GM Says It's Dropping Apple CarPlay And Android Auto Because They're Unsafe
The company thinks that the phone mirroring programs are so buggy that they still cause people to use their phones while driving
Bold claim when you remember all of the horrific UI that car manufacturers utilized before everyone started using Apple and Google's UI. Sometimes I have to borrow an old car from someone and you just can't find anything. Really, I'm more in favor of bringing back physical buttons for all basic functions, but a good UI will not only make it quick and easy to say change to the next song or view trip details, but it will also prevent you from performing more complicated tasks while in motion. We'll see what GM's solution is, but I have little faith.
Physical buttons are things I don't have to look at when I'm driving. That's good.
Yeah because I'm sure GM's shit will be better. Idek why I'm addressing this: we all know GM doesn't want to pay Apple or Google. That this is really about more renting and never owning. They just want more money.
GM, just say that. We know you're a gigantic money-hungry corp. You all don't have to lie and pretend to care about safety. We're not a bunch of idiots. We get it, even if you all suck for doing this.
I'd say I hope GM crashes and burns again, but then the government will just bail them out again.
I thought Android auto was free.
This is all about maintaining and selling your data for themselves. There was just a report out last week about how cars are one of the most data insecure devices you can own because of how poorly all the big auto manufacturers treat their customers.
Do you mean Android Auto, or Android Automotive (what's being used here)?
I assumed/got the impression that the latter cost money to integrators (GM) but I guess I don't know for sure.
Android Auto is "free" to end-users but is different.
I read that article too. They know when you've been recreating Shakespeares "beast with two backs" in your car. Creepy stuff.
We know you're a gigantic money-hungry corp. You all don't have to lie and pretend to care about safety. We're not a bunch of idiots.
Alas, as long as there is doubt, there are a large number of suckers who are willing to give the benefit of the doubt. We are a bunch of idiots, collectively. That's why shit like this works.
I doubt it’s about paying Apple or Google, so um much as their ability to extort car owners to pay them. Nobody in their right mind will buy the $10/month Bullshit Subscription (TM) from GM when they can just plug in their phone and use Waze.
Edit: seems Apple doesnt charge automakers so it’s definitely about extorting you for money.
To achieve this, GM’s new system — called Ultifi, which is making its debut in the 2024 Chevy Blazer EV — uses Google apps built right into the system, like Google Maps and Assistant, which GM hopes customers will use for more voice controls. It can handle things like calls and texts, and it can control the audio and climate systems.
Now you have an embedded Android device that is never gonna be upgraded for the lifetime of the car.
GM Single handedly keeping aftermarket stereos relevant. I wouldn't buy a car with this solution.
Android auto upgrades with my devices. It's the best solution.
Cars have built in cell radios and can do ota updates.
So do cell phones and tablets
They aren't going to replace the hardware, though.
What's unsafe is having to navigate a giant fischer price interface whenever you want to adjust the A/C
GM doesn't get to sell your data.
Silly me, not thinking of the poor little corporations again
Chevy is still all about knobs, which is the proper way to create car controls. Ford is pretty heavy into a full touch screen control center, which is really annoying as a driver.
They’re going about this all wrong.
Apple car is not the issue. It’s all the other touch inputs that I have on my car to control every basic function like the climate controls and other shit.
Apple car switches on, already the navigation is setup and the music is on… I don’t need to touch it again. I can switch songs on my steering wheel and I can ask Siri for basic shit like finding a playlist.
I don’t need to go through a touch menu or button to change the temperature or any other action setting while in motion.
in fact, much of CarPlay's functionality becomes locked while the car is in motion, making that a moot point anyway, lol. the only things left to distract or endanger would be the OEM stuff, as you mention.
The one unsafe thing in car play for me is the tiny stupid UI element needed to switch betweeen voice directions/alerts only/silent/.
I will quite often want to switch modes while on a long journey - full directions while driving on backstreets, alerts only while on motorways.
Have yet to find the Siri command to switch between them. Anyone know of one?
"It's unsafe for Apple and Android to prevent us from monopolizing your user data!"
