GM will ditch Apple CarPlay and Android Auto on all its cars, not just EVs

https://www.theverge.com/transportation/804562/gm-apple-carplay-android-auto-gas-cars-mary-barra

by cwmartin • 9 months ago

69 80 9 months ago

syntaxing• 9 months ago

CarPlay is probably the top of my list of features when I buy a car. I can careless about performance specs after a certain threshold. But not having CarPlay would straight up go into my do not buy list (yes, I wouldn’t buy a Rivian or tesla either.)

jbm2• 9 months ago

I used to feel this way, but nowadays I've come to realize that Carplay's UX is inferior to my iPhone's UX on a mount. As long as I have Bluetooth or Aux-in, I'm fine.

(That isn't to say that I think GM will somehow produce anything other than a captured rent extraction tool)

dangus4• 9 months ago

You might as well be making the “I’m okay with my 2004 Honda accord with a tape adapter” argument.

There is no cost reason to exclude the option. Even if I don’t use it, if I’m buying a $30-50k new vehicle it better have it, even if that’s for the sake of resale or future family members I might pass the car down to. My 2016 has it, why am I tolerating the removing of such a feature?

If you want unscientific evidence you’ll notice that the Honda Prologue (has CarPlay) outsells the Equinox EV it’s based on.

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2024/06/about-one-third-of-car-...

pjmlp2• 9 months ago

Same here in regards to Android.

I only care about bluetooth for music and handling phone calls, don't get the point why having the actual car dashboard show phone stuff that relevant.

listenallyall3• 9 months ago

I think this may be the dilemma GM and others are in. Given that it's a must-have, how much can Google and Apple charge the manufacturers for a license? $2000 per car? 5000? More? I dont think you can necessarily criticize GM's decision (and making a public announcement that all other car manufacturers will read) without knowing the upstream costs.

acdha2• 9 months ago

Is there any public data on how much those licenses cost?

AlotOfReading4• 9 months ago

There aren't really any licensing fees for Android Auto. Apple charged a few dozen dollars for the right to produce a car with the integration, rather than a license as such. There's integration costs and hardware, so it's not free, but generally it's cheaper than the alternative.

Android automotive, the system GM is discussing here, is more expensive in every way than Android Auto. The reason they're switching is that Android Auto/carplay don't give GM enough additional monetization options for customers.

beAbU• 9 months ago

Make it a paid upgrade and let the market sort itself out.

Casteil• 9 months ago

Yep.

Manufacturers ditching Apple Carplay/Android Auto support will, if not immediately, inevitably pursue rent-seeking behavior in the form of paid subscriptions for services people could otherwise just have for free (and likely better) via phone.

etempleton3• 9 months ago

It is a crazy step for GM in particular because it is not like they have any distinct advantages or differentiators as an automaker. Rivian and Tesla have specific niche appeal. I am not sure anyone is clamoring for a Chevy in the same way. Lack of Apple car play is a feature your average user will be aware of and consider when purchasing a new car.

mandeepj3• 9 months ago

CarPlay is probably the top of my list of features when I buy a car.

It's so important and useful to me that I've been thinking of retrofitting my Corvette C6, either by jailbreaking an iPad or simply mounting it.

Quitschquat• 9 months ago

Retrofitted my 2010 Tacoma beater because I can’t live without CarPlay

dragon-hn• 9 months ago

For what it is worth, there are lots of double DIN aftermarket AirPlay options for a C6. No need for an iPad.

JumpCrisscross• 9 months ago

CarPlay is probably the top of my list of features when I buy a car

Do you own a GM vehicle? Were you considering it?

No CarPlay is a dealbreaker for me too. I’m just not convinced there are that many of us.

pbh101• 9 months ago

The number I’ve seen is that CarPlay specifically is in the top ~2 prios for 79% of new car shoppers in the US. I think there’s probably enough mass here, and GM doesn’t have the niche EV/SW cachet that Rivian and Tesla have despite lacking CarPlay so I don’t think this will go well for them.

AlotOfReading4• 9 months ago

It's basically the feature to a huge number of consumers. Various numbers I've seen place not having it as a dealbreaker for somewhere between 15% to 80% of buyers, especially the younger ones. It's more important than virtually any other feature you can name.

taylodl• 9 months ago

Being made by GM is already a strike against the vehicle, in my opinion. No CarPlay just kills the deal.

teleforce• 9 months ago

For me Android Auto is a must, it's a no brainer as a requirement for a new modern car.

For the Love of God, what the GM, Rivian and Tesla engineers are thinking by not including CarPlay and Android Auto?

pjmlp2• 9 months ago

Nothing, this is obviously a management decision.

tonyedgecombe• 9 months ago

I can careless about performance specs after a certain threshold.

Don't you mean couldn't?

zjp• 9 months ago

That's a real dealbreaker. I've never seen an in-house media/nav system better than Apple's, and I don't expect GM's to be any different.

al_borland• 9 months ago

It’s not only that, but your phone already has all your data. Calendar appointments, addresses of contacts, music, podcasts, etc.

Do replicate this, you’d either need to sync all of that to your car, or migrate to Google’s ecosystem… maybe both.

With the track record of automakers and data privacy, I don’t know who would knowingly do that. It also seems like a giant pain when nearly every other car doesn’t ask the buyer to make this kind of choice.

arthurcolle2• 9 months ago

They will 100% reverse this decision. Surprising it made it past engineering strategy & leadership at a company as large as GM and that they would even float this publicly without the details... but this will be walked back.

