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Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

theturnsignalblog.com

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Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#311

Post by seer »

arcticfox wrote: post #303
lokar wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you not used maps via CarPlay?

I think CarPlay is kind of stupid because the ONLY apps that make any sense are audio and maps. Both of which don’t need much variety… Google Maps, plus a handful of audio apps, and the infotainment system is complete.

Hmm waze is hugely popular where I come from, because of all the police speed traps it crowdsources. And I’ve not seen that as part of an official infotainment system like ever.

And to be fair I prefer waze, not just because it makes driving simpler, but the community feeling you get by marking stopped cars or other obstructions on the road for others to pay attention to.

Unless automakers organize and come together to build a common os/ui layer, I don’t see apps like that ever being present in official infotainment systems.

And audio book apps change all the time too - local variants with local libraries, language learning apps etc. There is quite the variety of stuff you could do in a car.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#312

Post by shiroiushi »

the_snooze wrote: post #80
com2kid wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heck simple bluetooth audio playback has degraded year over year in my car. After an android update a few years back I don't get to see the track name any more, pause/play sort of works, and thankfully audio still comes through and I can go to the previous/next track. Without constant updates, software that is part a a larger ecosystem will eventually breakdown.

>Without constant updates, software that is part a a larger ecosystem will eventually breakdown. This is why we should be so skeptical of tight software integration with durable hardware (e.g., cars and appliances with operational lifespans 10+ years easily). Software has a pretty short half-life, especially software that integrates with internet services; vulnerabilities get discovered in third-party components and…

>so the most sustainable design is one where the software is easily seperable and replaceable from the core durable item.

No, the most realistically sustainable design is one where the software is built into the durable item and not connected to the internet, so it never changes and doesn't need to worry about security issues. You can keep using the thing until it fails from mechanical issues and can't be easily repaired.

If it's internet-connected for some reason, then the software should be open-source so interested parties can take over maintenance after the OEM decides they don't want to bother any more. However, I don't consider this "realistic": how many manufacturers are going to do this in reality? Almost none: they want you to buy a replacement device.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#313

Post by bonestamp2 »

1970-01-01 wrote: post #160
yabones wrote: post #34

There's an interesting gap when discussing carplay/aa. Cars from the 90s up until about 2013 can be easily fitted with a $500 head unit upgrade, and support carplay quite well. With the right tools, it can be done in about two hours right in your driveway. Cars from 2018 and up pretty universally support carplay, and it's generally quite well integrated into the car's infotainment system. But, between 2013 and 2017,…

People like to complain about touch screens and lack of buttons, but the loss of the double DIN slot is a much worse loss. It more or less forces you to buy a new car to get satellite navigation updates or properly functioning Bluetooth.

Agreed. These days you can get a double DIN carplay/aa deck with a slot load DVD player for under $80 USD. That is absolutely shocking. I mean, we couldn't even get a 5" slot load CD drive for our computers for that kind of money and these things have a 5" screen on them too!

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#314

Post by [deleted] »

lanthade wrote: post #179

It’s amusing when the author says “when the phone crashes.” My 2022 Subaru Outback head unit frequently crashes or is really unresponsive. My iPhone never crashes. Car infotainment systems are garbage. I’d never buy a car without CarPlay. It’s maybe the #1 measure I have for vehicle quality when I rent on vacation.

[deleted]

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#315

Post by saganus »

sircastor wrote: post #213
lanthade wrote: post #179

It’s amusing when the author says “when the phone crashes.” My 2022 Subaru Outback head unit frequently crashes or is really unresponsive. My iPhone never crashes. Car infotainment systems are garbage. I’d never buy a car without CarPlay. It’s maybe the #1 measure I have for vehicle quality when I rent on vacation.

CarPlay is still wholly dependent on the car’s infotainment stack. If your Suburu’s system is crashing, CarPlay can’t insulate you from that.

In my case, I own a VW SUV and to my surprise when I go nearby a particular antenna, if I have my Android phone connected it crashes the whole infotainment system, and I can't do anything with it unless I turn the car off for several minutes, which is obviously impossible if I'm going somewhere.

However my wife has an iPhone and although going next to the same antenna does crash the system as well, it does so very briefly and just resets the connection or something, and as soon as we go out of range it starts working again.

So it does look like there's some difference between CarPlay and Android Auto even when using the same exact car with both.

No idea why this happens and I can only assume the antenna is transmitting in a frequency that interferes with the wifi connection (it does not require a cable like older VW cars) which triggers a bug in the Android's stack, but Apple's stack seems more resilient somehow.

I would love to know if anyone else has had the same experience because I find it quite baffling and very annoying when I forget to disconnect my phone when going through that antenna.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#316

Post by hollandheese »

ajross wrote: post #275
cjensen wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't matter because CarPlay and AA allow you to bring whatever apps you want to with you. If you listen to podcasts or books on your phone, you can continue them from the CarPlay/AA interface next time you drive. CarPlay and Android Auto give you the choice of your own app and full integration with the rest of your listening life.

That's a statement about audio playing only though. To first approximation the core job of a car infotainment product is map and navigation display. Everything else is noise.

People listen to audio in their cars a lot more than they use navigation.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#317

Post by _flux »

arcticfox wrote: post #303
lokar wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you not used maps via CarPlay?

I think CarPlay is kind of stupid because the ONLY apps that make any sense are audio and maps. Both of which don’t need much variety… Google Maps, plus a handful of audio apps, and the infotainment system is complete.

I imagine a lot of companies would like to integrate their apps to cars. Think the police, ambulances, taxis/Uber, etc. Currently they just solve the problem by mounting more devices to the car.

And even if you want to use only audio and maps, then there are still a selection of audio streaming providers and map providers around.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#318

Post by bonestamp2 »

kelnos wrote: post #102

It's pretty funny to me to see an Apple user complaining about lack of interop with other ecosystems. You've chosen your walled garden; now it's time to realize you're stuck in it. The author seems to blame everyone but Apple for this, though. Apparently it's Google's fault that his preferred podcast app isn't available on Android. What about the app developer, who has decided not to support Android? And it's the aut…

> You've chosen your walled garden; now it's time to realize you're stuck in it.

Yes and no. Android Automotive supports android apps, but GM's implementation (for example) still locks out android phones from using Android Auto. Yes, you can install the same apps, but the nice thing about hooking up your phone is that you're maintaining all of your apps, data, and state in one place instead of two and it's inherently different for as many different drivers as there are phones.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#319

Post by kstrauser »

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.…

That’s like arguing for a smart TV instead of a dumb TV plus a smart set top box. I’d vastly rather my car’s system be a dumb display for my upgradable phone. If Google stopped making Maps, your idea would mean my car could no longer navigate. With CarPlay or Android Auto, you can just switch to a different map app.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#320

Post by scarface_74 »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #187
lanthade wrote: post #179

It’s amusing when the author says “when the phone crashes.” My 2022 Subaru Outback head unit frequently crashes or is really unresponsive. My iPhone never crashes. Car infotainment systems are garbage. I’d never buy a car without CarPlay. It’s maybe the #1 measure I have for vehicle quality when I rent on vacation.

FWIW Teslas infotainment works better than CarPlay

Unless I want to use my favorite podcast app - Overcast - or use my radio station’s CarPlay app.
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