This might shed light on why automakers don’t go “all in” with CarPlay / Android Auto

[DeaneG]

Yes, there are some details that aren't solved by having the car behave as another Android mobile device logged into your accounts, especially for iOS users.

Until Apple writes an Apple Maps app for AAOS with EV route planning and a Messages app, there is no justification for lack of CarPlay in a new car for iOS users.

For Android phone users, if you have two AAOS cars with an app store, you load the familiar apps you choose into your profile on the cars and arrange them the way you like them. My wife and I use different apps in the car, just like we do on our phones, so they vary between our profiles. It would take a couple of minutes to download 5-10 commonly used apps and manually place them for a new car. Several more minutes to log into them. You do this once after buying a new car.

For Google maps users, the restaurant you looked up days ago on your phone, tablet, or desktop will already be in your car's search history. You tap the search box, and scroll down until you see it. Waze may act the same, I haven't checked.

AAOS/GAS currently supports the popular Pocketcasts app. It syncs automatically across phone, car, etc and will pick up where you left off on a previous device. If you don't want to use or switch to Pocketcasts, and you listen to podcasts in the car, then currently you'd need Android Auto.

Spotify at least also auto-syncs across smart speaker, phone, car, other devices and will pick up where you left off on a previous device. I haven't checked if Tidal, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, etc do this, as we listen to these services mostly in the car rather than at home.

If you don't want Message notifications while driving, you just turn off notifications in the Messages app on the car. There are no social media apps in the car, nor an email client, so no need to mute them.

I completely understand how an iOS user would insist on CarPlay with any new car purchase. But the reasoning behind this demand isn't as appropriate for Android users in an AAOS car with an app store. We've been using AAOS/GAS and native apps for four years with our Volvo, and have never once wished to use Android Auto. That would be adding an unwelcome complication and middleman. But I must absolutely have Android auto in any non-AAOS/GAS car, including our Lucids.

As more Android phone users experience the UX of an AAOS car with GAS (capable voice assistant, connection to Google's ecosystem and an app store), I suspect that they will begin to demand AAOS with GAS for their new car purchases as iOS users do for CarPlay. At least I will.

 

[martinjlm]

Tidal does not sync between phone and car. Actually, I'm a little bit irritated that Tidal doesn't pick up where I left off in the car at all, let alone between devices. Anytime I select a playlist or mix it starts at the beginning of the first song on the list. Or if I get out of the car mid-song, it goes back to track 1 of whatever I'm listening to. Pretty annoying.

 

[DeaneG]

Tidal does not sync between phone and car. Actually, I'm a little bit irritated that Tidal doesn't pick up where I left off in the car at all, let alone between devices. Anytime I select a playlist or mix it starts at the beginning of the first song on the list. Or if I get out of the car mid-song, it goes back to track 1 of whatever I'm listening to. Pretty annoying.

Yes, Tidal can't even keep track of where it is on one device, much less sync between devices.

 

[HC_79]

Yes, Tidal can't even keep track of where it is on one device, much less sync between devices.

At least in the Gravity it does continue from the song you left when returning to the car. Not sure if that’s changed on the Air but when I had it most times it went back to the beginning of the playlist.

 

[prgarg]

Pocketcast, although limited to podcasts, does the phone to car handoff well. It's my main podcast app, way before I got the Gravity

 

[joec]

OK, now we're getting ridiculous. If you wanna make a car purchase decision based on whether or not it can fill in for your forgetting a restaurant name or address you're on your own.

Nothing ridiculous about something that comes up quite often for me.

I research places I may want to eat on my phone all the time. And they sit in my recents list when I want to recall them later. All of this prior research is invisible to your car.

Your assertion is that your car can do EVERYTHING I can do with CarPlay. You've told me this several times. And that is completely inaccurate. I'm just giving you some of the many examples of why that statement is blatantly false.

Which has been my point from the beginning.

I do not have particularly special needs here. This is quite common behavior. Which is why the majority of people insist on CarPlay / Android Auto.

Yes, your GM car is probably great. It suits the needs of GM just fine. It suits your needs just fine.

It would not suit my needs just fine. That's my only point. This is not an "agree to disagree". It's fact vs. inaccurate assertion.


And if GM thinks losing folks like me is a safe bet, that's their right to take. My guess is they will come to the same conclusion Tesla did and add CarPlay / Android Auto back to their cars eventually. If not, and sales do just fine, they will go on their merry way and make folks like you happy.

 

[martinjlm]

Nothing ridiculous about something that comes up quite often for me.

I research places I may want to eat on my phone all the time. And they sit in my recents list when I want to recall them later. All of this prior research is invisible to your car.

