Ideally, this is the logical progression that balances automakers desire for having some level of influence on the experience, while still giving drivers the phone-driven CarPlay experience they prefer. Though if the balance isn't quite right, the automakers could gain "too much" control over it (and ruin it). It will be interesting to see what the real world experience is with it, though.
Android Automotive, pay attention. GM, I'm looking at you.
pjc50 · 7h ago
This is really sad. Just as the original iPhone launch broke through carriers trying to monopolize control over phones (remember having to pay for ringtones?) and instead gradually transferred to a new monopolist, we welcome our phone monopolist against the car industry. Because, as you say, the carmakers will try to customize it, and make it worse, just as PC and printer manufacturers ship bloatware and Microsoft put Candy Crush in the start menu.
I'm guessing that user customization is waay down the list here.
neogodless · 7h ago
I agree in some ways, that phone software pushing itself into the dashboard is more worrisome. Just today I was skimming an Equinox EV review that said there's a weird interplay between the center screen and dashboard, where you'd have to reach over to the center to "push" certain modules into the dashboard.
What I guess I don't agree with is that Apple has a monopoly on car interfaces. There's a similar duopoly here between Google and Android.
Still I think the ideal might be... light integration with the automotive operating system, with that mostly controlled by the automaker, while the entertainment center is largely user-controlled, including options to use the phone-provided in-screen systems like CarPlay and Android Auto.
It hasn't, historically, been a strength of automakers to make great integrated automotive operating systems, but it is somewhat of a differentiator for buyers so we can hope that competition improves things. If someone like Mazda continues to make a fast, fluid, intuitive operating system that also supports Android Auto and CarPlay, that's great.
But... the auto sales model, I think, works against proper competition. Because there are other major factors that buyers use to make their decisions. While every GM electric car article has a few vocal "no carplay, no buy" comments, GM is still steadily increasing their EV market share. It'll never be fully... discrete.
(Not like when it was more popular to rip the whole radio out of the dashboard and put your own Pioneer/JBL/etc system in there.)
ramses0 · 7h ago
I think this is matching some of their Apple Watch co-branding, eg: you can't pick the Hermes watchface unless you also buy the Hermes strap: https://www.apple.com/apple-watch-hermes/
...in all, I think it should make leaning on CarPlay more palatable for auto manufacturers. Exclusive "Ferrari Red" speedometers (aka: CSS-for-CarPlay), and there's the bland-ish basics that can be provided by Apple and used in any car.
echelon · 7h ago
> phone-driven CarPlay experience they prefer.
Oh god, no.
Not only is this awful, it gives the big tech companies huge leverage over the automakers. It's another industry where they'll embrace-extend-extinguish.
These companies will use smartphones as leverage to crush the automotive giants. It's another reason why we need antitrust enforcement to catch up with 30 years of being asleep at the wheel.
The automotive companies should be in charge of their industry and their destinies. Tech companies shouldn't be ensnaring them.
The phone giants already control how software is made and distributed (and they tax it 15-30%), insert themselves into digital payments and communications, place ads on your maps and navigation, etc. Soon they'll be taxing the car companies for integration, forcing the car companies to do what they want, and those car companies will pass that pain onto you, the consumer.
alphabettsy · 7h ago
I thought it might be satire, but you’re worried about the poor car companies?
You’re right that phone giants have too much power, but car companies are already selling our data and injecting ads or preferred partners into the infotainment. It’s CarPlay that currently lets you avoid the abysmal and often subscription-based experiences they’re pushing.
I would love to see more open systems that would allow third-parties or users to provide software for vehicles.
drcongo · 6h ago
I knew who had posted the parent comment without even looking. It's almost identical to many of their other comments, which I've also mistaken for satire in the past too.
echelon · 4h ago
These two companies are putting a ceiling on you and everyone else. You can choose to accept that, perhaps even benefit from their stock or employment, but the fact is that they are invasive species that are trophically malinvesting and snuffing out the most salient gradients of innovation and competition because we haven't policed them.
If you're pro-consumer, you want an end to this. If you're pro-business, pro-entrepreneur, pro-innovation capital seeing upside of labor and invention, then you also want an end to this.
These two companies would be worth more as separate entities than the sum of their parts. Their value is being squandered as gigantic conglomerate platform plays. They piss away so many resources and grow fat on the areas they've lodged themselves into and peerlessly destroyed any competition.
I've consistently echoed this sentiment for years. Now lots of people are saying the same thing.
