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GM Deprecating In-Car App Store for Models as Recent as 2020

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Re: GM Deprecating In-Car App Store for Models as Recent as 2020

#51

Post by TYPE_FASTER »

mdasen wrote: post #20
nneonneo wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am so glad that I insisted on buying a car with CarPlay five years ago. At the time a number of our options did not have CarPlay, but were otherwise quite solid cars. If I'd gone with any of them I'd likely be a lot less happy than I am now: given that I use CarPlay on literally every drive, it's probably the single most important feature to have. I get that GM doesn't want to cede the important center console to t…

I agree with you that it's the wrong choice, but it's not just about ceding control. It's also about ceding the revenue. For example, to connect their system to the internet, that'll be $20/mo. I'd guess GM gets a large portion of that revenue. If you're using CarPlay, there's no reason for you to buy their service. It looks like GM makes around $1,000 in profit per vehicle. If half of their customers give them $20/m…

It's about GM and Google getting the data (https://www.motortrend.com/features/apple-carplay-android-au...). Switching from Android Auto and CarPlay to the Android Automotive OS (AAOS) means the auto manufacturer gets the data that was going through the phone.

CarPlay is a purchasing factor for me personally. I've always liked Volvo, but now that they all run AAOS the last few times I rented one I had to reboot the head unit when I got in the car to get CarPlay to work. Funny how vehicles running AAOS don't really integrate well with a competitor...

Re: GM Deprecating In-Car App Store for Models as Recent as 2020

#52

Post by TYPE_FASTER »

dylan604 wrote: post #16
conk wrote: post #4

GM is removing CarPlay, and now this story that they are dropping support for in car infotainment apps for cars that are 5-7 years old. Are consumers really going to buy their cars? I won’t consider a new car that doesn’t offer CarPlay/android auto.

What's stopping someone from spending a few hundred bucks at their local custom stereo shop and replacing the head unit with something else that is less user hostile? If everything else in the car is what you need, just replace the part you don't like if it's not available as an option.

I think it drives the instrument cluster too. Maybe instead of a new head unit, what we will need in the future is an open version of Android Automotive OS, like Lineage for our cars.

We use CarPlay with our Mazda. The heads up display on the windshield displays the next turn information from Apple Maps.

Edit: it looks like Lineage has support for Android Automotive: https://lineageos.org/Changelog-30/

Re: GM Deprecating In-Car App Store for Models as Recent as 2020

#53

Post by bluedino »

conk wrote: post #4

GM is removing CarPlay, and now this story that they are dropping support for in car infotainment apps for cars that are 5-7 years old. Are consumers really going to buy their cars? I won’t consider a new car that doesn’t offer CarPlay/android auto.

I rule them out because of the lack of quality in their vehicles. Too unreliable and impossible to repair.

The infotainment only adds to reasons to not buy GM.

Re: GM Deprecating In-Car App Store for Models as Recent as 2020

#54

Post by CamperBob2 »

simulator5g wrote: post #50
CamperBob2 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These days the head unit has its tendrils wrapped around many parts of the car besides just infotainment, and wiring harnesses are a lot more proprietary. Does the aftermarket head unit support your car's parking sensors? How about the backup camera? Even the Homelink button that opens your garage door has migrated to the touchscreen in a lot of newer cars, never mind forehead-slapping features like the climate contr…

This isn't actually true. You just need a module to interface with the car in place of the original head unit. For example the iDatalink Maestro can connect HVAC controls, engine diagnostics, tire pressure, etc to compatible head units. And there are a lot of compatible head units, basically all the worthwhile ones have Maestro support.

That's good to hear, I wasn't familiar with Maestro at all. But it doesn't do anything to address the proliferation in form factors. I can get nice aftermarket head units from a couple of different Chinese vendors for one of my cars, but they had to be specifically designed for that exact application. I ended up adding wireless CarPlay to that car's original head unit with an ugly internal/external adapter solution. It works well enough, but it was a pain to install. Hopefully similar hardware can be made available to GM customers in the future.

