Opinion: Don't Take My Apple CarPlay Away -- Unless Your System Is Better
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 its 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 it 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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Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
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It doesn't really matter how good the auto maker's built-in system is, what I want is continuity with the media and apps I'm using on my other devices. For example, I can search in Google Maps on my laptop for a destination; take my phone in the car, connect CarPlay, and that recent destination from my laptop is available at the top of the list.
So many car manufacturers out there making cars that I have to choose from.
Why would I even shop at one that doesn't support CarPlay when I don't have to???
That said, if Apple people are raving that whatever they come up with integrates better (than CarPlay) with my phone, then I'd have to evaluate it. But seriously, I don't know how it could unless they work with Apple on it.