Break them up, and competition will become relentlessly breakneck to fill out the new, healthier ecosystem. It would be a forest fire yielding to new growth.
echelon · 6h ago
> the poor car companies?
Google and Apple are the monopolies, here. Mega monopolies the world has never seen the likes of before. It's unreal how big and how much power they have. Apple and Google are practically God and more powerful than Christianity.
> car companies are already selling our data
It's wild that this is being thrown out as being even within the same order of magnitude as bad. Google and Apple are doing this 1000x worse. And for those that think Apple is a "privacy play", just look what they do to bend over to authoritarian regimes. They're still leveraging your data for advertising, and that play is bringing Apple more and more money year over year.
The phone giants have way too much power. They control people trying to write software, people trying to run software. They control every payment, all the payment rails. They control the communication. The defaults. The search. 98% of your life flows through them.
Your car is a pittance to that.
We need to break up the phone companies or limit what they can do with the devices after they've sold them to you.
Imagine if your car could tell you where you could drive. Or if businesses had to pay a tax to be visible from looking out your windshield. Or if they collected a percentage of everything you bought while you were out driving and shopping. Because that's phones. Google and Apple are our -- and everybody else's -- pimps and masters. You're nothing, I'm nothing. They're gods.
senordevnyc · 2h ago
So much fear.
It’s not that I think Google or Apple are altruistic, or that we wouldn’t be better off if they were broken up, but as far as I can tell, the only space where it’s hard to avoid both of them is the mobile phone OS. And I think that’s mainly a function of the fact that generally people are happy with those two options. In every other category there’s other solid options and Google and Apple are easily avoided.
There’s a million things that I’m more worried about than the mobile OS duopoly. It’s going to be OK.
drcongo · 6h ago
Imagine if your car ejected you out the sunroof because you had green bubbles! Imagine if the tyres automatically deflated every time you pass a tyre shop! Imagine a million other made up things!
neogodless · 7h ago
Is your argument that automakers should not support Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, and should instead each individually create their own software and digital interfaces?
bombcar · 6h ago
A dream world would define a standard for video/audio/controls interface with a vehicle/device and it would just "work" - like how connecting your TV over HDMI to your laptop just works (usually).
Of course, that will never happen, because standards take centuries to develop and the cars need to be sold now NOW NOW.
MBCook · 1h ago
Honestly who else would use it but Apple and Google (Android)?
There is no one else with enough market share for any automaker to even begin to think about. They already have what’s needed for those two so implementing a hypothetical standard only wastes time.
The other stuff that could use that interface (video game consoles, etc) don’t need to work while driving or be integrated in any special way. So the existing USB-C or HDMI video standards would be fine since they’d just use the car as a pseudo-TV screen and maybe Internet connection.
int_19h · 16m ago
Some future competitor to either?
The point is that open standards make it possible for one to appear.
echelon · 6h ago
A next best thing would be antitrust action from the DOJ and every other country telling these companies that they can't play in this sandbox too and continue bullying all the kids.
As punishment for what they've been up to over the past few decades of running amok, the DOJ might tell these companies they have to open up app distribution, loosen up on the default payments/messaging/platform services, and allow third party vendors first class software and hardware access that is capable of car automation without needing Apple and Google to "help" (read: dictate and control).
guestbest · 7h ago
I like my simple analog controls next to the infotainment system. Lucky for me I can’t afford a new car, especially an Aston Martin , so I won’t be affected .
tguedes · 7h ago
It looks like this will support physical buttons. From the article: "Drivers can also use onscreen controls, physical buttons, or Siri to manage both standard vehicle functions like the car’s radio and climate, as well as advanced, vehicle-specific features and controls like audio system configurations or performance settings, right from CarPlay, giving them a more fluid and seamless experience."
And if you look at the picture from the article, all the physical buttons are there.
guestbest · 7h ago
Sorry. Maybe I should clarify. I meant isolated in that I could upgrade or still drive if the infortainmemt system went kaput.
senordevnyc · 2h ago
Is there any reason to think analog gauges are more reliable than a digital version of the same?
lupusreal · 7h ago
It really helps streamline the car shopping process. Insisting on physical buttons and knobs for everything narrowed my search down to Mazda quite nicely.
