As some carmakers run from Apple CarPlay, Porsche embraces it
As some carmakers run from Apple CarPlay, Porsche embraces it
The app lets you control climate, radio, and lighting without leaving CarPlay.
"Some carmakers" is a strange way to write General Motors, which is to my knowledge the sole carmaker who has announced they're going to shoot themselves in the foot by dropping a non-negotiable feature required by a majority of new car buyers. I predict they backtrack on this plan pretty rapidly.
Tesla also refuses to support CarPlay and Android Auto, because they believe their software is better. And why shouldn't we trust them? Tesla has a stellar record for fixing their buggy software even after your car is no longer in warranty. /s
I do wish Tesla had Android Auto, but their software is really quite good.
Mostly I just want different music apps like Plex and Newpipe.
The nav stuff is mostly fine. SMS integration is good. Video apps while parked is good.
Volvo did this a few years ago and they’re now reversing course.
GM is the biggest, but also Telsa and Rivian. Almost all the big players support it now.
I’m looking to buy a new car within the next year. If it doesn’t offer Apple CarPlay, I won’t even bother looking at the car.
If it doesn’t offer Apple CarPlay, I won’t even bother
Can I ask why, what's the benefit?
CarPlay (and Android Auto) are basically driving-oriented UIs that your phone pushes to the head unit in your car. This means you get a full touch screen UI with your maps and music apps of choice, plus other apps that support it.
It beats mounting your phone over an AC vent because the screen is bigger and the UI is actually designed to be safe to use while driving (fewer, bigger buttons, more use of screen edges and corners so critical functions can be activated without looking).
Car makers don't like this, because it means users are less likely to pay subscription fees for their shittier built-in internet services.
Main reason is that many apps have a separate CarPlay or Android Auto UI that is less distracting, more glanceable, etc.
It’s kind of hard to go back once you’ve lived with it for a a bit. It’s much more convenient. A simple phone mount feels kind of janky and distracting afterwords.
Yes. I don’t like to look at or touch my phone while I’m driving. Its dangerous. CarPlay makes it safer and easier to control my phone - from which I play my music and do my navigation. My current car has Bluetooth, so the music works, but I still have to use my phone to control it. Which as I said, I don’t like to do.
Or you can get it installed from bestbuy. It cost me $300 last time, installation was free.
Personally I tried Android Auto it with a company car (nothing fancy).
Couldn't care less. Give me bluetooth and a USB port to plugin my smartphone and I will bring my phone holder.
No need for stuff that will get outdated and needs dealer updates (if they are even supplied).No need for stuff that will get outdated and needs dealer updates (if they are even supplied).
This is specifically why people like CarPlay and Android Auto; they are managed by your phone instead of the car manufacturer. If you bought one of the first CarPlay capable cars in 2014, it still works with the new CarPlay features that just shipped in iOS 17 last week.
CarPlay and Android Auto basically turn your infotainment system into a dumb terminal for your phone. They work by turning it into a second display. All the head unit has to do is relay touch inputs back to the device. It is completely unaware of what actual software is running, it just sees a video signal and your fingers.
This is also probably why Tesla and General Motors don't like it. They want you to pay them for the new features you otherwise get for free with your phone.
I would much rather a car manufacturer focus on making sure the hardware is nice to use rather than coming out with some Ass-software that they came up with in house. Also, I’m going to connect my phone to the radio anyways so why reinvent software to make it less compatible then the native software my phone manufacturer has already R&D’ed pretty well. I assume there is some licensing bullshit with either CarPlay or Android Auto that could be playing a factor. But I would still rather the manufacturer focus on a nice feeling, high refresh rate, bright display rather than focus on some new clunky interface they develop.
Car conpanies want to sell you subscriptions to services, and killing off carplay/auto would do that.
Need a gps? you either use your phone screen to navigate with audio or be forced to use their navigation service on the hud.