Cool, then I’m dropping GM from my list of cars that I’ll buy or rent. CarPlay is a must have in 2023, just like a backup camera. Literally nobody wants your shitty car OS thing, it’s guaranteed to be way worse than iOS and Android.
Seems like this ought to be a dealbreaker for many.
GM was never on the list anyway, i've tried a couple ones and i was always surprised how much money they want for their cheap ass interior
The fact that cars have touch screens and capacitive surfaces are what makes them unsafe. Physical buttons work with apple car play and android auto and make them safer
Capacitive buttons need to die a painful death. I'm ok with some functions being capacitive or touch screen buttons, like little unimportant ones like accessing my 6th favourite radio station or whatever. Or even Carplay or Android Auto.
But when it comes to operating the HVAC or shifting gears, it shouldn't be allowed that these aren't mechanical switches with proper fail-safe backups. I don't even think those shifter buttons in a lot of modern vehicles, or the shifting knobs, like what's been in the Jeep SUVs for the past decade, are the best idea.
Car manufacturers should get out of the dashboard design business. Just have an API standard for devices to control the car, and a USB port for users to plug in whichever device works best for them. You want a bunch of physical buttons? Cool, go down to AutoZone and buy a button panel that matches your needs. You want a big screen with carplay and a bunch of widgets? Mount your old iPad there.
The regulatory side would be the hard part. Devices would have to meet some safety standards and the car would have to refuse to drive unless an approved dashboard was connected, but it could be done.
But there's no money in that...
First sensible comment I've seen. Don't know why so many people want to be forced to use proprietary software, whether GM's, Apple's or Google's to use their car.
Well, there was the DIN standard for radios back in the day….
I think it's technically still there... hidden behind custom fronts.
This would inevitably put the manufacturer in a bind though. You'd have a pile of pissed off customers standing in a line one morning for you, because Apple or some third party pushed an update that suddenly makes the product incompatible with your car, and they'd be screaming at you about it. You'd have techs piled around a car scratching their heads, like is it the car that's fucked up, is it the device? All without knowing that some third party has randomly done something unbeknown to the person who is scratching their head trying to figure it out. It's frustrating when your Android Auto isn't working suddenly for reasons like this one, this I personally know all about. But could you imagine if it was suddenly the whole dashboard that wasn't working?
Also it beholdens you to third parties to provide solutions that you can't really control from a quality standpoint, but any quality or compatibility issues will 100% affect the customers perception of your product. For example, "I can't get my iPhone to work in that piece of shit car, I fucking hate that far so much," because they can't control the car suddenly either.
Don't get me wrong, your idea is neat, and it would be cool if you could get that all to work, for sure. But it's also fraught with peril, you know what I mean?
Let's be honest, GM can't make money off owners using this software. They can make their own and have owners pay a subscription like some Tesla owners do now.
You know what's unsafe? Putting a long-ass disclosure about keeping your eyes on the road that you have to close before you can use your infotainment center. We know how to drive, dude. Adding a distraction doesn't improve safety, it makes it worse.
I'm dropping GM, because they are unsafe. I'm not going back to looking down at my phone while I'm driving.
Also, as a former 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt owner, I'd love to have a good chat about safety with the executives of GM. That is, if they aren't too busy creating their new in-dash subscription model. Which is what this is really about, and we all know it.
Maybe they should first focus on their gross manufacturing shortfalls, and their other issues. Maybe take a look at that parking lot in Pontiac that's bursting at the seams with Corvettes stuck in limbo, and their very pissed off purchasers.
Fuck. What a bunch of numbskulls.
Wait your counterargument to this is "it's unsafe to remove the unsafe feature, because now im going to use my phone, the exact thing that's unsafe"
What? "How could you make me do this" energy.
