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GM’s decision to ditch Apple CarPlay, Android Auto sparks backlash

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Re: GM’s decision to ditch Apple CarPlay, Android Auto sparks backlash

#351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a little silly, but it avoids the complexity of the car needing to describe every feature to CarPlay. It’s very hard to create an abstraction that allows for any capability, setting, message to be displayed and interacted with. For instance, some 4x4’s have 2D inclinometers. Modern trucks have all sorts of crazy optimizations for towing. Requiring CarPlay to understand and adopt new car-specific features gets cr…

Integration for AC, radio, backup cameras, etc is coming this year.

Only a curated subset of well-defined features, and not to existing carplay installations.

Any car with a feature that is not part of the carplay2 spec will need to find a way to expose UI to the user outside of carplay.

Re: GM’s decision to ditch Apple CarPlay, Android Auto sparks backlash

#352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So entirely different experience for me. So 5 years ago I travel to California. Out of all the cars I picked a crappy GM car when there were better cars to pick from the rental lot, why, because I had my iPhone with navigation. Every time I rented cars since I would always make sure it had apple CarPlay so I could drive any with a familiar experience. Now today, my car has wireless CarPlay. My experience goes like th…

I am not sure about CarPlay, but Android Auto is able to give directions via HUD.

Depends on the car. For instance some BMWs will offer the hud now, but not all. And for the maps in the dials that’s only Apple Maps and no other nav software. So yeah it’s not perfect at all, but I’ll still take this over a cars standard navigation system

Re: GM’s decision to ditch Apple CarPlay, Android Auto sparks backlash

#353

Anyone else much prefer just mounting your phone on the dash, instead of a separate carplay system? Bonus points if the mount has wireless charging. This way there’s no new UI to learn, and you never are stuck using a subpar carplay-variant UI (looking at you, Gaia)

Nope, not here. My phone has a minuscule 6.1" screen, but if you have a regular sized phone, mounting the phone might work.

I’m rocking a 4.7” screen but still have no problems with size. I prefer a small screen with just the critical information right in my prime field of view versus a large screen with a bunch of junk on it that I have to turn my head to look at.

Re: GM’s decision to ditch Apple CarPlay, Android Auto sparks backlash

#354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

10-15 seconds is an eternity. I can switch the bluetooth phone connected in a 10 year old car in 10-15 seconds.

10-15 seconds is an eternity. I can switch mine in about 1-2 seconds. Any reason why you seem to be slow?

Because it's an old Kia and there's three menus to click thorough and one confirmation screen. I'd guess 15 is a little long, but on average it takes at least 10 seconds.

Re: GM’s decision to ditch Apple CarPlay, Android Auto sparks backlash

#355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You actually like the Car Play texting implementation? Doesn't it refuse to show the text message content on screen and prohibit keyboard entry?

Yes. While you’re driving it is voice only. That is a safety feature. I don’t want to do keyboard entry!

I suppose it’s fine if you don’t mind the voice control. I hate it so I prefer to not text and just drive. When conditions permit I dedicate my full focus to the phone/messaging.

Re: GM’s decision to ditch Apple CarPlay, Android Auto sparks backlash

#356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a little silly, but it avoids the complexity of the car needing to describe every feature to CarPlay. It’s very hard to create an abstraction that allows for any capability, setting, message to be displayed and interacted with. For instance, some 4x4’s have 2D inclinometers. Modern trucks have all sorts of crazy optimizations for towing. Requiring CarPlay to understand and adopt new car-specific features gets cr…

Well actually ... just make an app that talks to some API in the car's system. You'll of course have to do it for both phone OSes, but it seems quite doable.

You don't want a bunch of different car API system, you'd have to deal with so many issues like large (ongoing) investment and support from Apple and Google. Maybe you could get support for some things like AC control via Matter but car manufacturers would struggle to get proprietary features supported.

You just need car specific app icons to appear inside of the Apple and Google UIs. Since Cars reach EOL you don't want infotainment system to have to depend on iOS or Android SDKs/APIs since those will change and the cars will stop getting updates. You want a very loose coupling between the car and the mobile device.

To me that means progressive web apps (PWA). All it needs is some type of registry/discovery mechanism (that isn't Cloud based). You make the connection between your car and mobile device, the local app registry is scanned and the PWAs are installed.

Re: GM’s decision to ditch Apple CarPlay, Android Auto sparks backlash

#357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It actually played out differently than I thought. I thought that CarPlay and Android Auto would not be backward compatible with older versions, forcing you to upgrade your car along with your phone. I'm surprised it didn't work that way. I still don't understand why.

Why wouldn’t it? I can use AirPlay from a first gen iPad from 2010 with a Roku stick sold in 2022. I can also print from an old iPad to a brand new AirPrint compatible printer.

Because everybody loves planned obsolescence now. It's surprising when it's missing.

Re: GM’s decision to ditch Apple CarPlay, Android Auto sparks backlash

#358
post #226

Ideally, my car would look like a BT speaker, possibly with a microphone and some controls, to the phone. I don't want a dedicated satnav, I don't want an elaborate in-car entertainment system. The reason is twofold. The first is that all of these in-car systems are pretty dated even after a couple of years. The second is that they tend to be fairly low quality to begin with. The system in my car that integrates with…

There’s a solution for every case, there are aftermarket adapters that allow you to connect a standard audio system that can be replaced later on if needed be. As for the “simple integration” you cannot go simpler than bluetooth audio, it’s basically a wirelless aux input.

Re: GM’s decision to ditch Apple CarPlay, Android Auto sparks backlash

#359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've mentioned it before on here, but the Citroen Oli is a cheap EV (prototype) car that is a) cute as a button, and b) sacrifices a lot of fluff that we have misled ourselves into thinking are requirements. I'm basically the opposite of its target market, but really interested in it. One of the things that it has done (that your post reminded me of) is that it eliminated the onboard stereo. There is a dock for a pho…

I like this concept for the most part, but I would like the option for it to have built in speakers (and an amp). I'm fine to plug in my phone or pair it with the amp to provide sound. It looks like a pretty bare bones car, and I like that it doesn't have a screen at all. I suppose if it needs a UI for configuring vehicle settings, I guess this could be done using a phone over bluetooth or wifi. That's about the only…

The average lifespan of a smartphone is about 2.5 years, there are 20 year old cars driven daily. I hope you understand the problem here.

Re: GM’s decision to ditch Apple CarPlay, Android Auto sparks backlash

#360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

had an optional GPS add-on for thousands of dollars I guess it's for people who don't know better. Even a standalone GPS won't cost that much, and as a bonus, you can take it with you.

I live in Japan, and Apple and Google maps really don’t cut it here. I paid for a dedicated GPS unit in my car, and the benefits are: * Location on the map is represented far more accurately * Knows which way I am pointed and can give accurate directions as soon as I start navigation, while sometimes with my phone I need to move a bit for it to know which way I’m oriented * Works in tunnels * Tends to stick to main r…

Interesting. Which car it this?
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