General Motors, the biggest car manufacturer in the US, earlier this year revealed its decision to remove Apple CarPlay from future vehicles but we have only now received the full reason why.
CarPlay was initially designed to stop Apple users from needlessly scrolling through apps in the car by streamlining many of the most important features like the ability to play music, use Apple Maps, and play a podcast. Tim Babbit, GM head of product for infotainment, informed MT that GM is removing Apple CarPlay and Android Auto due to safety concerns.
Babbit claimed ‘CarPlay and Android Auto have stability issues that manifest themselves as bad connections, poor rendering, slow responses, and dropped connections.’ in October, there were widespread concerns related to a navigation bug that had the potential to mess up coordinates and break navigation. However, it’s hard to fully see the justification for this decision, especially from an infotainment representative.
No better alternative – iMore’s take
In an update to the same MT article, GM said “GM's embedded infotainment strategy is driven by the benefits of having a system that allows for greater integration with the larger GM ecosystem and vehicles.” This is more closely in line with what is expected of the brand – a commitment to a CarPlay alternative that does away with the aforementioned security concerns and gives it more control over user choice. Ultimately, without something like CarPlay or Android Auto, some car drivers will resort to just using their phone again, working directly against concerns made. This implies that there is more to this story than just security concerns.
GM currently has a subscription service called OnStar which includes crash response, Emergency Service access, Stolen Vehicle Assistance, In-vehicle data, and the OnStar Guardian app. It seems possible that the long-term play here is to offer an alternative with this monthly plan, giving GM extra subscriptions and access to all the data that comes with a modern driver. This data could be used for market research or to study new products so has potential value to a company like GM. In an interview with Reuters earlier this year, Mary Barra, a GM Chief Executive revealed that GM is aiming for $20 to $25 billion in annual revenue from subscriptions in just seven years. The decision to phase out CarPlay could be part of how GM does this.
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