When I get in the car, I set the map to my destination and then start playing music on Spotify. I could accomplish both on the vehicle’s built-in display, but I find it awkward, so I plug in my iPhone and use Apple’s CarPlay software instead.
Therefore, this week I have shown keen interest in General Motors appointing Mike Abbott, a former Apple executive, to head its software unit. He followed that of GM announcement which will discontinue the use of Apple CarPlay or Android Auto on some of its new EV models in North America, starting with the Chevrolet Blazer EV. Instead, drivers will be forced to rely on GM’s new dashboard display.
I’m certainly not the only one complaining about this prospect: Many people prefer their smartphone software to their vehicles’ built-in displays. As Benedetto Vigna, CEO of Ferrari, remarked to the FT The future of the car this week’s event, “It’s not easy for an auto company to become a technology company. . . We are used to the operating systems we have in our pockets”.
It’s hard enough to adjust to regular Apple iOS or Android updates, let alone deal with a different set of knocks, symbols and habits for the limited periods most of us spend driving. I’m not entirely sure how my car’s air conditioning works or what the wiper settings mean – save me from learning new tech for each make.
GM doesn’t claim independence from all software partners: It uses Google’s core technology for its new EV infotainment display and will include apps like Spotify and Google Maps. Drivers will also be able to connect their iPhones via Bluetooth to listen to music or make calls. But the days of Apple being able to stage a takeover of GM’s EV displays are dwindling.
I don’t entirely blame him for snubbing Apple. The tech company has flirted with producing its own self-driving vehicles for years: Tim Cook, its chief executive, spoke in 2015 to give drivers “an iPhone experience in their car,” but the project has so far come up short. Perhaps he has found that making cars is a difficult business, especially in the costly transition to electric vehicles.
Instead, Apple has become more brazen in its attempt to wring data and display space from automakers. Last year, it revealed an expanded version of CarPlay in iOS 16 that can be deeply integrated into the vehicle’s software, controlling not only music and navigation, but also heated seats and air conditioning. Apple’s widgets would spread across the dashboard display.
That would be fine by me, but I understand it might irritate automakers investing billions in electric vehicles, only to find Cook occupying the front seat. “We feel we need to have control over the experience,” Nick Festa, GM’s director of digital business, told me this week. GM, for example, will integrate its navigation data with Google’s to guide drivers to electric vehicle charging stations.
A few others have so far rejected Apple CarPlay (Tesla never has he supported it), but GM isn’t the only one wanting more control. Apple last year shown Mercedes-Benz among the brands “excited to bring this new vision of CarPlay to customers”, but also the automaker announced plans for its own infotainment system and software, again using Google technology.
Those investments go beyond tensions with Apple over infotainment screens. Automakers are used to building mechanical and electronic devices, but electric vehicles rely much more on software. Control everything from how fast cars can accelerate to how they maneuver, how often they need to be recharged and how comfortable their passengers are.
The software also offers the prospect of making money. When so many aspects of the connected car can be changed or updated with software updates, it’s only natural that automakers have a case of Apple envy. They also want to sell software and services on a platform they manage, connected to an electronic device they design and make—for the iPhone, read Chevy Blazer.
But not so fast. Apple is good at what it does: The fact that so many drivers use it on their displays is not just a matter of familiarity but design expertise. So if an automaker wants to ditch CarPlay, its new software has to work and look good, too. Few have yet overcome the hurdle and this is a competitive industry: if some do not work with Apple, others will.
Nor will it be easy to make the billions that industry hopes to sell new services. Customers are not used to buying cars and then being told they will have to pay a fee or subscription to have heated seats activated, or to increase acceleration. In theory, a software upgrade equals better hardware; in practice, it can feel like exploitation.
Meanwhile, the industry has other challenges ahead, like making its EVs more reliable and comfortable to drive — the invisible technology making the biggest difference. The free software fix that I really appreciated on my car was that it stopped the engine shutting down without warning. This, not blocking Apple CarPlay, is what I call progress.
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