"Some carmakers" is a strange way to write General Motors, which is to my knowledge the sole carmaker who has announced they're going to shoot themselves in the foot by dropping a non-negotiable feature required by a majority of new car buyers. I predict they backtrack on this plan pretty rapidly.
Tesla also refuses to support CarPlay and Android Auto, because they believe their software is better. And why shouldn't we trust them? Tesla has a stellar record for fixing their buggy software even after your car is no longer in warranty. /s
I do wish Tesla had Android Auto, but their software is really quite good.
Mostly I just want different music apps like Plex and Newpipe.
The nav stuff is mostly fine. SMS integration is good. Video apps while parked is good.
Their software is actually good though, unlike anything GM has produced so far.
I would much rather have the software of a Tesla over what I have now, a 2020 Nissan Leaf, whose interface and functions seem to come out of 2010.
It’s not their software. It’s Google’s. It’s Android Automotive (not to be confused with Android Auto, which is an entirely different product).
I’ve not used Android Automotive yet, so I can’t speak for how well or poorly this works for people in Google’s ecosystem, but it sucks for people in Apple’s. And GM is an US company and Apple is half of the US smartphone market.
Voice integration for Apple’s phones blows without proper CarPlay support. It’s also pretty rough if you have iOS apps that have not been ported to your head unit’s OS.
I wish GM did what Volvo and other manufacturers are doing. Embrace Android Automotive, because the vendors who have been making head unit software have blown for years. Let Google give you a nice stable core OS… but THEN allow projectors experiences like CarPlay to passthrough to AA.
Volvo did this a few years ago and they’re now reversing course.
GM is the biggest, but also Telsa and Rivian. Almost all the big players support it now.
I would much rather a car manufacturer focus on making sure the hardware is nice to use rather than coming out with some Ass-software that they came up with in house. Also, I’m going to connect my phone to the radio anyways so why reinvent software to make it less compatible then the native software my phone manufacturer has already R&D’ed pretty well. I assume there is some licensing bullshit with either CarPlay or Android Auto that could be playing a factor. But I would still rather the manufacturer focus on a nice feeling, high refresh rate, bright display rather than focus on some new clunky interface they develop.
Car conpanies want to sell you subscriptions to services, and killing off carplay/auto would do that.
Need a gps? you either use your phone screen to navigate with audio or be forced to use their navigation service on the hud.
I seriously wouldn't buy a car at this point if it didn't have CarPlay or Android Auto in it. Navigation with Google Maps or Waze is vastly superior to anything a car company is ever going to come up with (props to Apple Maps too for making big improvements in the last several years). Integrated music experiences where I can directly see my Spotify playlists or favorite tracks without touching my phone is just something I'm used to and couldn't go back. Having a voice assistant that works from Google / Apple (I know Siri is rough sometimes lol) will always be better than any voice controls a car company comes up with. Oh, and huuuge points to Overcast for just reliably being the best podcast app for many years and having a super easy to navigate CarPlay app. I'd lose all of that and more if there was no integration with my phone and we went back to the awful bluetooth pairing that we had before with terrible UI design and no support for third party apps.
At this point, that's more important to me than whatever engine they've stuck in it. Just give me good mileage, pass inspection and last at least 150k miles and we're good. I'm not drag racing so I don't need a rocket ship lol
Thanks for going over reasons!
I'm still curious though - how are car play or android auto different from just using your phone in your car?
You get to use the cars screen vs using your phone as a screen (which is statistically smaller).
Auto/Carplay UI is also optimized for driver with better legible text and fewer auxillary buttons that could distract you from driving.
And who are you going to trust more updating the car software experience, 2 companies who is in the business of making full fledged operating systems and software, vs a car manufacturer whose software division miniscule compared to the big companies.
Car companies essentially have 0 history of offering a good software experience. Why would anyone trust them now. Its like the Nintendo paid online stuff. Why would you trust Nintendo to have a better online experience if its paid when they have 0 history of actually making it good. Its just there to dime you for subscription money.
@fry I love CarPlay, but my Leaf can also control climate without leaving CarPlay with the use of actual physical buttons.
Best of both worlds.
Same on my Kia ev6. It has a smaller display with 2 physical twist knobs under the the main screen. That can be used for climate or media control, independent of the main screen.
That's awesome! I think there's a newer generation of CarPlay from Apple that lets the auto-makers use the Apple UI for everything, including the spedometers, climate and other gauges. If that data can be integrated into third party apps, I think developers would come up with some really cool things.
I really wish my Hyundai would let me do that, maybe I should look into Nissan for my next car haha. How have you been finding the Leaf? I've only heard good things about it from others.
