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Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

theturnsignalblog.com

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Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#141

Post by RockRobotRock »

>Competition aside, from Apple's perspective, CarPlay is also not ideal in its current form. For a company that values control over the user experience, it's an eyesore to see their product embedded inside another product.

Why can't we let the car deal with car-related functions and Apple deal with playing podcasts and showing maps? It seems like the best of both worlds to me. Apple is solving a problem that doesn't need solving.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Apple could design a better interface than car manufacturers, but is it really worth the hassle?

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#142

Post by spike021 »

hedgehog wrote: post #96
spike021 wrote: post #59

A huge benefit to CarPlay for me is I can travel someplace like Japan, get a car with a CarPlay-supported head unit, and immediately I have Google or Apple Maps available straight off the bat in English with all my saved locations like hotels or places that are bookmarked. Nothing to set up or anything. The only downside I've experienced with it in Japan is the GPS can be wonky in tunnels whereas the car's built-in G…

The car probably has odometry and inertial sensors to do position updates while GPS is unavailable. That's actually how some of the original car nav systems worked even pre-GPS in the 80s.

That makes sense. I would've thought the accelerometer/gyro in the phone could be used similarly but I'm probably wrong.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#143

Post by asadotzler »

codexb wrote: post #94
roughly wrote: post #18

Something that stuck out to me in the article: > There used to be a big difference in driving characteristics and technology between premium and budget brands. Compared to a Volkswagen, a BMW used to have a more powerful engine, better handling, and comfort features like seat-heating and cruise control. However, a Volkswagen Golf now has similar tech as a BMW and with the transition to EVs, drivetrains and handling w…

What happened is there are no real "budget" cars anymore. Mandatory safety, engine, emission, backup cameras (yes, they're mandatory) has steadily driven the base price of a car so high that the added cost of creature comforts doesn't actually increase the price of a car that much relative to the total price. Why would someone spend spend $40k on a bare bones car when they could get a well-equipped car for $45k? That…

Tell us you haven't been in a contemporary Corolla without telling us you haven't been in a Corolla recently.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#144

Post by lobochrome »

makeitdouble wrote: post #131
ryandrake wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't Japanese people have smartphones or tablets with navigation on them that they can use? I'd rather cars just have a place I can mount my own device, rather than include any kind of screen whatsoever with crappy un-updated, un-maintained software.

Phone navigation apps are surprisingly bad in Japan (Google ones in particular). Not unusable, but the in-car GPS is more competitive than in other markets IMHO. Also with an aging population a phone screen is just too small for many. BTW, to parent's point VW has been trying different approaches with a top mounted GPS/infotainment unit that can be omitted on cheaper trims.

That's not true. Google Maps, in particular, has by far the best route guidance. It used to be different - but not anymore. Most in-car systems don't even attempt to route the last 300m here because the detailed one-way street narrow layout of tiny streets isn't in their mapping data, or their algorithms are too weak. Google has mostly no problem with that.

Entering Japanese addresses IS tricky, though; here, custom-built Japanese solutions outshine. There are (mainly) no street names; instead, you specify your location by filtering down from Prefecture (Tokyo), City (Ota-ku), Commune (Kugahara), District (1-Chome), Block (26), House Number (1).

Japanese systems allow you to enter it this way - with Google (or, even worse, Apple Maps), it's a bit hacky. You would specify it as Kugahara 1-26-1 and hope for the best.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#145

Post by hypothesis »

massysett wrote: post #127
kenjackson wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I so much prefer hooking up my phone, rather than having to authenticate every device I own to all the services I want to use. And given that most of the services that I want to use in the car are also services on my phone, e.g., GPS maps, music, podcasts -- why would I want to have to use a whole new app for this purpose? I love that when I search for something with Google Maps it knows, typically in a letter or two…

You make a great case for why your car should have Google Maps built in. That wouldn’t require you to hook your phone to the car. Having to hook the phone to the car is s giant leap backward. We’ve got Gmail: email from any device. We don’t say: My phone has all my email, I hook it up anytime I want to read mail, if the battery is dead or I forgot my phone, I’m screwed. No, we use Gmail from a tablet, phone, PC, etc.…

> as if it’s impossible to build Google Maps into a $30000 car

I’m dreading the day when they start shipping Chromium with your car and thus force you to jump through 0-day hoops.

Is Tesla basically this? Do they still update old models?

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#146

Post by asadotzler »

cherioo wrote: post #140
codexb wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happened is there are no real "budget" cars anymore. Mandatory safety, engine, emission, backup cameras (yes, they're mandatory) has steadily driven the base price of a car so high that the added cost of creature comforts doesn't actually increase the price of a car that much relative to the total price. Why would someone spend spend $40k on a bare bones car when they could get a well-equipped car for $45k? That…

But why is that somebody spending even 40k on a barebone car? How is it that BYD and a bunch of chinese manufacturers able to produce ~10k car but nobody else?

That same BYD is $30-40K in Australia. Governments subsidize. The US will subsidize around $7-10K of your US made EV. China does that too.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#147

Post by oneplane »

onethought wrote: post #139
makeitdouble wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Phone navigation apps are surprisingly bad in Japan (Google ones in particular). Not unusable, but the in-car GPS is more competitive than in other markets IMHO. Also with an aging population a phone screen is just too small for many. BTW, to parent's point VW has been trying different approaches with a top mounted GPS/infotainment unit that can be omitted on cheaper trims.

Aging population prefers low quality tiny screens with awkward interfaces?

They prefer something they are already familiar with.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#148

Post by luuurker »

> This is a little unfair because Castro is a small, iOS-only app. [...] But it does mean that if I want to listen to podcasts in these cars, I have to change my podcast app to one available in the Play Store.

That's the downside of choosing apps that are not cross platform. Don't do that if you want to have the freedom to use different systems.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#149

Post by ScoobleDoodle »

massysett wrote: post #101

I disagree with this love of hooking my $1000 phone to my $30000 car. Everywhere else in my house, I try to make gadgets independent of one another. I remember when a printer worked only when it was hooked to a PC to be its server. That was bad. It’s much better for my printer to hook to the network directly. Some thermostats require a phone to program them. That’s bad. The thermostat should have full functionality a…

If I were to place a bet, I would bet on car manufacturers abandoning updates to the vehicle software far earlier than I desire, rather than maintaining it appropriately. I’d also guess ads or other unwanted intrusions will be coupled with it.

I’d rather connect my phone, for which I’ll update the hardware 4+ times over the time I own my car, and get the corresponding OS and software updates yearly or more frequently. Send that data to the car’s reliable and dumb screen(s) from my chosen phone and I’m in control and happier for it.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#150

Post by devmor »

mannyv wrote: post #4

CarPlay mostly works, and although it has issues it's definitely user-focused. CarPlay doesn't prevent car makers from tracking vehicle activity. In the end, consumers don't give a shit about the in-vehicle infotainment. It sucks, or it's AA/CarPlay. The first generation of iDrive showed that rich people people will buy cars in spite of the in-car stuff. In fact, most car infotainment sucks, yet people still buy cars…

>In the end, consumers don't give a shit about the in-vehicle infotainment. It sucks, or it's AA/CarPlay.

My ideal "infotainment" is a button that lets me pair bluetooth and volume/skip controls on my steering wheel. I have a phone mount, like almost everyone does. I don't need a display on my dashboard.

AA/CarPlay (and everything else) are genuinely just distracting annoyances that take up space. Especially in newer cars where the screens are for some reason, no longer matte and often angled upwards so that they just blast reflected sun into your eyes.

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