No my counterargument is that there's thankfully lots of alternatives on the market. I could care less what GM does at this point, honestly. There's going to be some upset people at the dinner table next year, but I'm driving something else in 2024. The quality has just gone to absolute shit, and they are pretty clearly trying to rush everything out and come up with all these fucking pretend schemes why they are doing it and why options are missing. When it''s got zero to do with safety, and everything to do with their new UAW deal, where they are going to try and find new revenue streams to offset their rising costs, while also charging everyone out the ass for their bullshit. Because heaven help if the executives or the worst CEO in their history has to give back the increases in their bloated salary/bonuses. Mary Berra couldn't successfully run a fucking lemonade stand, let alone one of the biggest companies in the world.
Can you elaborate on the corvettes stuck in limbo, I haven't heard of that
It's apparently quite a mess. Quite a few of the late summer and fall builds went into 3800 production status. That means it's built, like it's off the assembly line but sitting before the final inspection staging and shipping. So for some this went on for a couple months, and some people started questioning where the fuck their vettes were, like 3800 status usually doesn't last for very long.
Then someone in Michigan noticed their OnStar got activated, and pinged the car and it was saying it was in Pontiac, not Bowling Green. So someone apparently went and looked and sure as shit, lot full of vettes. They took a bunch of shots of like heavy security but otherwise the cars just all sitting outside. GM was and is absolutely zipped about what's going on, it's under lock and key. Prevailing rumor is they needed heavy rework, some rumors are aimed at something to do with the DCTs, there's also rumors that the bodies needed heavy reworking. Whatever the issue is, it's a friggin snafu and a half. The boomers that have their orders sitting there were going thermonuclear because their Vettes have been sitting outside in the rain and snow. They just started getting delivered this past month, so guess we will see if some issues become apparent down the road. It's maybe still going on too, like some cars are still getting stuck at 3800, and are returning pings a couple hours east of Bowling Green. Not sure I'd touch a late model 23 build, that's for sure.
So I'm assuming that means that they're admitting that they put a safety hazard in all those prior cars and are assuming liability for every accident where infotainment systems may have been involved, right?
I don't think that's how it works, and is a pretty toxic and non-constructive way to look at this.
If they're going to lie to pretend they can't include it because it's unsafe when every single person on the planet knows with 100% certainty that it's because they want their own cash/data hungry alternative instead, then putting said "unsafe" thing in their vehicles should absolutely expose them to liability.
There absolutely is not a theoretical possibility that "safety" was a genuine consideration in any way in this decision.
I've a Mazda with Android Auto that doesn't use a touch screen. It's all controlled with a joystick/knob/button setup that is actually really nice. I wish my Nissan had a similar setup all the time.
In the Mazda I know how many physical interactions will get me the result I want, it takes barely more than a glance at the screen to know what's up. With the touch interface I have to put my eyes on the screen to confirm that the car didn't bounce when I went to tap a "button" and/or confirm that the tap was actually registered. I know that GM has to know that Android Auto supports non touchscreen interactions. If they're concerned about how unsafe touchscreens are, just add a knob to the center console that doubles as a 4-way joystick like Mazda has and all those concerns go away. It's really that simple and it IS miles better than using touch for everything.
Yeah, I do enjoy jumping into my wife's Mazda every now and then, for just this reason. Touch screens requires too much attention be diverted away from the critical task of driving, as people need to look at the screen for the purpose of aiming a finger at a control on it.
The steering wheel controls for my Ford's Sync are good for volume, music back/forward, and phone calls, but that's it. It's the reason I still need to use a voice assistant while driving. I really hate using the touch screen except at the start or end of journey.
I have a 2016 with no android auto support, and my biggest pet peave is that the infotainment system is absolutely the worst I've seen.
I've been planning a long project of replacing it with a customized tablet, but I'm afraid whatever I land on won't integrate that push wheel control well, because it's just so damn nice
My Mazda is a 2016 CX-5. It was a limited option in 2016, but it was an option, and it only cost me $400 to purchase the upgraded head unit and have it installed by my Mazda dealership. I don't know what model yours is, but 2016 is the year that you can actually look into the option depending. It was going to run me more than $400 to do my own AA solution with the risks of losing the steering wheel or knob controls, so $400 for the upgrade that retains all of that without any hacky workarounds was a godsend.
