Interesting read on some car manufacturers dropping CarPlay

[scal_air]

The article only mentions a few (GM; Tesla and Rivian don't support it) but will this expand to others or hopefully fold under consumer demand?

Car manufacturers are ditching CarPlay in 2026: Here's why - Engadget

CarPlay and Android Auto are the best way around poor infotainment systems in a car, but some manufacturers don't want you to use them anymore.

www.engadget.com

 

[joec]

GM has already folded.

 

[scal_air]

GM has already folded.

Wow that article was dated 8 days ago!

 

[Carbonzhp]

CarPlay is great to make a cheaper car better with minimum effort. Apple puts huge limitations on manufacturers for their implementation of CarPlay. I lean on CarPlay in my Air quite a bit to make up for shortcomings in the native infotainment, but in cars that satisfy everything well (good music control, proper trustworthy navigation) I don’t personally miss it being excluded. It’s not in our Rivian and I haven’t missed it one bit because the native software thoroughly answers everything I need, and frankly in a better way than CarPlay would even be allowed to do with its constraints.

 

[Bdr100]

Car Play made sense 5-10 years ago as car manufacturers were adding bigger screen infotainment but had limited software expertise to optimize them. Currently however, virtually no manufacturer wants to still be offering Car Play. Most car companies are improving their infotainment, learning that that data can be monetized and as they move towards EVs and increasing software defined hardware, prefer to keep their systems in-house. They are still offering Air Play either due to 1.) Their in-house software sucks - Austin Martin, 2.) They were pressured by buyers and were worried about loosing sales - GM, or 3.) Both software and worried about loosing sales - Lucid.

As I have said in the past, Air Play/Android Autos days are numbered and will mostly disappear within 10 years.

 

[Miami_Lucid_Man]

I always thought CarPlay was a must until I tried out my wife's new Gemini-based Google interface in her new XC 90. That thing works so damn well. Best in car voice assistant I've ever seen. Maybe if Siri finally gets smarter (supposedly imminently) it will make things better on the CarPlay side.

 

[ke2]

Car Play made sense 5-10 years ago as car manufacturers were adding bigger screen infotainment but had limited software expertise to optimize them. Currently however, virtually no manufacturer wants to still be offering Car Play. Most car companies are improving their infotainment, learning that that data can be monetized and as they move towards EVs and increasing software defined hardware, prefer to keep their systems in-house. They are still offering Air Play either due to 1.) Their in-house software sucks - Austin Martin, 2.) They were pressured by buyers and were worried about loosing sales - GM, or 3.) Both software and worried about loosing sales - Lucid.

As I have said in the past, Air Play/Android Autos days are numbered and will mostly disappear within 10 years.

The above bolding is mine and a major reason I think car companies would be incentivized to go away from android auto/carplay. There is money to be made in the data that can be collected. Google is a 4 trillion company because of this exact reason (data collected about someone can be monetized)

 

[Leftlane]

I’ve never used CarPlay and I function perfectly fine without it in any of my cars. For my wife, it is a non-negotiable and she won’t even consider a car that doesn’t have it. She uses it 100% of the time.

 

[Macgreiner]

I didn't think I needed CarPlay until I used it. Give us options. Everyone wins.

 

[doubletwist]

Car Play made sense 5-10 years ago as car manufacturers were adding bigger screen infotainment but had limited software expertise to optimize them. Currently however, virtually no manufacturer wants to still be offering Car Play. Most car companies are improving their infotainment, learning that that data can be monetized and as they move towards EVs and increasing software defined hardware, prefer to keep their systems in-house. They are still offering Air Play either due to 1.) Their in-house software sucks - Austin Martin, 2.) They were pressured by buyers and were worried about loosing sales - GM, or 3.) Both software and worried about loosing sales - Lucid.

As I have said in the past, Air Play/Android Autos days are numbered and will mostly disappear within 10 years.

I hope you're wrong , unless carmakers start including a PROPER full app store that contains all the apps that are available via AA/CP - and even then I hope you're wrong because that doesn't solve the issue of having to log into god knows how many accounts and apps if you want/need to drive another car for awhile (eg
Loaner, rental on a trip, partner's/friend's car, etc).