You may have already heard that GM will not offer Apple CarPlay (CP) or Android Auto (AA) in its future electric vehicles, a decision it feels quite comfortable with despite millions of users who depend on the technologies. Some reports, released earlier this week, sloppily attempted to explain the decision by providing reasoning associated with “safety”, or lack thereof, with the two smartphone projection technologies. That may or may not be true, but it’s not the real reason for the direction. GM Authority is here to set the record straight.
Last week, I had the pleasure of driving the all-new 2024 Chevy Blazer EV – the first GM vehicle to no longer offer CarPlay or Android Auto (see our 2024 Blazer EV first drive review).
In typical GM Authority fashion, I had to get to the bottom of the thinking behind this decision, so I sat down (in the Blazer EV) with GM Infotainment Business Strategy and Planning Manager, Ryan Buffa. My first question got right to the point – why did GM decide to ditch CarPlay and Android Auto?
“The primary reason is that we’re looking to create a comfort level around the [EV] charging experience. With Android Auto or Apple CarPlay environments, the vehicle energy model or road segment data is sending energy usage and everything else associated with it to the phone, and it’s pretty difficult to off-board it from the phone,” Buffa explained. “So what we have built in[to the Blazer EV’s infotainment system] is really accurate data around battery health and battery monitoring and everything else that comes with it. And as you get into the mapping, it does route planning extremely well. For example, if we were to drive from here [San Diego] to Las Vegas, almost instantaneously the car is going to plot a route that looks at not just the state of the vehicle, but the state of the chargers along the route. It’s also going to start the battery preconditioning as necessary, so when you reach a DC fast charger, you’re actually at the optimal temperature to start using the full charging capacity.”
Tying together battery conditioning / optimization with that of an EV is an angle we haven’t heard before, and it sounds good in theory, but there’s more.
“A big detractor for a lot of people is, “How does this all [EV charging and road trips] work together?” So it’s really building that comfort level. We’re at a point now where the hardware in this vehicle is, from a responsive standpoint, superior than we’ve seen in anything else. It’s absolutely fantastic. You start to look at things that really layer on top of the map, not necessarily in [the Blazer EV] but others, like ones that have Super Cruise for instance, where it’s routing the vehicle. In those cases, we need to make a decision, “do I want to do a 100-mile route with 50 miles of Super Cruise, or 75 miles with Super Cruise?” So we have those layers that build on top of it, plus the suite of apps and everything else that we have inside of here powered by the Google Play store. So I don’t think we’ve taken anything away. Instead, we’ve created different ways to maybe interact with it and we’ve added new feature value on top of it.”
The responsive bit is particularly spot on. Based on the Google Auto software, the infotainment system in the Blazer EV is smooth, super responsive, and – to use words from the late Steve Jobs – scrolls like butter. In fact, this is the first GM infotainment system I’ve used that doesn’t lag, freeze up or otherwise run like molasses. The humongous 17.7-inch display that runs it, meanwhile, is bright, crisp, and angled toward the driver just enough to make it feel like a cockpit, without isolating the front passenger. The Google-based maps app on it is very functional and stunning, as it uses nearly the entire width of the , horizontally-oriented screen… but I digress.
Bringing Super Cruise into the mix, particularly as it relates to EVs, certainly adds yet another layer of integration that is not possible with phone-driven maps from CarPlay and Android Auto. This will likely get even more integrated with Ultra Cruise, the forthcoming successor to Super Cruise.
Buffa explained that a smartphone can still be paired with a GM vehicle that doesn’t have CP/AA, and it will still do all the typical things like make and receive calls and play media like music, podcasts and audiobooks. Users will also be able to browse the playlists, artists, podcasts, and the like stored on their phones using the infotainment system.
Users will also be able to have incoming messages read out loud to them via Bluetooth, while also responding appropriately. The last one is kind of tricky for iPhone users, since they will need to enable notifications during the Bluetooth pairing process.