Marsymars · 7h ago
The problem is that you can only really have a single one of these “streamlining” requirements, or your potential vehicle list ends up empty. I’d have preferred a compact pickup (a Maverick or Santa Cruz) in manual (only a couple of cars per manufacturer) with physical buttons (Mazda) and modern structural safety (so no old vehicle) - so I had to compromise on a couple of those wants.
i_am_jl · 7h ago
Tacoma's probably as close as you can get, compromising on compact and buttons.
What did you end up in?
Marsymars · 6h ago
Maverick. Tacoma seems great for what you get, but is just more truck than I need. And they’re totally different price points - the cheapest hybrid Tacoma (which is still much worse on gas than the hybrid Mav) is nearly double the price of the base hybrid Maverick.
throwfaraway4 · 7h ago
"Drivers can also use onscreen controls, physical buttons..."
lupusreal · 7h ago
There being screen in the first place is bad. Dim monochrome screens are bad enough, and less than that is now hard to obtain, but having a veritable iPad embedded in the dash is an absolute deal breaker.
No comments yet
turtle408 · 7h ago
I love CarPlay. Seamless integration with any car I rent. Gone are those days where you need to carry a car phone-holder and distractions. Game changer imo
nicolaslem · 7h ago
Do you know what would be better than CarPlay? An open protocol. It's my phone and my car, why do I need both companies' blessings for connecting them?
MBCook · 1h ago
For who? There are no other phone OSes for the car makers to bother caring about. They’re way way too small.
RobT7k · 7h ago
I'm a big fan of carplay, but I'm not sure I want whatever this is.
Some better integrations, sure. I can see wanting the carplay maps able to know the charge of the battery/fuel levels to plan out trips that include chargers/gas stations on the way.
But, taking over the entire dash? Nah, let's not overcomplicate things too much.
404mm · 7h ago
100% this. I want exactly none of this new CarPlay. Car and phone integration has been notoriously bad since the beginning. Software updates on your phone break BT or CarPlay with some specific car or brand… or car entertainment software being buggy and not working well with a phone… and never getting updates.
CarPlay is mostly good at what it is today. I certainly don’t want it to became more integrated into my car.
I really hope the “full dash takeover” is just an option that can be switched off.
SOLAR_FIELDS · 7h ago
This is mostly a direct response to automakers removing CarPlay entirely so that they can own the end to end experience. Now these automakers such as GM won’t be able to justify doing so as improving the user experience.
So even if you never use this feature, you should still want it, because it’s the feature that is meant to keep CarPlay relevant
MBCook · 1h ago
They announced this 3 years ago before car makers started removing it.
mohsen1 · 7h ago
I rent cars frequently and most of the cars I rent support CarPlay. Literally all cars in the past few months had been pretty buggy when it comes to CarPlay. Sudden disconnects. Not connecting again after first try. Wireless or wired CarPlay has been so buggy for me that I'm horrified of the idea of the entire car's infotainment system running on this stack. I tried cars from BMW, Peugeot, BYD and VW.
closewith · 7h ago
I also rent a fair amount of cars and I've found Carplay to be rock solid. Only ever used wireless Carplay, though.
SOLAR_FIELDS · 7h ago
Wired CarPlay is even more seamless. There’s no pairing you just plug the cable in and go
MBCook · 1h ago
Plus every car I’ve used wireless in (a small number though) the lag on the interface has driven me nuts.
Plug in a wire, it’s great.
danieldk · 7h ago
Interesting, we have a VW ID 3 and never have issues with CarPlay. The Skoda that we had before that (2016 or 2017) had a glitch every few weeks or so where it would hang. Though I guess the bugs hadn't been ironed out in the CarPlay support yet (that car did not have a net connection, so we never updated the software).
buggeryorkshire · 7h ago
We've had issues with Carplay and AA over wired and non wired connections in our motorhome (camper van for you yanks)
So we've got a 5g router with wifi in there - if that's on whilst you're driving the phone, whether iphone or android, will not connect to the headunit so no Carplay / AA.
These things are still extremely buggy which is hilarious considering how long they've been around.
(not to mention losing the connection on both AA and Carplay when going through a toll booth in France)
bnycum · 7h ago
I have wired CarPlay in my Honda Accord, it's like 95% fine. My wife has wireless CarPlay in her Honda Pilot, and it's got the weird disconnection issues. We found that if our kids are using the wireless tethering it really kills the connection. However this really compounds when we drive into major cities, the interstates seem mostly fine. Once we hit Dallas proper we have to turn off tethering or else it won't connect at all.
explodes · 7h ago
Car manufacturers have been known to go cheap when it comes to their infotainment SOC/Bluetooth chips. Some auto manufacturers in particular have had buggy chips in recent years that have caused issues with integrations like these.
fkyoureadthedoc · 7h ago
The only problem I've had with that regard was two different GM vehicles I owned in the past would randomly shut off the whole infotainment system.
