From Engadget · Jack Whitcombe · · 3m
Why carmakers are pulling the plug on CarPlay
GM and others are stripping CarPlay out of new cars, and the fight is about who owns your dashboard.
In brief
GM and others are stripping CarPlay out of new cars, and the fight is about who owns your dashboard. CarPlay is disappearing from some new cars not because it works badly, but because automakers want the screen, the services and the data for themselves. Originally reported by Engadget.
The dashboard truce is breaking
CarPlay has been the default fix for bad car software for over a decade. Now some of the same manufacturers that embraced it are pulling it out of new models.
Same screen, every car
Plug in an iPhone and you get the same interface, your apps and your contacts, whatever the display looks like. No new accounts, no setup, nothing to port over.
“Apple CarPlay's biggest strength is consistency.”
Built-in systems were the problem
Before CarPlay you got whatever the manufacturer built. MyFord Touch lasted five years. BMW once charged $80 a year for CarPlay, and stale maps often cost a fee to update.
A deal that suited everyone
Automakers handed the hard software work to Apple and Google and focused elsewhere. CarPlay now runs on more than 800 car models.
EVs changed the maths
Electric cars need the screen wired into the vehicle itself. Battery preconditioning and brand-specific charging controls don't fit a phone-mirroring layer, so you end up exiting CarPlay to use them.
Buyers care a lot
Apple said in 2022 that 79 percent of car buyers would skip a model without CarPlay. A more recent survey found losing it was a deal breaker for 55 percent of users.
GM goes first
GM has already dropped CarPlay and Android Auto from new EVs like the Chevrolet Blazer EV, and expects to strip it from petrol cars once its own computing platform arrives around 2028.
Ironically, it runs Google
GM's replacement is built on Android Automotive, Google's standalone car OS. Apps run on the car itself, so there is no phone to connect at all.
Deeper integration, real benefits
With GM's system, Google Maps can use the EV's remaining charge and range to plan the route and slot in charging stops along the way.
“dependent on a person having a cellphone”
The part GM doesn't advertise
Native apps mean GM keeps the data on how you drive, route and charge, plus room to sell subscriptions later. In January the FTC banned GM from selling driver data for five years.
CarPlay Ultra raises the stakes
Ultra takes over the instrument cluster, climate and radio, with manufacturer themes. But it still needs your iPhone, and only Aston Martin offers it so far.
The headline
CarPlay is disappearing from some new cars not because it works badly, but because automakers want the screen, the services and the data for themselves.