In addition, users will still be able to use their phone’s built-in assistants (like Siri, Google Assistant, etc.) using Bluetooth pass-through. That same function will also enable previously available features like Siri Eyes Free plus natural interactions like Hey Siri, along with their respective Google equivalents.
“The accuracy needed to create a great experience, it’s super vital that it’s driven by the vehicle,” Buffa added.
Incidentally, all of that great experience will require the vehicle to have an active internet connection. The 2024 Blazer EV ships with eight years of OnStar/Chevrolet connected services, but what happens after that is a bit murky. That’s because there are several “layers” of information being compiled on top of the mapping interface, each handled by a different subscription associated with the connection. Luckily, that won’t be something owners will need to worry about for two years short of a decade. The tech landscape will likely be substantially different by then.
In any event, the explanation provided by Mr. Boffa makes a lot more sense than the “safety” argument reported earlier. Agree? Disagree? The comments are waiting for your input.
Comments
Worst decision
Thank you Alex for the reporting and getting to the bottom of this. However, I still don’t think that this is a good idea, and it will ultimately backfire on GM, and GM will eventually be forced to change the direction.
Maybe not. We need to wait this out and be humble enough to consider perhaps gm got this one right.
They used to not offer CarPlay, you had to buy their horrible map services. CarPlay and Android auto were the way future. Chevy is absolutely terrible at offering updates to their radios already. My 2017 Bolt radio is horrible and CarPlay is the only thing that makes it useful. Meanwhile my 2016 Sonata still gets frequent updates. In fact it didn’t come with android auto and CarPlay and one of the updates enabled that feature.
I’ve seen this system. It’s pretty slick and don’t see any real advantage to AA and perhaps CP.
I’m sure it is, but I already pay for my phone and that does the same thing. Now GM wants me to pay for the same thing I already have? Not doing it.
Two days ago I read another article reporting a stop build order that was just issued by GM. The culprit? Software issues.
Telle again why the service I’m already paying for (my phone) that I know works (because I’ve been using it for over ten years) should be replaced by an additional subscription bill on a 60 thousand dollar vehicle?
Because they are a bunch of greedy pigs, and someone has to pay for the new contract they have to the union auto workers. And it’s certainly not going to be them.
Have a Blazer EV. As a software engineer who has been writing UI apps for two decades, the infotainment console is a nightmare. It is inconsistent, painful to use, and many subsystems will spit out unhelp messages like “turning this off may affect other software”… WHICH software? It doesn’t say.
Worse, many things are buried under submenus. Is there a way to find them? If there is I can guarantee it’s under some other submenu.
The embedded software is aces. Well done. But the user facing software is pure garbage. I use my phone for navigation because Google is horrible in regards to privacy.
I could write a book (really) about what is wrong about the infotainment software. If this is GM’s idea of “making things better for the user” they don’t know ANYTHING about user interface.
I’m seriously looking into a CarPlay add on for my car.
I’ll take CarPlay over anything GM wants to force on people. And when I can’t use my CP I will not be buying GM anymore.
It’s all about the money. They want to add another income level. If you wanna see it done correctly, take a look at the Volvo EX series. Same software, but it has CarPlay and android auto. And if GM has a concern about them all They had to do was talk to Apple or Google, and they would’ve got them fixed right away.
2017 silverado I could connect to Bluetooth and do whatever I wanted (listen to YouTube, Discord, etc). I got a 2022 and it forces me to use android auto. I can’t simply connect with Bluetooth, it says my phone can’t be found when connected trying to use audio. Switch to AA, works. But it’s forcing me to use both Bluetooth and WiFi, never needed this 5 years ago
you can connect to a 2022 Silverado with just bluetooth.
Well, you can try anyway.
Seriously, in 20+ years of driving dozens of vehicles with bluetooth-enabled head units and infotainment systems, the pairing process has been at least a minor PITA at least 50% of the time. Maybe Jimmy’s experiences have been similar to my own.
On the other hand, there’s Android Auto which has very rarely been a hassle in my experience, works the same no matter whether I’m driving my wife’s Volt or a random Turo rental, maybe needing the phone rebooted one time in 100 drives. And that’s nothing to do with what you’re saying, just feeling like I really need to grouse a bit about how much this article annoys (apologies; it’ll make me feel better to let it out, even if my blahblahblah will never be read).