Otherwise, CarPlay itself has been solid and I'd never even consider purchasing a car without it.
jbombadil · 6h ago
I had issues with wired CarPlay in multiple cars (and consistently on my Crosstrek)
Turned out to be a loose lightning port on my iPhone. A 15 minute visit to my local Apple Store fixed the problem.
Daedren · 7h ago
There have been a lot of bugs on Apple's part, that they've been slowly fixing on iOS 18.X versions.
fanatic2pope · 7h ago
I know it is not necessarily for everyone, but I like the idea from this "Slate" startup of not having a secondary dashboard interface and keeping physical controls for all the usual basics. Then they just give you a convenient spot you can mount your phone for everything else.
CarPlay is a really interesting co-branded design challenge. Each automaker wants their own look and feel (this is the industry that led to the computing usage of the word "chrome" after all! [0]), so Apple needs to deliver a design system that can find the right balance of customizability and standardization of the actual UX.
How do you design a widget that car designers might want to give different fonts, different levels of visual density, crammed into unexpected shapes and sizes, that must never get into a situation where information appears glitchy in a way that could cause a real-world accident?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLf44BXd0SE is a WWDC 2024 presentation that speaks to some of these challenges. I recall a great prior discussion thread on HN about this, but can't find it at the moment.
They can already customize the dash they own completely end to end. If some manufacturer is already doing ads there, makes sense they'll try to continue. If they aren't, I don't see how CarPlay would encourage them to start.
They are certainly all hoovering up any data they can about you and selling to 3rd parties though.
gruez · 7h ago
In that case I'm not sure how this is a relevant comment? They could have injected it at any point in time.
I already use Carplay as my de facto dash, as I trust the GPS Speedo in Waze more than the car and I shift on sound, not the tacho.
I won't buy or rent a new car without car play so this is a smart move. Hopefully the OEM customisation is on tight rails so they can't mess up the UX too much.
fkyoureadthedoc · 7h ago
> I won't buy or rent a new car without car play
Same. When GM announced they were going to drop Car Play and Android Auto I was like this is going to be a historically bad move lol.
senordevnyc · 2h ago
I feel the same, but I’m curious how you avoid rentals that don’t have CarPlay?
closewith · 1h ago
I just call the agency and ask which cars have it.
mbesto · 7h ago
The only question that matters is - can you replace Apple Maps with Google Maps for the in-dash display?
Marsymars · 7h ago
I find the ads in Google Maps to be unbearable. I’d pay $10/month to get Apple Maps on my Android phone. I have paid thousands of dollars to upgrade the trim level on my vehicle to in in-dash nav.
dmitrygr · 7h ago
Current Car Play allows any maps app, so likely, yea?
mbesto · 7h ago
Ya but the in dash mock-ups on the landing site look like they're "native".
guidedlight · 7h ago
I can’t help feel this is too late. Android Automotive has been out for a while, and it seems like half the manufacturers have either moved or are moving to it.
Google wins this round I’m afraid.
neogodless · 7h ago
I don't think that's how these things work.
First, at least in the U.S., Apple iPhones are more popular than Android.
Second, there aren't "winners and losers". It's not anywhere near that black and white. And Android Automotive is... annoying when the automakers choose to block actual Android Auto and force you into only using apps that Android Automotive support, and in the case of GM, after 3 years you have to start paying a $40/month subscription to keep using apps. That's not winning in my book. A lot of people (at least on the internet) seem vocally opposed to the GM vehicles that do not support Android Auto.
If automakers are strictly only supporting Android and not iPhone, they will likely lose out on sales to the buyers who really prefer iPhone + CarPlay.
rekoil · 7h ago
You can have CarPlay on top of Android Automotive. Volvo and Polestar have gone this route for example.
neogodless · 7h ago
Yes, and I wish Volvo/Polestar would OTA their support of Android Auto on top of Android Automotive for my Polestar 2...
But also, they can block CarPlay and Android Auto, like GM does in their electric vehicles.
SirMaster · 6h ago
I can also block them by not buying a car that doesn't support CarPlay.
Pretty much all my friends feel this way too.
