GM says Apple and Android have access to a ton of data on consumer habits in their vehicles that those systems don't share with the auto manufacturer, so they're ditching those systems in favour of their own that gives them direct access to all that user data under the guise of a safety change.
this post was submitted on 13 Dec 2023
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And don't forget that GM is now in full control of which features become available in different models of car. No more pesky Apple or Google giving users new features for free; GM gets to plan the obsolescence now, and charge subscription fees for features and updates.
And they get to rake it in on both ends, charging their "partners" for access to the app ecosystem and prominent UI placement, the same way TV makers do (I have a dedicated IHeartRadio button on my TV remote, and I guarantee you it's not because any TV users ever asked for that). They might not be doing it yet, but it is the natural direction.
Of course they will still face competition from dashboard phone mounts, which I suspect a lot of users will prefer in the end.
Yup. Back to charging users for the "nav package" and subscriptions for updates. No more pesky Google Maps with their constant-updated content
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I’m ditching ever considering them for a vehicle purchase for my own sanity.
Fucking OEM infotainment systems are bullshit and I will never buy a car ever again that doesn’t support CarPlay and Android Auto.
It doesn't even really need that.
All we actually need is a Bluetooth receiver, maybe a FM radio for backup.
I would be 100% fine with that. If I want my car to have a screen, I'll stick my phone to the dashboard somewhere.
My current car has a regular double DIN head unit in it, which I can take out and replace at will (or just replace with a big 3D printed pocket for all I care). I am dreading ever having to purchase a newer car, because I know it's going to be wall-to-wall integrated proprietary electronic bullshit blaring in my face and nagging for subscriptions all the time and it'll be impossible to disable or remove.
I have a car with the bullshit.
The built-in Bluetooth is laggy, and this on what was a high end car at the time.
Glad I got it for less than half of new price.
People ask me why I have so many motorcycles. Lots of reasons, really.
But I think I just decided on a new one. All of my motorcycles have no bullshit. A full manual riding experience; one engine, two wheels, the road, you. End of list. Two of them are fancy enough that they include a clock. That's the full extent of rider distraction features.
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Good choice. We have a 2023 Suburban for work, robot didn’t seal our passenger door correctly, steering wheel misaligned from factory, they installed a broken door panel on the rear passenger second row door, electrical gremlins make the auto mirrors adjust randomly, backup system sees ghosts. Absolute embarrassing they ask $80,000 for this. We got it brand new with zero miles.
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This feels like something a C-suite came up with to carve out extra profit and had some bean counters crunch the numbers on, fluffed them up a bit and then had the company roll with it on his idea.
I’m usually disappointed by consumer apathy, but from everyone I talk to who has a car with a screen, if they have CarPlay/Android Auto they couldn’t do without it, and if they don’t have it it’s the biggest thing they wish they had.
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What they mean is that you have zero reason to pay GM $20 a month for their substandard, unsecure garbage navigation and cloud services, and that's not allowed.
“We are dropping carplay and android auto because mobile phones distract the driver”
But the dashboard looks like this
Yes, let's trust a corporate that's doing things for our safety out of the kindness of their heart.
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Lmao. Shortly followed by their own systems that are subscription based.
Even if they manage to get big players like Spotify to develop apps for them, a lot of people - at least on the Android side - have smaller, niche apps for audiobooks and podcasts that would never bother to port their apps to GM services. Heck, even Apple Music and YouTube Music wouldn't bother. I smell an upcoming BOGO deal on their overstocked dealerships, just before they get another bailout check.
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This is going to cripple them in the market. Removing features does nothing to make a vehicle more attractive to the average idiot. Maybe GM thinks they can get away with it because the demand for cars exceeds the supply right now, I don't know.
They are going back to the days of a $100 proprietary hdmi cable and annual maps subscription with ads for your own safety
They see how much money Google and Apple are making selling your data and want a bigger cut so they need to make it so they're the only source of data extraction then your data is more valuable.
As they mention in the article, tesla and rivian are doing quite well and both have opted not to integrate with phone mirroring options. So it's a gamble, but they may think they can get away with it. Like you say, the high demand may be giving them the confidence to try.
Tesla and Rivian are both newer electric-only manufacturers, though (unless there's something I don't know about Rivian). Their market is quite different from stodgy old GM's.
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They're probably still marketing to boomers, maybe an ok play in the short term, but that target audience is probably not going to prop them up forever
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As if I needed another reason to not buy a GM.
Currently, this a dealbreaker for me. As in I won't buy a vehicle that does this, or charges me a subscription fee for a built in feature like heated seats.
I don’t want to even rent a car without CarPlay. Good luck with that GM.
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There really needs to be a standardised open protocol rather than Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.
There's no reason why I shouldn't be able to use a non-Apple/Google app for my in-car infotainment. Apple and Google just want our data.
Let Android Auto and CarPlay be options in a competing market, rather than zero choice and just having to use whatever your phone provides.
There are aftermarket options to support screen mirroring over usb, so I think it is possible. Is anyone else putting in the work to compete with Google and Apple? I've been watching as Google ads integration to various cars - as an example they didn't show turn by turn directions on the screen behind the steering wheel a while ago, and added it on Honda at some point. These features take investment, and perhaps the OSS options aren't keeping up?
There needs to be a lot more to it than just screen monitoring, it needs to recognise touch inputs, high-fidelity, low-latency audio (both ways), and importantly the car needs to be able to send information back to the device (is the handbrake on, are the headlights on, etc). That requires integration from the carmaker.
Open source solutions at the moment cannot be used with in-car infotainment, because of that requirement that the car needs to send information to the device. I think there should be an open protocol for this that all cars implement.
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I just want to buy a 90's car without a stupid iPad bolted to the dashboard, an electronically actuated parking brake, or hundreds of worthless, permanently enabled nannies keeping me from doing what I want to with my own car and making repairs hundreds more expensive than they should be.
Imagine being able to buy a brand new 90s Corolla for 10k. That'd be nice
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Knowing GM they will lobby to ban Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
Tim Babbitt, GM's head of product for infotainment, gave MT a better explanation at a press event for the new Chevrolet Blazer EV, the flagship vehicle in the no CarPlay or Android Auto strategy (and our 2023 MotorTrend SUV of the Year winner). According to him, there's an important factor that didn't make it into the fact sheet: safety. Specifically, he cited driver distraction caused by cell phone usage behind the wheel.
How exactly will this disincentivize phone use? Wouldn't this encourage hands-on phone use instead of using a UI that limits interaction?
I feel like this is a solvable engineering problem.
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I have a GM vehicle I like. I already don't pay them for OnStar. I'm certainly not going to pay them to replace my phone. And then likely have to pay for cellular access for my car.
The only safe solution is a proprietary GM solution.
Has anyone jailbreaked one of these cars? Can you install your own OS on them? Seems like that should be doable.
Hyundai and Kia it is, then.
Their warranty isn't a sign that their cars are good, it is a ploy to make you think their cars are good.
Kinda middle of the pack overall, but they're our ahead of every American manufacturer, so there's that.
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Just put an aux port or a tape deck in. I'll be okay.
As if i would buy an American car, anyway.
Great. Now we have nanny companies?
I'll spend my money accordingly.
It's not actually for safety - it's because they want their own software to be the only option.
It's the same move Apple uses whenever they block something in the name of "security".
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