Only when GM delivers an EV that supports AA/CP for a price point near what we’d paid for the Volt (inflation adjusted, of course), we’re ready to trade in. And after tracking GM’s lack of updates and support for the Volt’s software through our years of ownership, that doesn’t seem unreasonable.
It’s a terrible mistake.
I’ve used CarPlay and handful of times in my two GMC trucks. It’s not like I’m a power user.
But I am strongly against using their provided Google services, as well as paying for multiple subscriptions.
Makes sense for EV (which is why Tesla has been doing virtually the same thing for many years) — but not gas.
I heavily use AA in all my vehicles (even my Goldwing), and had the same concerns/reactions when I bought my Model 3 four years ago.
If GM has implemented their Google Maps-based UX as well as Tesla has, the car-based map UX won’t leave you wishing you had AA instead. What you will wish you had though, is better access to your Google Maps POI’s and Google contact addresses, that are saved under your Google account, which the car can’t access because the car isn’t signed into your Google account.
But fundamentally this is secondary to the navigation process having reliable access to accurate EV data (state of charge, capacity, burn rate, etc) so the operator can be alerted if conditions have changed enroute such the destination can’t be reached without stopping to charge (and also determining where the best place is to do that along the route). This means the navigation process MUST run from the car, not the phone (like AA or ACP).
After four years and many long trips in my Model 3 — I have missed AA a little (it’s more polished, and some things are better integrated), but I haven’t missed it (anywhere near) as much as I thought I would.
I mean, I have a 2019 Silverado with Carplay and can access Google Maps with all my POI’s just fine, saved under my Google Account. And I don’t pay a dime extra per month.
Your 3rd paragraph isn’t true for my 5-6 year old Chevy truck. I use Carplay and Google Maps with my own POI’s just fine.
Why in the world can’t they offer both a map for EV stops as well as Apple Carplay, something my 2019 Silverado has (the built-in ‘Chevrolet Maps’ with EV charging stations and navigation regarding those if you so prefer as well as normal Carplay)?
I truly hate to say it but the decision to just remove Carplay entirely from all Chevy EVs has changed my next purchase decision (I’ve purchased only GM vehicles for the past 25 years). My next will not be GM unless they offer Carplay.
Totally agree with you and I have bought GM my whole life but if they discontinue CarPlay I’m done with GM
I study consumer preferences and option/feature packaging for a leading automotive manufacturer. Our data says that customers will simply not consider any vehicle that doesn’t offer top-tier tech. Apple Car Play and Android Auto provide a safe, reliable, convenient way to bring the essential mobile device ecosystem into one’s car. I predict GM will back-pedal away from this tragically wrongheaded decision very quickly as many customers will simply walk away form any models that don’t offer these now-essential features.
About 10 years ago I remember reviewing the data about how Ford’s Sync 2.x was so incredibly bad that it was suppressing sales of top-selling models such as the Explorer. It wasn’t impacting an on-the-margins number of sales; it was striking at the heard of Explorer sales and costing until billions of dollars in current and future sales. (My experience with Sync in a rental car in Colorado confirmed the horror show that system truly was.) Ford got the message loud and clear and soon after launch the excellent Sync 3 and now 4 versions to great acclaim.
Not offering such a basic feature that is so highly valued by ALL customers is absurd and this decision must be added to the growing pile of stupid and often tragic decisions by GM brass over the decades.
The bottom line? Hey GM, your cars aren’t very good to start with, and EVs aren’t really selling too well either. Why make things worse by eliminating one of the most popular features?
The real reason is that Apple CarPlay wanted to control the whole screen and provide a better solution than GM. GM didn’t want them to take it over because it would be an Apple Car at that point. They tried to negotiate and sucked. I’m an android nerd…hate apple…but let’s be honest, Apple would be much better than a 100% GM solution.