Mashimo · 7h ago
But Android Automotive could integrate CarPlay (Ultra) no? I mean it's an OS, and CarPlay is some kind of communication framework?
bouke · 4h ago
Ugh it looks pretty hideous to me, i wouldn’t want my instrument cluster to look like that. The styling of for example BMW’s instrument cluster looks so much better than this.
FredPret · 5h ago
The killer feature I want from CarPlay is not blasting my audiobook when the car turns on.
I've gone so far as to create a Shortcut to play a silent song on Apple Music, but it's a hack and it only works sometimes.
xnx · 6h ago
In a better world, cars would be dumb peripherals to user-controlled phones.
gniv · 7h ago
I don't understand how they plan to update my 4-year-old Toyota.
neogodless · 7h ago
I don't think that's a thing. This says "CarPlay Ultra joins CarPlay" - not that it will update or replace it. So if you've got CarPlay in your Toyota, you will continue to have CarPlay in your Toyota. If you want CarPlay Ultra, you will have to replace the whole car.
SirMaster · 6h ago
Wow took 3 years from the announcement at WWDC 2022 to finally start rolling out.
kalleboo · 6h ago
Honestly it just about what I'd expect for the car industry.
Or really any huge manufacturing industry. If the EU said today "Apple you have to use USB-D now", it would probably take them 3 years. The next 2 years of iPhones are probably pretty close into the bag already.
t1234s · 7h ago
This is actually a good thing. Car manufacturers (aside from Tesla) have terrible UI.
chromehearts · 7h ago
CarPlay is the best thing to ever happen
Tesla has the most terrible UI of ALL cars by far.
I personally think the Volkswagen cars up until 2021/2022 have the best UI (and I even dare to say the only good UI), although some things (like the map) could have benefited from a better design.
(Of course, only my personal preferences, but I work with a lot of cars so yeah)
neogodless · 7h ago
You've tried all car manufacturers' UI?
I don't think that you have. (I haven't either!)
I will say my wife's Mazda has a UI I love. You push buttons and turn knobs to control things.
coder543 · 7h ago
Does CarPlay Ultra add support for pinch-to-zoom?
gruez · 6h ago
I'm pretty sure carplay not having pinch-to-zoom, along with overall simplified UI was intentional to avoid being overly distracting to the driver.
coder543 · 6h ago
Everyone I've talked to about this has consistently agreed that the convoluted multi-step interface required for scrolling and zooming is far more distracting than a simple pinch-to-zoom... so that intention would be misguided, to say the least.
It also seems like every in-car map interface except CarPlay supports pinch-to-zoom these days, including the OEM maps from manufacturers like VW and Tesla, Android Automotive, and Android Auto. VW won't even let you see your backup camera while you're driving because they think it might be too distracting to have another way to see what's happening behind you, but they think pinch-to-zoom is just fine.
jeffbee · 7h ago
Can't wait for my car to remind me that my iCloud storage, which I've never intentionally used, is full. Still.
conartist6 · 7h ago
"Rolling out" how you refer to shipping a product when you don't intend to ask your users if they want the product or not
mrwizardno2 · 7h ago
Personally, I'm over the displays. Give me real dials and knobs, please.
neogodless · 7h ago
You're conflating two things: displays... and controls.
Yes - all-touch controls suck. I know, I have a car that's mostly all-touch. It's so stupid. But the displays are lovely. As long as they don't take over UI in a car and replace physical controls for key functions that you control while driving, like climate, lights, wipers, volume.
closewith · 7h ago
The beauty of carplay and Android Auto is using your car's physical controls to control your phone's features.
glowiefedposter · 7h ago
a button that only lets you post after you read the article
masteruvpuppetz · 6h ago
How much extra would it cost compared to plain vanilla CarPlay? /s
> Anything that good hackers would find interesting
> Please submit the original source
This fits those two guidelines.
hiatus · 7h ago
What do the guidelines have to do with this? I'm curious why people are upvoting an ad especially when most of the comments are non-sequitors.
neogodless · 7h ago
Well, it's not against the guidelines, so yes it's up to the votes. And clearly it interests the readers of the site so that's why it's front page. It's a major announcement by a leading technology company. Is that not a thing that interests technology nerds?
pjc50 · 7h ago
Big tech product announcements are arguably more in the remit of hacker news than most of the stuff on the front page.
Philadelphia · 7h ago
Apple needs to be broken up. They’re much worse than Microsoft in the 90’s.