I seriously wouldn't buy a car at this point if it didn't have CarPlay or Android Auto in it. Navigation with Google Maps or Waze is vastly superior to anything a car company is ever going to come up with (props to Apple Maps too for making big improvements in the last several years). Integrated music experiences where I can directly see my Spotify playlists or favorite tracks without touching my phone is just something I'm used to and couldn't go back. Having a voice assistant that works from Google / Apple (I know Siri is rough sometimes lol) will always be better than any voice controls a car company comes up with. Oh, and huuuge points to Overcast for just reliably being the best podcast app for many years and having a super easy to navigate CarPlay app. I'd lose all of that and more if there was no integration with my phone and we went back to the awful bluetooth pairing that we had before with terrible UI design and no support for third party apps.
At this point, that's more important to me than whatever engine they've stuck in it. Just give me good mileage, pass inspection and last at least 150k miles and we're good. I'm not drag racing so I don't need a rocket ship lol
@fry I love CarPlay, but my Leaf can also control climate without leaving CarPlay with the use of actual physical buttons.
Best of both worlds.
That's awesome! I think there's a newer generation of CarPlay from Apple that lets the auto-makers use the Apple UI for everything, including the spedometers, climate and other gauges. If that data can be integrated into third party apps, I think developers would come up with some really cool things.
I really wish my Hyundai would let me do that, maybe I should look into Nissan for my next car haha. How have you been finding the Leaf? I've only heard good things about it from others.
@fry I love it. The use of ChaDeMo over CCS2 is a bit of a pain, but I can live with it.
Same on my Kia ev6. It has a smaller display with 2 physical twist knobs under the the main screen. That can be used for climate or media control, independent of the main screen.
I’m not in love with the idea of CarPlay/Android Auto sucking up all of our personal information, but removing the mere choice of using them doesn’t make me happy.
Car infotainment is traditionally crap when it’s new and systems which update seemingly get slower and generally worse over time. Casting your phone interface let’s you escape the first world problem of shitty UI/UX.
We already give our info to either Apple or Android. Using the car’s software is yet another company getting your info.
IMHO, car manufacturers suck at data privacy. At least Apple tells people what is being tracked, what the data is used for, and gives people prominent opt outs. And now Google is starting to get into that game.
When I was purchasing my car about 6 years ago I was sure I was going to for for a Nissan, as I currently had one that I loved. But they didn't offer any cars with Android Auto support and that was a deal breaker. It is a make or break thing for me, and I suspect as more and more people adopt it, it will be for them too. We might see this kind of pressure delayed, as car purchases don't happen every year for most people, and the CarPlay/Android Auto software has really only become quality must-have software within the past few years. Yet, as people approach the time to purchase a new car, I believe the pressure on automakers to integrate these technologies will intensify.
Nissan was definitely late with AA/Carplay then initially just put it in the highest trim levels. They have been a few years behind everyone else with in dash entertainment for a while now.
Most automakers are on board now. Too many people were test driving cars and passing up cars without CP/AA. The big exception being Telsa. All of the other features interesting features in a Tesla made people ignore the fact that Tesla has trash voice control and limited 3rd party apps compared to iOS and Android.
GM thinks they can reverse course and play Tesla’s game.
If GM thinks they have the rizz that Tesla has/had they are absolutely insane.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
This has not sat well with every automaker; in March of this year, General Motors made headlines—and generated a lot of comments—when it announced it was killing off support for casting interfaces (both CarPlay and Android Auto) from its future products.
This little-known feature is only offered to OEMs and allows them freedom beyond the restrictive user interface guidelines laid down by Apple.
The app presents a series of tiles on the screen, configurable by the user, which allow you to change the climate settings, switch between favorited radio stations (AM, FM, and Sirius XM), or change the interior lighting.
The My Porsche App also integrates with Apple Maps and allows you to create favorite locations or local searches (for a coffee shop, for instance).
Although the freedom of the Automaker toolkit would have allowed Porsche to make the app look just like its native infotainment system, it didn't.
And again, the goal for us is that customers, when they're not in the car, they are using the iPhone, iPad, MacOS, Apple Watch, they are very familiar with this UX, UI.
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I'd rather cars go back to no touchscreen. Dot matrix displays are fine.
As long as absolutely everything one will press while driving is a physical button, I'm OK with it. However, putting climate control etc on the touch screen is downright dangerous as they require one to take their eyes off the road.
Physical controls I could feel for climate was an absolute must for me as well.
Some cars have physical buttons that are so smooth you can't even tell what is what without looking at them. I guess they cold work with gloves in the cold, but it was too little for me.