Your assertion is that your car can do EVERYTHING I can do with CarPlay. You've told me this several times. And that is completely inaccurate. I'm just giving you some of the many examples of why that statement is blatantly false.

Which has been my point from the beginning.

I do not have particularly special needs here. This is quite common behavior. Which is why the majority of people insist on CarPlay / Android Auto.

Yes, your GM car is probably great. It suits the needs of GM just fine. It suits your needs just fine.

It would not suit my needs just fine. That's my only point. This is not an "agree to disagree". It's fact vs. inaccurate assertion.


And if GM thinks losing folks like me is a safe bet, that's their right to take. My guess is they will come to the same conclusion Tesla did and add CarPlay / Android Auto back to their cars eventually. If not, and sales do just fine, they will go on their merry way and make folks like you happy.

Please point to this assertion. You gave a very specific example of not being able to transition what you are listening to in your headphones to the car without CarPlay or AA. I gave you very specific examples of how I've been doing that with GM's system for two years. That does NOT constitute everything. I specifically said I don't know about audio books because I don't do audio books. I also said I don't know about the specific podcast app you use because I've never even heard of it. You added use cases..I responded to those use cases. So PLEASE show me where I said EVERYTHING. I'll stay silent on the issue until then.

 

[DeaneG]

...I research places I may want to eat on my phone all the time. And they sit in my recents list when I want to recall them later. All of this prior research is invisible to your car...

We do this very frequently, it's exactly our use case.

If you are logged into Google Maps on your phone, and are logged into the same account in (native) Google Maps in your car, your car's "recents" list already includes what you've looked at on your phone. It is cloud-synced in seconds.

There's no need to send a destination from phone to car. If you want to send a complex route to the car, that's one click on the phone before you stand up to leave. Or you can build the route again in the car from the recents list.

 

[tmichael]

Boys will be boys…

I absolutely see my phone as my own ecosystem. It is truly wild to move from one car to another and have the icons in the same place, your favorites the same (even though you just changed them a couple minutes ago), my map set to to dark mode, my contacts up to date and the ability to send emails. Maybe the next version of proprietary apps in non-CarPlay cars will transfer the preferences and data of your phone settings automatically into their in-car apps; but, until then, CarPlay is the best solution for me.

Car companies that want to forego CarPlay, however, are going to have to offer a “robust” library of apps to compete.

I love competition - it’s the basis for capitalism and economic freedom!

 

[DeaneG]

...Car companies that want to forego CarPlay, however, are going to have to offer a “robust” library of apps to compete.

The glitch is that Apple would have to write Maps and Messages apps for AAOS. They could've written them for Android OS years ago, but have chosen not to. It seems unlikely to me that they'll ever do so for AAOS. I imagine that Apple made their Music app available on AAOS because it is a direct source of subscription revenue, unlike Maps and Messages.

 

[joec]

We do this very frequently, it's exactly our use case.

If you are logged into Google Maps on your phone, and are logged into the same account in (native) Google Maps in your car, your car's "recents" list already includes what you've looked at on your phone. It is cloud-synced in seconds.

There's no need to send a destination from phone to car. If you want to send a complex route to the car, that's one click on the phone before you stand up to leave. Or you can build the route again in the car from the recents list.

So now I have to use certain apps in order to have them work in my car?

I’ve already chosen my preferred apps on my phone. And I already have access to them in my car. I’m just not interested in disrupting my computer ecosystem in order to cater to decisions my car manufacturer made. I’d much rather just buy a different car.

 

[joec]

Please point to this assertion. You gave a very specific example of not being able to transition what you are listening to in your headphones to the car without CarPlay or AA. I gave you very specific examples of how I've been doing that with GM's system for two years. That does NOT constitute everything. I specifically said I don't know about audio books because I don't do audio books. I also said I don't know about the specific podcast app you use because I've never even heard of it. You added use cases..I responded to those use cases. So PLEASE show me where I said EVERYTHING. I'll stay silent on the issue until then.

What if I told you my Equinox EV did exactly the same thing? And it famously does not have Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.

This was in response to me saying I used a third-party podcast player along with different music and audio apps.

You didn’t bother asking which podcast app or which music app. You just insisted your car did “exactly” the same thing.

So I pointed out several other things. And you blew them off as things you don’t need, or things that were “ridiculous.”

Your use case is clearly different than mine, and many others. And while you prefer your GM system, it’s not going to work for what I do, no matter how much you want to demonstrate that GM was “right” to offer me less than I currently have and can easily get from many other manufacturers.

I had a Tesla a few years ago. It had Apple Music. The experience sucked. I’m sure GM has a better version, but it’s not going to be better than just playing what I’ve already downloaded and organized on my phone.