Offloading data is done all the time and is a BS response just as bad as saying they cut AA and Apple because they were unsafe.
All people want is to be able to get their phone’s experience on their car’s infotainment system. I don’t use the on board nav system in my 19 Colorado because it costs 100 dollars for a new map. Absolutely ridiculous.
AA and ACP work great. Having your system being tech agnostic helps with reach. People are now just going to buy a simple phone mount and use google/apple maps on GM products like in the past. Hell, one of the major reasons why I went with a Colorado over a Tacoma was because the Colorado at the time supported android auto and apple car play.
There are fat cats in GM that see the financial potential with subscription services and data mining. People even pay for these services like the idiots they are too. For example, you see micro transactions in video games and they make game companies several times over the original value of the game itself. This prints money. Data mining is so extremely valuable too. Being able to collect anything and everything you do in order to sell it off of third party sellers makes so much money. The only way we will stop this kind of behavior is through the use of legislation by protecting people’s privacy.
Well stated. This is the route of it.
Did anyone else read the line “SUBSCRIPTION”? There it is, the ability to charge to have navigation and eliminate bring your own.
That’s right. No more BYOB. That doesn’t sell OnStar.
Exactly! Now is GM trying toale me pay for data for navigation and streaming? The whole reason for AA is I am already paying for my phone service, it has a GPS, it has streaming, and I don’t have to go to my phone to change the song, or GM’s clunky system to request the song be changed. I bet 100% this will be reversed.
Don’t count on that. Unless someone can prove that these “subscriptions” are illegal. But the courts would probably favor GM because of campaign donations.
Why would you mount a phone to use Google Maps when the built-in system is already Google Maps?
Because you need to pay for a data plan through onstar to use the integrated large display Google maps or other apps from the Google play store. Plan pricing is tiered based on the amount of data used. I’m not planning on paying for any more monthly subscriptions especially if I have an unlimited data plan on my phone. One of the major purchasing decisions for me was the inclusion of Apple CarPlay in the vehicle and wireless CarPlay is even better. I really only need the large display in the vehicle to be just that, A large display to mirror the apps I’ve already paid for on my phone. My phones software and apps are updated constantly where my vehicle software is not. At least not without a data plan or tethered internet connection.
And if GM gets away with this, watch apple and others start charging for software updates.
because after three months they want you to pay for data to keep google maps going
Because many of us do not want, use or trust Google products. Having options is essential.
Sad they MAKE you pay for Google services! Cars NEED to be independent of outside sources to utilize the built in features!
Not when a company can have a reason to keep charging you. The reason is MONEY! Plain and simple.
You do know that they’re probably gonna charge for a subscription to use any of the nav or gf radio services, only reason they drop cp and aa is because it’s free to use lmao
Makes more sense but not good enough.
Wow. I thought companies hired expensive business strategy and planning managers to make good decisions. The only business and planning GM is doing now is planning to go out of business.
Did you see where MacDonalds spent millions trying to reinvirnt the Big Mac and their solution is 2 smaller paddies and less seseme seeds??? Corporations need to not be hiring degreed boobs and find small business entrepreneurs to drive real results.
Or talk to their customers more?
I don’t care if I use Android Auto – or the in-car OS to run apps, but I need to run apps. I use Sirius XM, Waze the most via Android Auto. Make the GM software run these apps, and I’m good.
SiriusXM has been built into GM vehicles for a decade. Waze is supported by the native Google OS, no phone needed.
Sirius is horrible.
Main reason is because they revamped the channel line up and put the good stations in channels that the majority of cars can’t receive.
Not SXM support, but the SXM App where you can listen to all the channels.
GM has been integrating XM into their radios since the 1990’s. It’s been almost 30 years.
If one already has a Sirius XM subscription, one has a choice of a). subscribe to Onstar and then subscribe to Sirius XM or b). connect to Android Auto for free and listen to Sirius for free.
For navigation one has a choice between a). GM’s system or b). Android Auto for free and Waze for free. Just yesterday Waze pointed out I was approaching hidden police which turned out to be two motor bike cops with radar guns in the shade of a tree.