@fry I love it. The use of ChaDeMo over CCS2 is a bit of a pain, but I can live with it.
I would not recommend a leaf. I had a ton of fun with that car, and it was a great intro to EV car. But it’s short range and the fact that it’s a discontinued model are a turn off for me though. If you like Nissan the Ariya is a good choice I hear though
@Uprise42@fry At 400km, you and I have different definitions of short range.
Maybe it’s your country’s version, but my 2018 leaf had 150 miles brand new which equates to 241 km. My Niro EV gets close to 250 miles which is closer to 400 km
@Uprise42@fry It sounds like you got the one with the smaller battery.
When I was purchasing my car about 6 years ago I was sure I was going to for for a Nissan, as I currently had one that I loved. But they didn't offer any cars with Android Auto support and that was a deal breaker. It is a make or break thing for me, and I suspect as more and more people adopt it, it will be for them too. We might see this kind of pressure delayed, as car purchases don't happen every year for most people, and the CarPlay/Android Auto software has really only become quality must-have software within the past few years. Yet, as people approach the time to purchase a new car, I believe the pressure on automakers to integrate these technologies will intensify.
Nissan was definitely late with AA/Carplay then initially just put it in the highest trim levels. They have been a few years behind everyone else with in dash entertainment for a while now.
Most automakers are on board now. Too many people were test driving cars and passing up cars without CP/AA. The big exception being Telsa. All of the other features interesting features in a Tesla made people ignore the fact that Tesla has trash voice control and limited 3rd party apps compared to iOS and Android.
GM thinks they can reverse course and play Tesla’s game.
If GM thinks they have the rizz that Tesla has/had they are absolutely insane.
I'd rather cars go back to no touchscreen. Dot matrix displays are fine.
I’m not in love with the idea of CarPlay/Android Auto sucking up all of our personal information, but removing the mere choice of using them doesn’t make me happy.
Car infotainment is traditionally crap when it’s new and systems which update seemingly get slower and generally worse over time. Casting your phone interface let’s you escape the first world problem of shitty UI/UX.
We already give our info to either Apple or Android. Using the car’s software is yet another company getting your info.
IMHO, car manufacturers suck at data privacy. At least Apple tells people what is being tracked, what the data is used for, and gives people prominent opt outs. And now Google is starting to get into that game.
"Some carmakers" is a strange way to write General Motors, which is to my knowledge the sole carmaker who has announced they're going to shoot themselves in the foot by dropping a non-negotiable feature required by a majority of new car buyers. I predict they backtrack on this plan pretty rapidly.
Tesla also refuses to support CarPlay and Android Auto, because they believe their software is better. And why shouldn't we trust them? Tesla has a stellar record for fixing their buggy software even after your car is no longer in warranty. /s
I do wish Tesla had Android Auto, but their software is really quite good.
Mostly I just want different music apps like Plex and Newpipe.
The nav stuff is mostly fine. SMS integration is good. Video apps while parked is good.
Their software is actually good though, unlike anything GM has produced so far.
I would much rather have the software of a Tesla over what I have now, a 2020 Nissan Leaf, whose interface and functions seem to come out of 2010.
It’s not their software. It’s Google’s. It’s Android Automotive (not to be confused with Android Auto, which is an entirely different product).
I’ve not used Android Automotive yet, so I can’t speak for how well or poorly this works for people in Google’s ecosystem, but it sucks for people in Apple’s. And GM is an US company and Apple is half of the US smartphone market.
Voice integration for Apple’s phones blows without proper CarPlay support. It’s also pretty rough if you have iOS apps that have not been ported to your head unit’s OS.
I wish GM did what Volvo and other manufacturers are doing. Embrace Android Automotive, because the vendors who have been making head unit software have blown for years. Let Google give you a nice stable core OS… but THEN allow projectors experiences like CarPlay to passthrough to AA.
Volvo did this a few years ago and they’re now reversing course.
GM is the biggest, but also Telsa and Rivian. Almost all the big players support it now.
I would much rather a car manufacturer focus on making sure the hardware is nice to use rather than coming out with some Ass-software that they came up with in house. Also, I’m going to connect my phone to the radio anyways so why reinvent software to make it less compatible then the native software my phone manufacturer has already R&D’ed pretty well. I assume there is some licensing bullshit with either CarPlay or Android Auto that could be playing a factor. But I would still rather the manufacturer focus on a nice feeling, high refresh rate, bright display rather than focus on some new clunky interface they develop.
Car conpanies want to sell you subscriptions to services, and killing off carplay/auto would do that.
Need a gps? you either use your phone screen to navigate with audio or be forced to use their navigation service on the hud.