Android Automotive, pay attention. GM, I'm looking at you.
I'm guessing that user customization is waay down the list here.
What I guess I don't agree with is that Apple has a monopoly on car interfaces. There's a similar duopoly here between Google and Android.
Still I think the ideal might be... light integration with the automotive operating system, with that mostly controlled by the automaker, while the entertainment center is largely user-controlled, including options to use the phone-provided in-screen systems like CarPlay and Android Auto.
It hasn't, historically, been a strength of automakers to make great integrated automotive operating systems, but it is somewhat of a differentiator for buyers so we can hope that competition improves things. If someone like Mazda continues to make a fast, fluid, intuitive operating system that also supports Android Auto and CarPlay, that's great.
But... the auto sales model, I think, works against proper competition. Because there are other major factors that buyers use to make their decisions. While every GM electric car article has a few vocal "no carplay, no buy" comments, GM is still steadily increasing their EV market share. It'll never be fully... discrete.
(Not like when it was more popular to rip the whole radio out of the dashboard and put your own Pioneer/JBL/etc system in there.)
...in all, I think it should make leaning on CarPlay more palatable for auto manufacturers. Exclusive "Ferrari Red" speedometers (aka: CSS-for-CarPlay), and there's the bland-ish basics that can be provided by Apple and used in any car.
Oh god, no.
Not only is this awful, it gives the big tech companies huge leverage over the automakers. It's another industry where they'll embrace-extend-extinguish.
These companies will use smartphones as leverage to crush the automotive giants. It's another reason why we need antitrust enforcement to catch up with 30 years of being asleep at the wheel.
The automotive companies should be in charge of their industry and their destinies. Tech companies shouldn't be ensnaring them.
The phone giants already control how software is made and distributed (and they tax it 15-30%), insert themselves into digital payments and communications, place ads on your maps and navigation, etc. Soon they'll be taxing the car companies for integration, forcing the car companies to do what they want, and those car companies will pass that pain onto you, the consumer.
You’re right that phone giants have too much power, but car companies are already selling our data and injecting ads or preferred partners into the infotainment. It’s CarPlay that currently lets you avoid the abysmal and often subscription-based experiences they’re pushing.
I would love to see more open systems that would allow third-parties or users to provide software for vehicles.
If you're pro-consumer, you want an end to this. If you're pro-business, pro-entrepreneur, pro-innovation capital seeing upside of labor and invention, then you also want an end to this.
These two companies would be worth more as separate entities than the sum of their parts. Their value is being squandered as gigantic conglomerate platform plays. They piss away so many resources and grow fat on the areas they've lodged themselves into and peerlessly destroyed any competition.
I've consistently echoed this sentiment for years. Now lots of people are saying the same thing.
Break them up, and competition will become relentlessly breakneck to fill out the new, healthier ecosystem. It would be a forest fire yielding to new growth.
Google and Apple are the monopolies, here. Mega monopolies the world has never seen the likes of before. It's unreal how big and how much power they have. Apple and Google are practically God and more powerful than Christianity.
> car companies are already selling our data
It's wild that this is being thrown out as being even within the same order of magnitude as bad. Google and Apple are doing this 1000x worse. And for those that think Apple is a "privacy play", just look what they do to bend over to authoritarian regimes. They're still leveraging your data for advertising, and that play is bringing Apple more and more money year over year.
The phone giants have way too much power. They control people trying to write software, people trying to run software. They control every payment, all the payment rails. They control the communication. The defaults. The search. 98% of your life flows through them.
Your car is a pittance to that.
We need to break up the phone companies or limit what they can do with the devices after they've sold them to you.
Imagine if your car could tell you where you could drive. Or if businesses had to pay a tax to be visible from looking out your windshield. Or if they collected a percentage of everything you bought while you were out driving and shopping. Because that's phones. Google and Apple are our -- and everybody else's -- pimps and masters. You're nothing, I'm nothing. They're gods.
It’s not that I think Google or Apple are altruistic, or that we wouldn’t be better off if they were broken up, but as far as I can tell, the only space where it’s hard to avoid both of them is the mobile phone OS. And I think that’s mainly a function of the fact that generally people are happy with those two options. In every other category there’s other solid options and Google and Apple are easily avoided.
There’s a million things that I’m more worried about than the mobile OS duopoly. It’s going to be OK.
Of course, that will never happen, because standards take centuries to develop and the cars need to be sold now NOW NOW.