How large companies can make it so far and still have such insane decision-making (management by instinct?) is so wild to behold.

ianburrell• 9 months ago

Also, doing the communication would require cooperation from Google and Apple. Who have their competing systems, and don't want to cooperate with every car makers who wants to build their own system.

tree_enjoyer• 9 months ago

My Pre-Carplay car handles all of this (well, except calendar) just fine. It's all still handled on my device.

Additionally, even if Toyota were to get breached, they would not get my data

bigstrat2003• 9 months ago

Yeah exactly. My wife's Volvo runs Android as its entertainment OS, and I still choose to use Android Auto. Because my phone has my music, has the music player I like to use, etc. The car has none of these things. There is no scenario where the car's software is going to be a superior experience to plugging in your smartphone, IMO.

jghn• 9 months ago

I guess GM won’t be my next car purchase

HaZeust• 9 months ago

The only active-production GM vehicle I've had my eyes on in recent years is a c8 Corvette, so this news makes it a lot easier to justify a purchase in the previous-year models that still had CarPlay/Auto. What a strange choice.

exabrial• 9 months ago

Crikey this will be the last GMC Truck I own. Zero chance I use any car manufacturers infotainment system

seanmcdirmid2• 9 months ago

Unless you are Tesla, I just don't think you can do software well enough to forgo Apple or Google's auto stacks. And people will argue that Tesla isn't that great at it either, but it definitely does it better than all of the other auto manufacturers (disclaimer: I've heard, I don't own a Tesla).

sixothree• 9 months ago

Imagine how awful these interfaces will stand up to the test of time. I seriously doubt they will be getting meaningful updates in 10 years.

janwl• 9 months ago

What are the chances phones in 10 years won’t be able to connect to the cars with CarPlay or Android auto from today.

seanmcdirmid2• 9 months ago

Tesla is pretty good about updating its software at least, which is why I called it out. They even do infotainment hardware upgrades, I don't think anyone other car manufacturer is doing that right now (again, disclaimer: I own a BMW i4, not a Tesla, but I did my research before buying).

laweijfmvo• 9 months ago

I have a Tesla. Fancy big screen, but one of the first things I did was stick an ugly phone mount right next to it. My phone has everything I need, which are mainly reliable maps and audio. And I’m certainly not paying for another data plan to use the same apps on my car when they work fine on my phone.

yellowapple• 9 months ago

In place of phone projection, GM is working to update its current Android-powered infotainment implementation with a Google Gemini-powered assistant and an assortment of other custom apps, built both in-house and with partners.

I guess I'll add that to the ever-growing list of reasons why I'll never buy a GM vehicle manufactured in the current century.

add-sub-mul-div2• 9 months ago

My car has no screens and neither will my next one. I can't cut the tech giants out of my life altogether but I'm reducing my reliance on them, not increasing their use cases where I don't need to. I'm not inviting them into my driving, my purchases, my music listening, my reading, or any other part of my life. Good for GM.

kasey_junk2• 9 months ago

In the US that is going to restrict you to old used cars. Cars made after 2018 require a backup camera so there is virtually no other way to support the law.

add-sub-mul-div2• 9 months ago

My current car is from 2003 and I'm happy with it. I'm fine with a backup camera screen, as long as I don't need Google/Apple in the mix and the controls (radio, climate, etc.) are not screen-based.

FloatArtifact• 9 months ago

Dumb question, but do you think they're trying to monetize the data?

hnburnsy• 9 months ago

Yes, three ways minimum for GM to monetize this: subscriptions for features, telematics data gathering, ad and app revenue from third parties.

etempleton3• 9 months ago

Monetize the data and charge a recurring subscription. My guess would be they will try the latter first and if that is not profitable enough start selling user data, and if that doesn’t work, in car ads.

throwawayimnew• 9 months ago

Just recently bought a Polestar because: 1) Yes CarPlay, 2) No Elon

dramm• 9 months ago

Carplay is absolutely a requirement for me for any purchase. Mmmm maybe Barra knows something special about typical GM purchasers, or maybe she is just loony tunes nuts.

kotaKat• 9 months ago

But I don’t want to be forced to sign into a Google Account to use my vehicle. GM’s pivot to Android Automotive has forced Google Play and its complete walled garden into the vehicle at the bare metal.

Google won. Apple loses. At the end of the day, Android users will just use the native AAOS and all the native built in Play crap, while Apple users get screwed.

captainregex• 9 months ago

This is such a self own.

spicyusername• 9 months ago

I just got a car with Android auto for the first time, after owning an old car for quite a long time.

It's an incredible step up in user experience.

I can't possibly imagine the rationale for doing this being anything more than mismanagement.

The only reason I can think of is that GM wants the user data that Android auto or Apple carplay collect, and they're willing to provide a worse user experience to collect it.

slumberlust• 9 months ago

That's exactly why. They want to sell as much of the users data as possible and steal another source of ad revenue (Google maps is already advertising businesses as I use the direction feature...oh look a Wendy's coming up...it's never enough).

specialist• 9 months ago

Just like Tesla, GM has adopted the subscription model.

GM's sub revenue is up: ~$2B YTD, ~$5B deferred to Q3. From just OnStar and Super Cruise. 11m and 100k subs, respectfully.

Barra forecasts a decade of double digit growth with 70% margins.

Of course they'll make their own entertainment stack too.

"Q3 2025 Letter to Shareholders" https://investor.gm.com/news-releases/news-release-details/q...

Page 8 in "Ongoing operational agility and strong execution, Q3 2025 Earnings" https://investor.gm.com/static-files/b55f99a7-8524-40ec-89e3...

All other manufacturers will eventually follow suit. Tragic.

tanseydavid• 9 months ago

What a really dumb idea. Detroit <sigh>.

GM will ditch Apple CarPlay and Android Auto on all its cars, not just EVs

Related Stories