It’s a very thin argument about it being buggy and/or users picking up their phones when that happens. There’s no way they have data to quantify that. I use voice commands exclusively and as others have said the only things I wrestle with are climate and non-integrated functions. It’s way safer to do AA or CarPlay in my experience.
It’s GMs bet to lose here. I would immediately pass on a vehicle without CarPlay. My old Toyota had a horrible interface and I was quoted $300 just to update the map, not even a new radio, literally just a software update. No thank you.
Like, could I just have the aux jack back please? I can frig with my phone before I put the car in drive and just push audio through the speakers, I don't need to be able to sort through my playlists or make calls from the steering wheel, I'm distracted enough by billboards, for chrissakes. The only thing I like about my phone being connected to my car is that I can skip forward and back, that's it.
And with proper software support, the aux jack can do some limited pause/forward/back!
I do really like Android Auto, but the reliability of the Aux connection is something I very sorely miss.
Yeah what’s up with that?! My new car comes with a host of connection possibilities, but lacks a simple jack. I still use that 5th gen iPod, is it too much to ask for a connector?
Honestly it's probably because you are likely in the minority in wanting this, at least according to the car manufacturers. Cell phones haven't had audio jacks for a few years now. Most iPods are in junk drawers, dying long and slow deaths. Take a look around the next time you are in a crowd, the people with headphones on, like 90% of them are going to be airpods or other Bluetooth style headphones.
Ain't saying I like it either, don't get me wrong, but I imagine that's probably the logic behind it.
They are doing it to light up revenue streams.
literally any change or a new feature in any product of any company is only about collecting and selling your data, and never about making something actually better.
Yep beware, any time a company you do business with sends you a letter saying something like,
"Good news! (Our old company name) is now (new company name)!"
You're about to get fucked.
Oh, did GM just step in it this time. Being stupid and removing important features is one thing, but straight-up defamation like this is another.
Google and Apple’s lawyers must be salivating a river right now.
They aren't wrong. Touch controls in a car are a nuisance.
Lots of people gonna be dropping GM. I was a Chevy guy my whole life and I got a Tacoma about a year ago. It’s not even a premium model and the quality and reliability is miles above Chevrolet
When looking for my last vehicle, I still needed a midsize very-light-duty truck for my business (film production), I drove the Chevy midsize truck (Colorado?) first on my checklist of trucks to drive. It was a piece of garbage (and this made me sad because I was [trying to be] open to finding an excellent US-made midsize truck). The sales guy was super-enthusiastic, of course, to the point of pushy obnoxiousness. When he asked me "HOW GREAT IS THIS TRUCK???!!!??" I was like "I wouldn't complain if someone gave one to me, but I have other trucks to test."
After test driving four other competitors, I ended up with Honda Ridgeline (which beat out my second favorite from Toyota), that I have now had for 4+ years and absolutely love it - it is a great midsize+ truck. It's kind of a unicorn in Texas (so many Fords and Dodges), but I saw a ton of them in Arizona and other Western states. Great vehicle, and it has CarPlay. Sadly, it's in the shop at the moment (I, uh, backed into a bollard, cough) and my rental is a brand-new Dodge Charger which drives like a lead brick on wheels compared to the Ridgeline. Interior finish isn't bad though...and the UI, while not CarPlay, is polished).
My car is a 2017 and its entertainment system hasn’t been update since then. I don’t want to pay the $250 to upgrade it or whatever the crazy price was.
My personal car (the second, mostly unused car in our family) is from 2016, and it has nav and everything, but it looks like it's a commodore. It's also woefully out of date, my house is in the middle of a cornfield according to my car. Literally unusable, and was pretty much right out of the gates even. Doesn't work very well with my phone, I'm still able to stream Spotify and skip songs or whatever, but guess how I have to control it? The phone hooked to the cord and sitting on my seat.
My wife's car, I don't even think I've ever used the navigation. I'm not even really sure how her radio works come to think of it, because it just switches to Android Auto when I start it, and whatever I was doing on my phone, well it's right there. Spotify starts up, and on the way we go. Don't even look at it most of the time, if I'm being honest. Super unsafe for sure, the proprietary solution is for sure better (/s)