There is no one else with enough market share for any automaker to even begin to think about. They already have what’s needed for those two so implementing a hypothetical standard only wastes time.
The other stuff that could use that interface (video game consoles, etc) don’t need to work while driving or be integrated in any special way. So the existing USB-C or HDMI video standards would be fine since they’d just use the car as a pseudo-TV screen and maybe Internet connection.
The point is that open standards make it possible for one to appear.
As punishment for what they've been up to over the past few decades of running amok, the DOJ might tell these companies they have to open up app distribution, loosen up on the default payments/messaging/platform services, and allow third party vendors first class software and hardware access that is capable of car automation without needing Apple and Google to "help" (read: dictate and control).
And if you look at the picture from the article, all the physical buttons are there.
What did you end up in?
No comments yet
Some better integrations, sure. I can see wanting the carplay maps able to know the charge of the battery/fuel levels to plan out trips that include chargers/gas stations on the way.
But, taking over the entire dash? Nah, let's not overcomplicate things too much.
So even if you never use this feature, you should still want it, because it’s the feature that is meant to keep CarPlay relevant
Plug in a wire, it’s great.
So we've got a 5g router with wifi in there - if that's on whilst you're driving the phone, whether iphone or android, will not connect to the headunit so no Carplay / AA.
These things are still extremely buggy which is hilarious considering how long they've been around.
(not to mention losing the connection on both AA and Carplay when going through a toll booth in France)
Otherwise, CarPlay itself has been solid and I'd never even consider purchasing a car without it.
https://imgur.com/a/5GoIhja
How do you design a widget that car designers might want to give different fonts, different levels of visual density, crammed into unexpected shapes and sizes, that must never get into a situation where information appears glitchy in a way that could cause a real-world accident?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLf44BXd0SE is a WWDC 2024 presentation that speaks to some of these challenges. I recall a great prior discussion thread on HN about this, but can't find it at the moment.
[0] https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/a/15618
They are certainly all hoovering up any data they can about you and selling to 3rd parties though.
https://www.jalopnik.com/the-aston-martin-lagonda-was-a-tech...
I won't buy or rent a new car without car play so this is a smart move. Hopefully the OEM customisation is on tight rails so they can't mess up the UX too much.
Same. When GM announced they were going to drop Car Play and Android Auto I was like this is going to be a historically bad move lol.
Google wins this round I’m afraid.
First, at least in the U.S., Apple iPhones are more popular than Android.
Second, there aren't "winners and losers". It's not anywhere near that black and white. And Android Automotive is... annoying when the automakers choose to block actual Android Auto and force you into only using apps that Android Automotive support, and in the case of GM, after 3 years you have to start paying a $40/month subscription to keep using apps. That's not winning in my book. A lot of people (at least on the internet) seem vocally opposed to the GM vehicles that do not support Android Auto.
If automakers are strictly only supporting Android and not iPhone, they will likely lose out on sales to the buyers who really prefer iPhone + CarPlay.
But also, they can block CarPlay and Android Auto, like GM does in their electric vehicles.
Pretty much all my friends feel this way too.
I've gone so far as to create a Shortcut to play a silent song on Apple Music, but it's a hack and it only works sometimes.
Or really any huge manufacturing industry. If the EU said today "Apple you have to use USB-D now", it would probably take them 3 years. The next 2 years of iPhones are probably pretty close into the bag already.
Tesla has the most terrible UI of ALL cars by far. I personally think the Volkswagen cars up until 2021/2022 have the best UI (and I even dare to say the only good UI), although some things (like the map) could have benefited from a better design. (Of course, only my personal preferences, but I work with a lot of cars so yeah)
I don't think that you have. (I haven't either!)
I will say my wife's Mazda has a UI I love. You push buttons and turn knobs to control things.
It also seems like every in-car map interface except CarPlay supports pinch-to-zoom these days, including the OEM maps from manufacturers like VW and Tesla, Android Automotive, and Android Auto. VW won't even let you see your backup camera while you're driving because they think it might be too distracting to have another way to see what's happening behind you, but they think pinch-to-zoom is just fine.
Yes - all-touch controls suck. I know, I have a car that's mostly all-touch. It's so stupid. But the displays are lovely. As long as they don't take over UI in a car and replace physical controls for key functions that you control while driving, like climate, lights, wipers, volume.
> Anything that good hackers would find interesting
> Please submit the original source
This fits those two guidelines.