I seriously wouldn't buy a car at this point if it didn't have CarPlay or Android Auto in it. Navigation with Google Maps or Waze is vastly superior to anything a car company is ever going to come up with (props to Apple Maps too for making big improvements in the last several years). Integrated music experiences where I can directly see my Spotify playlists or favorite tracks without touching my phone is just something I'm used to and couldn't go back. Having a voice assistant that works from Google / Apple (I know Siri is rough sometimes lol) will always be better than any voice controls a car company comes up with. Oh, and huuuge points to Overcast for just reliably being the best podcast app for many years and having a super easy to navigate CarPlay app. I'd lose all of that and more if there was no integration with my phone and we went back to the awful bluetooth pairing that we had before with terrible UI design and no support for third party apps.
At this point, that's more important to me than whatever engine they've stuck in it. Just give me good mileage, pass inspection and last at least 150k miles and we're good. I'm not drag racing so I don't need a rocket ship lol
Thanks for going over reasons!
I'm still curious though - how are car play or android auto different from just using your phone in your car?
You get to use the cars screen vs using your phone as a screen (which is statistically smaller).
Auto/Carplay UI is also optimized for driver with better legible text and fewer auxillary buttons that could distract you from driving.
And who are you going to trust more updating the car software experience, 2 companies who is in the business of making full fledged operating systems and software, vs a car manufacturer whose software division miniscule compared to the big companies.
Car companies essentially have 0 history of offering a good software experience. Why would anyone trust them now. Its like the Nintendo paid online stuff. Why would you trust Nintendo to have a better online experience if its paid when they have 0 history of actually making it good. Its just there to dime you for subscription money.
@fry I love CarPlay, but my Leaf can also control climate without leaving CarPlay with the use of actual physical buttons.
Best of both worlds.
Same on my Kia ev6. It has a smaller display with 2 physical twist knobs under the the main screen. That can be used for climate or media control, independent of the main screen.
That's awesome! I think there's a newer generation of CarPlay from Apple that lets the auto-makers use the Apple UI for everything, including the spedometers, climate and other gauges. If that data can be integrated into third party apps, I think developers would come up with some really cool things.
I really wish my Hyundai would let me do that, maybe I should look into Nissan for my next car haha. How have you been finding the Leaf? I've only heard good things about it from others.
@fry I love it. The use of ChaDeMo over CCS2 is a bit of a pain, but I can live with it.
I would not recommend a leaf. I had a ton of fun with that car, and it was a great intro to EV car. But it’s short range and the fact that it’s a discontinued model are a turn off for me though. If you like Nissan the Ariya is a good choice I hear though
@Uprise42 @fry At 400km, you and I have different definitions of short range.
Maybe it’s your country’s version, but my 2018 leaf had 150 miles brand new which equates to 241 km. My Niro EV gets close to 250 miles which is closer to 400 km
@Uprise42 @fry It sounds like you got the one with the smaller battery.
When I was purchasing my car about 6 years ago I was sure I was going to for for a Nissan, as I currently had one that I loved. But they didn't offer any cars with Android Auto support and that was a deal breaker. It is a make or break thing for me, and I suspect as more and more people adopt it, it will be for them too. We might see this kind of pressure delayed, as car purchases don't happen every year for most people, and the CarPlay/Android Auto software has really only become quality must-have software within the past few years. Yet, as people approach the time to purchase a new car, I believe the pressure on automakers to integrate these technologies will intensify.
Nissan was definitely late with AA/Carplay then initially just put it in the highest trim levels. They have been a few years behind everyone else with in dash entertainment for a while now.
Most automakers are on board now. Too many people were test driving cars and passing up cars without CP/AA. The big exception being Telsa. All of the other features interesting features in a Tesla made people ignore the fact that Tesla has trash voice control and limited 3rd party apps compared to iOS and Android.
GM thinks they can reverse course and play Tesla’s game.
If GM thinks they have the rizz that Tesla has/had they are absolutely insane.
I'd rather cars go back to no touchscreen. Dot matrix displays are fine.
I’m not in love with the idea of CarPlay/Android Auto sucking up all of our personal information, but removing the mere choice of using them doesn’t make me happy.
Car infotainment is traditionally crap when it’s new and systems which update seemingly get slower and generally worse over time. Casting your phone interface let’s you escape the first world problem of shitty UI/UX.
We already give our info to either Apple or Android. Using the car’s software is yet another company getting your info.
IMHO, car manufacturers suck at data privacy. At least Apple tells people what is being tracked, what the data is used for, and gives people prominent opt outs. And now Google is starting to get into that game.