General Motors wants to "phase out" Apple CarPlay in its future EVs
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General Motors wants to "phase out" Apple CarPlay in its future EVs
According to Reuters, General Motors (GM) will phase out Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in its upcoming electric vehicles in favour of its own system.
This means owners will not be able to use Apple CarPlay or Android Auto to mirror their smartphones on their cars' infotainment displays.
Instead, GM wants to use its own navigation and infotainment that's reportedly developed with Google. It said the reason for this is that it wants to reduce reliance on smartphones.
GM's executive director of digital cockpit experience, Mike Hichme, said:
We have a lot of new driver assistance features coming that are more tightly coupled with navigation. We don’t want to design these features in a way that are dependent on person having a cellphone.
And as for popular apps, it said it would offer apps such as Spotify, Audible, "and other services that many drivers now access via smartphones."
GM's chief digital officer, Edward Kummer, also said:
We do believe there are subscription revenue opportunities for us.
It's unclear what GM is going to charge its customers but GM's CEO Mary Barra is targeting between US$20 billion to US$25 billion in annual revenue from subscriptions by 2030.
Reuters also said that another reason for using their own system is so that GM can capture more data about how consumers use their EVs, in particular their driving and charging patterns.
It also said that the decision is a "setback for Apple" which is competing with Google "to capture more real estate on vehicle dashboards."
There is, however, another way to look at it.
Apple said during WWDC last year that Apple CarPlay is supported by 97% of new cars sold in the US. In addition, it also said during WWDC last year that 79% of new car buyers want Apple CarPlay to be in their next car.
And then there's the issue of privacy. GM wants to use its own in-car system to track customers' driving and charging patterns. It's unclear right now how this would work but I'm pretty sure the majority of customers would not like to be tracked.
Fortunately, and curiously, this decision to phase out Apple CarPlay and Android Auto applies only to GM's upcoming EVs. Its ICE cars would continue to support both.
I would not be surprised to see GM backtracking on this decision in the future.
Source: Reuters
