPlay and Android Auto for non legacy vehicles.

 

[marko]

Maybe not the best option, but they make an adapter for that.

https://www.amazon.com/Android-Wireless-Adapter-Convert-Interface/dp/B0BJZ6ZB77

Definitely not the best option. Bought this one and three other different ones. Sent them all back. The best one barely worked, the others not at all.

 

[braumeister]

You can use all the functions on your iPhone in any car, you just won’t be able to display them on the cars main screen

I have always used my iPhone as my navigation device in rental cars and been perfectly happy with it. I have a clip that secures it to a dashboard vent and can rotate vertical/horizontal as needed. Now that I have the larger screen (Pro Max version) phone, it's even better and almost as big as some of the in-car systems I've seen. So for me this is not at all a problem.

 

[CaptTom]

As a non-Apple user this gives me a good reason to consider GM in the future.

But I'm not really interested in the religious battle of operating systems.

The issue with car audio and navigation systems is that these things go obsolete like all modern electronics. The ideal solution would be a far more modular design so that you could use whatever is available today, and easily swap it out when that stuff is history.

 

[MichealKnight]

Subscriptions

In the end, all the OEMs will be big into subscription...excellent profits.

The whole "I want to buy direct" fantasy....well, this is one more hint as to how friendly the OEM can be.

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

As a non-Apple user this gives me a good reason to consider GM in the future.

But I'm not really interested in the religious battle of operating systems.

The issue with car audio and navigation systems is that these things go obsolete like all modern electronics. The ideal solution would be a far more modular design so that you could use whatever is available today, and easily swap it out when that stuff is history.

It isn't just Apple, it is also Google.

 

[JoeWras]

Ha ha. I just bought my "new" car which is a top of the line 2011 Honda. Awesome in the day. Best I've ever seen since our other cars are pre 2010.

It does not have Apple play or Android equivalent. It has Bluetooth which I excitedly use to play my music (from Android) and seamlessly take phone calls .

I'm out of the loop. I think it's great, but I've missed out on the Apple play stuff. Looks like by the time I get a new car, the auto manufacturers will be squeezing us for their own subscription shxx. Sad.

 

[Jerry1]

I guess I don’t understand where we’re heading with cars. Are they going to be like cell phones where they become technologically obsolete before the underlying components actually go bad? What kind of lifecycle would that look like? It seems like it would be a drastic change to the used car market.

As was mentioned, I just bought a new car and my old one is a 2021 truck. Hopefully I won’t need another vehicle. If I get one, I’ll probably lease, given the way things look like they’re going.

 

[COcheesehead]

Love Apple play. Don’t find GM vehicles attractive.

 

[CardsFan]

I am currently car shopping, and it seems Toyota has gone the other direction. Few cars come with nav systems, but all are set-up for Android and Apple, which I prefer.

 

[statsman]

I am currently car shopping, and it seems Toyota has gone the other direction. Few cars come with nav systems, but all are set-up for Android and Apple, which I prefer.

That would be my preference, especially for someone who plans to keep their new vehicle for many years. During that time, a person may go from Android to Apple or vice versa with their smartphones. Or maybe family members have at least one of each.

 

[retire48in2018]

If GM continues down this path - I also will no longer consider GM an option.

Its close to a moral/ethic issue - we will charge you because we can - you’ve already paid for a vehicle but we will make you pay again for something that we add zero value.

It’s not right

 

[harley]

I also think this is a bad move. I've got a 2016 Honda Odyssey, which I think is a great car. However, the nav/entertainment system sucks. The interface was developed by an idiot who never tried to actually use it. I've often thought that if I ever got a new car I'd want one where I could cast my phone's gps/other systems onto my car's display screen. If you build good cars, stick to it. If you build good tech, stick to it. Borrow from each other's expertise when useful. Don't let greed ruin your corporate reputation (not that GM has much of one, anyway).

 

[JoeWras]

I also think this is a bad move. I've got a 2016 Honda Odyssey, which I think is a great car. However, the nav/entertainment system sucks. The interface was developed by an idiot who never tried to actually use it. I've often thought that if I ever got a new car I'd want one where I could cast my phone's gps/other systems onto my car's display screen. If you build good cars, stick to it. If you build good tech, stick to it. Borrow from each other's expertise when useful. Don't let greed ruin your corporate reputation (not that GM has much of one, anyway).

Yeah, my new car is the 2011 Odyssey. In fairness, 2010 was a transition year where phones were really becoming the powerhouse. Car manufacturers still thought they could and should be in the game. This vehicle has the most complex navigation setup imaginable. Today, it is all useless. I just use the phone and bluetooth link and I'm done. I'm surprised they didn't clean up the problems by the 2016 year.

There's no reason car manufacturers should be in this business. Everyone carries around a computer in their pocket that can do all the work. Leave the subscription there -- not the car.

But there is an obsession with subscriptions in the C-suite offices. We need to revolt. It is really becoming a serious problem for the consumer.

 

[marko]

As far as the pushback on "not going to pay for subscriptions", I remember a day long, long ago when I said "the day I have to pay money watch television is the last day I'll watch television.....".

Fifty years and $250 a month later, here we are. Are we better for it? I don’t know. But don't you dare touch my TV!!

 

[COcheesehead]

I guess you can just get a phone holder and circumvent your cars system all together. You can still play your music via Bluetooth, and get navigation directly from the phone. Sorta like a one time fee antenna for your TV.

 

[explanade]

I guess I don’t understand where we’re heading with cars. Are they going to be like cell phones where they become technologically obsolete before the underlying components actually go bad? What kind of lifecycle would that look like? It seems like it would be a drastic change to the used car market.

As was mentioned, I just bought a new car and my old one is a 2021 truck. Hopefully I won’t need another vehicle. If I get one, I’ll probably lease, given the way things look like they’re going.

GM is dreaming if they think they’re going to get $25 to $30 billion in subscriptions revenues.

It’s one thing for a tech company which has to have good software and UI but it’s another when it’s an old car company. Car entertainment systems SUCKED before Car Play and AA. They licensed Microsoft Sync but that also apparently was bad too.

I have Car Play but I prefer to keep listening through my AirPods because a lot of my drives are under 5 miles, almost all under 10 miles. So it makes no point to connect in the car and then disconnect 5-10 minutes later.

I’ve used Bluetooth too but always have AirPods in one ear so prefer that.

I have zero interest in paying optional “high end” stereos for cars either.

Last year BMW floated the idea to make heated seats as subscription and got a ton of blowback.

I never bothered to even Turn on satelliTe radio in my last two cars even though it was free for the first year. They kept emailing me to activate the free year.

No thanks, I’m not giving my billing info and I program what I listen to.

 

[CaptTom]

OK, reading the article I notice that the focus is integrating all the cars systems, including driver assist and maybe someday self-driving, into one system. That actually makes some sense, much as I hate the idea.

The article didn't mention, but is that what Tesla and all the EV start-ups are doing? I don't own an EV but my understanding was that they already do a lot of what the article said GM is shooting for - stream live telemetry back to the manufacturer's cloud, and sell optional features as subscriptions.