To paraphrase the late, great Charlton Heston, you can pry my Apple CarPlay from my cold, dead hands.
OK, fine, that’s a bit extreme. But given GM’s seeming desire to replace CarPlay with it’s own Google-based system, you can see why I, an iPhone owner, have some reservations. Especially if other automakers follow.
I want to preface this by saying that despite my ownership of several Apple products — iPhone, TV, watch, iPad — I am not an Apple fanboy. I don’t get excited for the developer conference or read Apple-centric blogs. My first smartphone was a Droid. I work on a PC. I often go a very long time before upgrading to a newer iPhone model instead of trading in at each launch. Heck, even my Apple watch was a freebie tossed in with an upgrade.
Nor do I think CarPlay is perfect. Earlier iterations of the wired and wireless systems could be buggy. I also don’t love that if you’re parked in a drive-thru line and you scroll social media or play a game, the sounds of ads or the game takes over the audio.
And yeah, sometimes CarPlay requires too many presses of the touch-screen — presses that distract from driving.
It’s just that CarPlay — and from what I’ve seen from the passenger seat, Android Auto — generally seem to work better than most OEM infotainment systems. Navigation is often better via Google Maps, Apple Maps, or Waze than it is via OEM mapping. CarPlay often works much more easily for playing music or having a text message read to me.
Some OEM systems are pretty good, to be fair — UConnect and Ford’s latest, for example — but the better ones seem to follow the basic user interface of CarPlay. Think movable tiles/apps, for one. One would think automakers might be able to blaze the trail instead of following.
Quite frankly, it’s embarrassing for the industry that no automaker has, in the 20 years since Bluetooth launched and the 12-ish years since CarPlay came to market, built an infotainment system that is better than CarPlay or Android Auto.
See, here’s the thing — like most consumers, I will usually use the best product available if all else is equal, or if I can save money. I don’t use CarPlay because I love Apple, I use it because it works better than the infotainment systems in just about every car I test. If automakers gave me a reason to use their systems (beyond the necessary testing those in my job must do) instead of clicking on the CarPlay icon, well, I’d use them.
But now GM will be taking away the choice — at least eventually. Which is frustrating in and of itself. So GM’s system had better be, well, better than CarPlay.
Really, I want two things from automakers — the choice as to whether to use CarPlay or their system, and a reason to actually choose not to use CarPlay.
Give me that, and I will be a happy camper. Take away my CarPlay and replace with something worse, something that I have no choice but to use, and your cars probably won’t be on my shopping list.
[Images: General Motors]
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