That’s all I’m saying. Apple has the advantage here, because I’ve already set up my content exactly how I want it, and they are simply providing a seamless portal to it. If I change music or audiobook apps, I don’t have to worry whether my car has a built in app that can also run it.

If I buy a different car, I don’t need to worry about whether that car will have all the apps I used in my old car. And I don’t have to learn where all the buttons are again.

Same would be true if I had an Android phone / Android Auto.

A native car system provides less functionality and less convenience, any way you slice it. And that’s fine if you don’t need the many things I’ve pointed out. But I do. And I’m far from in the minority on this.

We can agree to disagree that GM made the right call here. Time will bear that out.

But the GM system will not meet my needs. That’s all I’m trying to say.

 

[martinjlm]

joec said:

When I’m walking to my car, listening with headphones to a podcast with my third-party podcast app, and I take out my headphones and sit in my Air, my podcast continues exactly where I left off. The meeting I am driving to is already up on my navigation.

That’s simply NEVER going to be possible without CarPlay / Android auto.

This can be interpreted as it is not possible to go from headphones to vehicle while listening to podcast UNLESS you have CarPlay. It seems like a rather absolute statement.

martinjlm said:
What if I told you my Equinox EV did exactly the same thing? And it famously does not have Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. I interpret this as saying 'here's an example of a vehicle without CarPlay or Android Auto doing exactly what joec said could not be done without CarPlay or Android Auto. What it DOES NOT say is that GM system does EVERYTHING CarPlay or Android Auto do.

Neither of us stated what apps were at issue.
joec said:

No it doesn’t. There’s no way it will resume the podcast or music I was just playing exactly where I just left off on my phone. I must be honest, I found it rather off-putting and patronizing that you are actually telling me that I haven't been doing what I've been doing for two years. That's like you telling me I didn't have steak for dinner when I know full well I did and you have zero information to back up your claim that I didn't, while I have the experience of...well...actually doing it. Please note...NEITHER of us have mentioned specific podcast apps at this point.

martinjlm said:
I did it everyday for two years. Just turned the car in a couple weeks ago. Apple podcast, Amazon Music (including podcasts), Apple Music. It actually was a pain in the ass sometimes because I'd be outside mowing the lawn and get too close to the car and whatever I was listening to would switch from my headphones to the car speakers.

There it is...The mention of specific apps that allow this to work in the GM Google System without CarPlay or AA. As opposed to it being absolutely impossible per joec.

joec said:
You can’t offer me a way to do what I’ve already described several times here on the Equinox, because it’s not possible. Again, telling me definitively and absolutely that what I have actually been doing is not possible.

So, explain to me how you play a podcast from the app Castro from the exact point where you left off on your phone before you entered the car. And then switched over to the album you were half way through yesterday in a music app. And then when that finishes, continuing to the audiobook you were listening to on the Books app, again picking up at the exact chapter and sentence you stopped that morning.

All without touching your phone. And all updating your phone so it will know where you left off on all three when you get back home.

Go.
So at this point joec specifies that the podcast app is Castro and that there are also issues with switching from podcast to music to audio books.

martinjlm said:

• I can explain to you how I wake up listening to Serialously podcasts on Apple Podcasts or Dateline on Amazon Music and have it seamlessly transition to my car system as I open the door. I don't know what Castro is so maybe you're right about that specific app.
• I can use the voice command activated from the steering wheel in the Equinox EV to switch from the podcast to whatever I was last listening to on Apple Music
• I don't do audio books.

I interpret this as saying I am not familiar with the app you use (Castro) so maybe the GM system doesn't work with that app. It also means that I have no idea if or how it works with audio books since I don't use those. This is a far cry from your accusation that I asserted that it "does EVERYTHING that CP and AA does". You still haven't found where I've said that.

Because I didn't.

 

[dbsb3233]

I've been out of town for a week. Just drove the Gravity for the first time with 3.5.1. LOVE having AA now. I didn't even have to set it up. It was already set up on my phone from our Macan. Drove to the dentist (no AA) but when I got back in the car to leave from there, it just popped up on it's own. Nice looking layout too.

It's not as good as it was on the big portrait screen in my old Mach-E, but it's still good. A portrait screen is just so much better for nav because you get to see more of what's ahead of you. It has to be squeezed down on a smaller screen, especially one that's not very tall. What's far left and far right is mostly wasted space on the map. What matters is what's forward. But even with that, it's great to have AA and all the great map/nav/voice control it comes with.

Disappointing it's not fully integrated to show SOC% on arrival, but that was an expected omission (unfortunately).