CarPlay

I don’t need to remind you that GM is ditching CarPlay starting with its 2024 model year EVs. We’ve covered that news extensively over the past year, routinely pointing out that it may not be a very wise decision.

Some of the early real-world reviews of the 2024 Chevy Blazer EV have emerged, and it certainly doesn’t sound like GM’s “Ultifi” infotainment software is ready for prime time.

Apple has officially made good on its long-standing promise. The first cars with support for next-generation CarPlay have (sort of) been announced. As reported by Cool Hunting and Car and Driver, Porsche and Aston Martin will be the first automakers to support next-generation CarPlay starting in 2024.

Notably, Aston Martin wasn’t on Apple’s original list of automakers that would support next-generation CarPlay.

GM took another swing at justifying its decision to drop CarPlay support in future EVs and failed miserably. Now, in a clear swipe at GM, Ford CEO Jim Farley took to social media on Wednesday to reiterate Ford’s continued commitment to CarPlay.

Update: In a statement to MotorTrend, GM clarified its position:

“We wanted to reach out to clarify that comments about GM’s position on phone projection were misrepresented and to reinforce our valued partnerships with Apple and Google and each company’s commitment to driver safety. 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.”

GM continues to shoot itself in the foot and double down on its decision to ditch CarPlay. In a new interview this week, Tim Babbitt, GM’s head of product for infotainment, attempted to offer some “justification” for the controversial decision.

According to Babbitt, drivers will be “less likely to pick up their phones” if their cars don’t have CarPlay. Yes, you read that right.

Ever drive around and wonder about that home listing you just passed? There’s finally a CarPlay app for that …

CarPlay has been in the news quite a bit this year, ranging from GM’s decision to abandon the platform to Apple’s looming launch of “next-generation” CarPlay.

How important is CarPlay to car buyers? We polled over 6,000 9to5Mac readers to find out…

Sygic is one of the most popular navigation apps, even though you may have never heard of it before. The app offers navigation specially tailored to the specifications of large vehicles like trucks, RVs, campers, and more.

With an update rolling out now, Sygic now offers a dedicated app for CarPlay for the first time.

In a new interview with The Verge, Volvo CEO Jim Rowan called out GM’s decision to abandon CarPlay. Rowan explained that Volvo’s strategy is to give customers the choice to use whatever in-car infotainment system they choose, whether that’s Volvo’s own software, Android Auto, or CarPlay.

General Motors announced back in March that it was ditching CarPlay from future vehicles, in favor of its own infotainment systems.

The company originally partnered with Google on this, but now seems to have decided it needs an Apple touch – by hiring one of the Cupertino company’s former design directors to work on the user interface (UI), along with three more former Apple employees …

You might have forgotten about it, but Apple unveiled what it described as the “next-generation” of CarPlay way back at WWDC 2022. Since that initial announcement, however, Apple hasn’t said a word about next-gen CarPlay, nor have any of its automaker partners.

Despite the silence, Apple still seems adamant that the first vehicles with next-generation CarPlay will be announced this year…

We talk a lot about CarPlay, but new data suggests that what a lot of people do most often in their car is listen to AM/FM radio. Yes, it’s 2023, and you might think AM/FM radio is on the way out, but new data show that to not be the case for a lot of people…

Last month, Ford began notifying dealers that it planned to add Apple Maps EV routing to the F-150 Lightning before the end of the year. That rollout has now commenced, with the first wave of lucky F-150 Lightning drivers now able to tap into Apple Maps for their EV routing needs.

The FCC in the US has officially given Apple, Meta, and Google the go-ahead to tap into the 6GHz band for wireless devices. This comes four years after the companies teamed up to petition the FCC for access to this spectrum, with one of the biggest use cases being for augmented reality and virtual reality devices.

On last week’s episode of 9to5Mac Happy Hour, I complained about an ongoing CarPlay problem I’ve been experiencing on and off for nearly a year. Essentially, the GPS continually bugs out and completely breaks navigation via Apple Maps, Google Maps, or any other navigation app.

Since last week’s Happy Hour episode was released (listen here), I’ve heard from a lot of CarPlay users who are facing similar problems with GPS performance.

Honda and Acura are expanding their focus on CarPlay by bringing support for smart garage door openers to their respective CarPlay apps.

Currently, CarPlay integrates with HomeKit to present garage door information and control options. What this new Honda and Acura feature does, however, is bring even non-HomeKit compatible smart garage doors to CarPlay.

I’ve written a lot about GM’s shortsighted decision to abandon CarPlay in all of its EVs next year. On the flip side, however, Porsche has been expanding its focus on CarPlay, most recently with its My Porsche app for CarPlay adding climate controls and other in-car features.

In a new interview with ArsTechnica, Cyril Dorsaz, Porsche Digital’s principal product manager, offered more details on why the company believes CarPlay is the way of the future.

While Tesla itself has refused to adopt CarPlay over the years, there’s a thriving community of Tesla owners that have taken matters into their own hands. One of the leading projects here is called Tesla Android, an open-source operating system that brings CarPlay and a slew of other features to Tesla cars.

We last wrote about Tesla Android in June 2022, and the project has come a long way since then.

There are a lot of questions floating around right now about the future of CarPlay. Apple unveiled a completely new CarPlay experience at WWDC 2022 but hasn’t given us a single update since then. GM, meanwhile, recently announced its decision to drop CarPlay support in all of its future EVs.

With that said, there are still bright spots in the CarPlay ecosystem, and I recently had the chance to spend some time with one of them: The Polestar 2’s implementation of dual-screen CarPlay. This isn’t “next-generation” CarPlay, but it’s the closest thing to it right now.

Earlier this year, GM announced that it would be ditching CarPlay and Android Auto for all of its future EVs starting in 2024 in favor of a proprietary system. Now the all-new Cadillac Escalade IQ EV has been unveiled with a massive 55-inch LED display that could offer an amazing CarPlay experience. So will the company’s popular luxury SUV turned EV get an exception? GM says nope.

Porsche has released an update to its My Porsche app, allowing greater control of vehicle functions from within CarPlay – including wireless CarPlay support.

We got a chance to test out some of its features on a 2024 Cayenne, and it’s the first time we’ve felt an Apple-like experience from software made by a traditional automaker.

DoorDash is following in the footsteps of Uber and adding support for CarPlay to its delivery app for drivers. The company announced the new app in a blog post as part of its efforts to “make the dashing experience even better” for drivers.