14 votes

GM kills more than CarPlay support, it kills choice

16 comments

  1. JXM
    Link
    My current car (a 2018 Chevy Volt) has both CarPlay and Android Auto. I will never buy another car without it. I’ve used both over the two years I’ve owned the car and just so much better than any...

    My current car (a 2018 Chevy Volt) has both CarPlay and Android Auto. I will never buy another car without it. I’ve used both over the two years I’ve owned the car and just so much better than any built in infotainment system I’ve ever used.

    I also have absolutely no interest in paying for a subscription for anything related to my car. I don’t need GM or whoever to be able to access my diagnostics remotely. I don’t need them to be able to have my car share its cellular connection via Wi-Fi hotspot. I already have devices that can handle that.

    I know it’s a loosing battle though. It’s going to be like smart TVs. Once manufacturers see that there’s a goldmine of money to be made from monetizing the data they collect and charging for features on a subscription basis, they’ll all move to that model and there won’t be any standalone options left.

    16 votes
  2. [5]
    kfwyre
    (edited )
    Link
    Speaking as the new owner of a GM EV, I love the actual car itself, but boy do I hate their current subscription model (and my car does have CarPlay). Here's a breakdown of their different plans....

    Speaking as the new owner of a GM EV, I love the actual car itself, but boy do I hate their current subscription model (and my car does have CarPlay). Here's a breakdown of their different plans.

    Something I didn't know until I was buying it: the car's infotainment center starts in "demo mode" and the way that you get it out of that is by calling OnStar. The salesperson had us sit in the car and had me press the OnStar button to speak to an OnStar representative. I got one month of OnStar free, and three if I provided a credit card number. During the call I informed the OnStar person that I was not interested in providing a credit card or paying for the service and that was that -- the call ended and my car was moved out of demo mode, but it was a genuinely obnoxious hoop to have customers jump through.

    Also, the GM plans are expensive. I'm glad I got my car before they killed CarPlay. I've literally never used GM's built in infotainment system for anything other than charging info and management. Everything else has been through my phone via CarPlay. Although, I guess this leads me to another question: is GM planning on killing CarPlay for already bought cars via updates too?

    9 votes
    1. [3]
      vord
      Link Parent
      Given how CarPlay has obviated your need for their other services, I'd be shocked if they didn't kill it retroactively.

      Given how CarPlay has obviated your need for their other services, I'd be shocked if they didn't kill it retroactively.

      2 votes
      1. [2]
        Akir
        Link Parent
        I would think that would be illegal. Sony got sued (and lost) for essentially the same thing, didn't they?

        I would think that would be illegal. Sony got sued (and lost) for essentially the same thing, didn't they?

        5 votes
        1. vord
          Link Parent
          You mean the OtherOS lawsuit? Beauty of most these things is that they're settlements, not rulings. They do not admit to any wrongdoing and pay some hushmoney to make it go away. As far as I'm...

          You mean the OtherOS lawsuit?

          Beauty of most these things is that they're settlements, not rulings. They do not admit to any wrongdoing and pay some hushmoney to make it go away. As far as I'm aware, there's no actual legal protections.

          My older Samsung phones (S5 and earlier) have hardware FM radios. That feature got disabled, patched out, and the app discontinued and removed.

          6 votes
    2. Kenny
      Link Parent
      Those prices are ludicrous.

      Those prices are ludicrous.

      2 votes
  3. babypuncher
    Link
    I won't buy a car without both CarPlay and Android Auto support. I simply won't do it. Now that I've experienced it, I can never go back to the craptacular "infotainment" software car companies...

    I won't buy a car without both CarPlay and Android Auto support. I simply won't do it. Now that I've experienced it, I can never go back to the craptacular "infotainment" software car companies put out.

    Even if they manage to put out good software, I have no guarantee that it will still be good 5 years after I buy the car. With CarPlay and Android Auto, I know my infotainment system is essentially future proof.

