Submitted 5 months ago by L4s@lemmy.world [bot] to technology@lemmy.world
GM Says It’s Ditching Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for Your Safety::undefined
Good thing 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.
Android Auto / Car Play Nav systems are the best though. Although the stock one has a HUD on mine.
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.
Tbh I was already no longer considering them. My previous car was GM and got junked before 10 years were up. Now I’m driving a Nissan still going strong, haven’t even had any major problem yet (knock on wood). By year 7, the GM had a replacement engine, clutch and starter. And I was living with the fuel gauge not resetting to zero properly when it started so having no idea how much fuel was in the tank until the low fuel light came on.
This experience has been so much better that it will take a lot to get me to consider an American brand over a Japanese one.
One of many reasons I will never consider a new car. My old one has an aftermarket Android stereo that blows all the OEM ones out of the water, and it needs zero internet access. All I need is Spotify, AntennaPod and Magic Earth.
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.
Yes, let’s trust a corporate that’s doing things for our safety out of the kindness of their heart.
Like Google
Yes but also Google provided useful software and services in exchange for your data and OEMs give you nothing but a shit infotainment system.
Google ~likes to exploit~ you too
it doesnt really matter why they do it as long as it increases security imho
maybe they do it to sell more cars because their cars are deemed safer than competitors? so what? less people dying and getting injured is a good thing
There’s no way a real human being older than 12 actually believes the things you just typed.
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.
Also, what will that look like 10 years from now when “popular app of 2024” is dead and gone, and new thing has no reason to build an app for a 10 year old car. Theres a reason why people like these mirroring systems to much, let the device that is likely to be replaced every 2 or so years and get regular updates handle the software.
I said it above, but it’s worth repeating that they’re doing the exact same thing that TV manufacturers do with their shitty stores filled with outdated apps versus regularly updated third-party solutions like Roku and Firestick. Shit like this means developers have to spread themselves thin to maintain multiple different versions rather than focusing on one, which usually results in the niche versions getting neglected or quickly slapped together.
They’ll probably just form android auto or something and roll their own. So you can still probably use android apps.
I would be surprised if the tablet itself isn’t already running Android. It has to run something, and it definitely isn’t iOS.
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
I recently saw a 94 corolla with like 2400 miles on it while car shopping online. I guess it just got bought, parked, and forgotten about. It was in spectacular condition.
It was also $26,000.
I have a 2019 car, manual transmission, knobs and switches for climate and heated seats, and a touch screen for carplay. It’s the best.
I love the ones that pop up as soon as you start driving that say “keep your eyes on the road!” 🤦♂️
My 07 Accord is all old school. I installed a bt adapter and I’m happy as fuck.
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.
There really needs to be a standardised, open, screen mirroring and/or audio/mic passover 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.
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.
Imagine if we had a functioning Congress that could respond to these (and other) new tech advances with real standards that move technology forward safely and responsibly.
What a world we could have.
As if I needed another reason to not buy a GM.
I don’t want to even rent a car without CarPlay. Good luck with that GM.
there is a strong demographic of old timers and newaudiophiles which refuse to use Bluetooth
CarPlay exists fine with knobs and switches. It’s just a solid integration for playing audio and having a solid GPS view with Apple Maps/Google Maps/Waze.
Some are better than others. You can control CarPlay without touching the screen in Mazdas for example.
Do do I, but those two things are not mutually exclusive
I don’t think you’re using the word “strong” correctly.
Anyway, all you have to do is just NOT plug your phone onto the car.
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.
Sounds more like an excuse to double down on their own “infotainment” development.
I thought ford had a garbage interface until I drove a gm. They’re about to officially be an old fart car only. No one below 40 will buy a car without apple or android interfaces.
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.
safety
Lol
They’re going to sell a self-developed product at some monthly premium, for sure.
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.
That would be highly not recommended.
The Car Radios these days are so integral to the functionality - you’re likely to brick your car.
Makes me miss the days of “plug n play” radios like give me a slot connected to speakers for my stuff, don’t connect it to the car unless it’s to the OBD2 port and shows me diagnostics of everything while I’m driving
Glad Apple and Google are getting the boot, but you can be certain the best interests of the consumer were not part of the consideration.
As if i would buy an American car, anyway.
Just put an aux port or a tape deck in. I’ll be okay.
Or just an fm radio & a Bluetooth FM transmitter
Great. Now we have nanny companies?
I’ll spend my money accordingly.
It’s not actually for security - 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”.
The security they are referring to is their financial security.
Interesting… 🍿
This is an deal breaker. I usually buy GM but now it looks like Ford now
The systems are also far from perfect. The amount of times I got frustrated with voice to text being wrong, repeatedly, or lack of options or voice search or something of the like in Spotify or something is frustrating and not useful. When it works it works and it’s great but there are many times it doesn’t. All systems are far from perfect still.
Well, tech companies keep improving their products, car manufacturers are known to forget about any product they sold unless they are forced into a recall.
Okay… So they frustrated you, not ideal. But we’re talking about phone mirroring even being available on GMC vehicles. Them removing even the option is anti-consumer and their justification is laughable…
Drusenija@lemmy.world 5 months ago
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.
GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org 5 months ago
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. 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.
phx@lemmy.ca 5 months ago
Yup. Back to charging users for the “nav package” and subscriptions for updates. No more pesky Google Maps with their constant-updated content
HaoBianTai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 months ago
“Consumer habits.” What does that even mean in the context of a car? If we are talking about CarPlay/AA and not a replacement of the underlying automotive OS, it’s literally just a phone. Apple and Google can track what their users do with their phones. They can’t see how a user interacts with the car, beyond maybe inferring driving habits from speed and location?
GM is full of shit, there’s no need for them to be privy to how I use my phone, I already get enough of that shit from Apple.
CmdrShepard@lemmy.one 5 months ago
…mozilla.org/…/its-official-cars-are-the-worst-pr…
Mozilla investigated the type of stuff car manufacturers collect, including things like “genetic information” and “sexual activity.” GM just wants greater access to these types of things since they can’t seem to build cars that people want, they have to resort to dystopia means such as this.
winterayars@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
Yes of course GM only has its customers’ data’s best interests at heart i’m sure…