For the other car, though... no way, no how. It is stuck with what it has. Its touchscreen is a nonstandard size, seamlessly integrated into the dashboard, and not used by any other cars AFAIK. Fortunately it's also pretty good. It supported wireless CarPlay from day one, and it isn't from a manufacturer that relies on fracking its own customer base for $20/month. Safe to say nobody will be building an aftermarket replacement for it.

Re: GM Deprecating In-Car App Store for Models as Recent as 2020

#55

Post by numpad0 »

wtallis wrote: post #41
numpad0 wrote: post #14

Why isn't there still no HID or touch coordinate feedback feature in HDMI? That would solve this problem once and for all. There are Ethernet over HDMI, CEC(IR remote), ARC for audio, but not USB or touch. That seems like a mildly big oversight.

HDMI is first and foremost (and at times, almost exclusively) designed to serve the needs of TVs and related devices. Its presence on PCs and other devices outside the home theater space is largely a consequence of the fact that HDMI until recently was just a new connector carrying DVI signals plus some extensions. The more relevant connector here would be USB-C, which can readily carry a mix of DisplayPort video sig…

USB-C can't readily carry everything. There are specific and expensive electronic switch things on host side that has to be handled with gloves by experienced mixed signal experts. It's standardized and allowed, but you're on your own in terms of making it work.

Getting HID through HDMI is nothing compared to that. Just Arduino level stuff. It only has to be standardized for interoperability. Car brands that seek to disinfect cars of Apple/Google disease will benefit a lot from that.

Re: GM Deprecating In-Car App Store for Models as Recent as 2020

#56

Post by 56J8XhH7voFRwPR »

Its moves like these that make me bet on Tesla. They are miles ahead of legacy auto when it comes to technology and I'm not even referring to any of the self driving stuff (which is also miles ahead of anything else). I feel more and more vehicles are moving from complex mechanical machines with crap software slapped on top to computers on wheels. Back to the Tesla example, the entire car is designed around the software and the hardware that software runs on. We live in a world now where most car buyers grew up with smartphones and everything IoT under the sun and in another 20-30 years every car buyer will have grown up in that world. The younger generation expects good tech in their car. If you have a legacy auto, when was the last time you got an update to the infotainment system? I've owned a model y for a year and half now and in that time have had 36 updates averaging an update every 16 days. I can honestly say my car has gotten better since I bought it. New features like adaptive headlights, more streaming music and podcast apps. new UI, etc. A buddy of mine has a 2018 model s and is still getting software updates and new features. What legacy auto car from 7 years ago is still getting software updates?

Re: GM Deprecating In-Car App Store for Models as Recent as 2020

#57

Post by simulator5g »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #54
simulator5g wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't actually true. You just need a module to interface with the car in place of the original head unit. For example the iDatalink Maestro can connect HVAC controls, engine diagnostics, tire pressure, etc to compatible head units. And there are a lot of compatible head units, basically all the worthwhile ones have Maestro support.

That's good to hear, I wasn't familiar with Maestro at all. But it doesn't do anything to address the proliferation in form factors. I can get nice aftermarket head units from a couple of different Chinese vendors for one of my cars, but they had to be specifically designed for that exact application. I ended up adding wireless CarPlay to that car's original head unit with an ugly internal/external adapter solution.…

You just need a dash kit, which someone probably makes for your specific make/model. If not you could 3d print something. Any good stereo shop can help you out too. Its kind of hard to find a good one though.

Re: GM Deprecating In-Car App Store for Models as Recent as 2020

#58

Post by winrid »

otikik wrote: post #45
winrid wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Corvette?? Tahoe?? My manual Spark is pretty fun and beats Civic Sis and other fast cars in rallycross. I have done 100+ redline clutch dumps in that car. It still drives fine.

Does it have CarPlay?

I've never checked. I just use a phone mount...

Edit: no, but neither do the 9th gen civics, lol

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