    7 votes
  4. [4]
    mtset
    Link
    What if - and, yk, hear me out here - we just had a standard for this. Like maybe a single connector that could transmit human interface interactions (like touches on a touchscreen), audio, and...

    What if - and, yk, hear me out here - we just had a standard for this. Like maybe a single connector that could transmit human interface interactions (like touches on a touchscreen), audio, and video. And maybe it could even have device descriptors that tell the device what it's plugged in to, so a phone could see that it's plugged into a car and transmit the according audio and video.

    You know, like USB?

    3 votes
    1. [3]
      stu2b50
      Link Parent
      It's not really a standards issue. GM is basically not allowing external video streams into their car anymore, which is different than not accepting a specific type of car/phone projection. It...

      It's not really a standards issue. GM is basically not allowing external video streams into their car anymore, which is different than not accepting a specific type of car/phone projection. It also won't support android auto after they make the change.

      1 vote
      1. [2]
        mtset
        Link Parent
        Oh, yeah. I totally agree that GM is in the wrong here. I just think Apple fucked up by making "CarPlay" an Apple thing, rather than a standards thing; as it is, people who don't use Apple devices...

        Oh, yeah. I totally agree that GM is in the wrong here. I just think Apple fucked up by making "CarPlay" an Apple thing, rather than a standards thing; as it is, people who don't use Apple devices won't realize they're losing out. We had a chance to use existing standards to make this a norm in most upmarket cars, and we missed that chance.

        3 votes
        1. stu2b50
          Link Parent
          Honestly if there was more interest in the area I feel like there'd be a decent chance Apple would today. They did donate the HomeKit protocol to Matter, after all. I think in the end, since most...

          Honestly if there was more interest in the area I feel like there'd be a decent chance Apple would today. They did donate the HomeKit protocol to Matter, after all. I think in the end, since most carmakers that do support carplay or android auto today, support both carplay and android auto as opposed to just one or the other, there's not much interest in having a standard for it when smartphones are a strict duopoly and both ecosystems have functionally the same capability; you'd just be unifying those two which wouldn't accomplish much (vs the smarthome world, where there's a bajillion different companies).

  5. [5]
    stu2b50
    Link
    Well, at least as a practical move for people with those cars, since they're going to run android automotive you should be able to get carplay on it anyway with a janky dongle from amazon and a...

    Well, at least as a practical move for people with those cars, since they're going to run android automotive you should be able to get carplay on it anyway with a janky dongle from amazon and a custom android app that comes with it. The dongle makes your iPhone think it's connected to a carplay compatible car, and the app provides the video feed.

    Obviously not a great solution, but something that can be done if your options are between a GM car and something else that satisfies your criteria for performance but costs significantly more, or which costs the same but is a much worse car.

    1 vote
    1. [4]
      NoblePath
      Link Parent
      My understanding is that the new system is neither carplay nor android auto. It’s a new thing jointly created by gm and google.

      My understanding is that the new system is neither carplay nor android auto. It’s a new thing jointly created by gm and google.

      2 votes
      1. [3]
        stu2b50
        Link Parent
        Yeah, it's android automotive, which is what I was talking about. Android auto is the carplay equivalent, android automotive is where Google is basically licensing out Android for automakers to...

        Yeah, it's android automotive, which is what I was talking about. Android auto is the carplay equivalent, android automotive is where Google is basically licensing out Android for automakers to build on for the car's internal OS. Naming is not one of Google's skills.

        3 votes
        1. [2]
          NoblePath
          Link Parent
          Does that mean it will interact with android phones more/better than iphones?

          Does that mean it will interact with android phones more/better than iphones?

          1 vote
          1. stu2b50
            Link Parent
            Yes and no. Android auto also wouldn't work in these cars. However, since your car's infotainment is basically a giant android phone, android-to-android features may work. That being said, there's...

            Yes and no. Android auto also wouldn't work in these cars. However, since your car's infotainment is basically a giant android phone, android-to-android features may work. That being said, there's not lot of Android-Android interactions.

            1 vote