GM is running Android Automotive, which already has Waze, and as Rel notes, SiriusXM has been a GM built-in on all its vehicles for years.
Not true on all GM vehicles. I have a 2020 Silverado and only listen to Sirius XM via streaming from my Galaxy S10. All other GM Silverados I’ve owned included Sirius installed, this vehicle did not. The salesman couldn’t even figure out how to help me. It was I that discovered my truck did not include a Sirius receiver and was intended to be streamed via Bluetooth or USB wired connection. It was not until after my free OnStar subscription expired did I realize I would be purchasing data forever. Needless to say I was not very happy.
Sounds like a great reason to stay away from the EV Blazer.
The price in itself is enough to get me to stay away from it. Why bother with it when you can get a Lyriq instead? GM still hasn’t learned their lesson of internal competition.
While it wouldn’t be a dealbreaker for me and don’t base my car buying decisions off an infotainment system unless they do something absolutely absurd like eliminate FM radio as Tesla did (I would simply go back to getting a nice phone holster and google maps or Waze traditionally through the phone), I certainly would not pay for using google maps. I guess with 8 years of OnStar you wouldn’t have to worry about it but like I said, in 8 years, my google maps on my Samsung and Waze would still be free. So I hope GM doesn’t have any grand ideas that I will play along and subscribe. My OnStar button has always been an overhead console decoration and will remain so.
Tesla did? You could’ve fooled me – I’ve got 3 Teslae in the driveway and all of them have FM radio. The rumor of FM’s demise is greatly exaggerated. (To clarify, I suspect you’re thinking about AM — the cars do NOT have that and haven’t for a decade. Nothing lost there IMO.)
Now as for Carplay/Android Auto … I look at those as a crutch to get past the genuinely awful in-car software we’ve been saddled with for years.
If GM really can develop something actually usable – having fully integrated in-car software is truly better than Carplay/AA. The reasoning in the above article is DEAD ON accurate – and you really can’t appreciate just how important those integrations are until you drive without them.
I actually think this is a very wise move indeed, so long as GM enables 3rd party apps to run (i.e. Spotify et al.)…
I really like Tesla’s incar software but they are weak on 3rd party app support. GM has a massive opportunity to build something great here… let’s see them execute. Hope they do – historically it hasn’t been their strong suit. (So says the guy who fell for CUE … twice.)
Tesla removed AM/FM/XM with the MCU2 hardware, though they offer a radio upgrade that restores FM (and in some vehicles XM).
GM is using Android Automotive as a base, so already has access to a fairly rich (and growing) ecosystem of apps.
The only cars that had FM/XM removed were those upgraded from MCU1 to MCU2, whose owners chose not to buy a new tuner unit. MCU1 used an analog tuner; MCU2 uses a digital one. If you choose not to upgrade the tuner along with MCU2, sure, you’d lose FM/XM. But anyone that bought a car that started with a digital tuner has FM and possibly XM (if it’s an equipped S/X). (For those who don’t speak Tesla – MCU is the car management computer .. MCU1 was the original computer from 2012-2018; MCU2 was a huge upgrade. Tesla will upgrade the computer of those original cars with a brand new MCU2 unit — between $1500-$2k.)
Let’s be honest though – how many cars allow you to upgrade its brains like that?
Back in the day, I had a Caddy SRX with CUE 1.something. The following year added CarPlay, and it was “too bad, so sad, buy a new car” from GM. So much for Cadillac’s “upgradeable” promise.
Sure there are aftermarket options, but they certainly weren’t there or well developed by the time I sold the SRX …
What a load of corporate double-talk. I’ve Super Cruise on my XT6 and it’s limited functionality doesn’t factor at all in route planning. I want to the shortest route from point A to point B. This is nothing but Google paying GM to hopefully increase their saturation in the market as Apple has over 50% of the smart phone market in the U.S. All this does is ensure GM becomes an also-ran in the BEV market.
Customer is king. Toyota has it apps (monthly fee after one year) AND Airplay/Android Auto. Buyer uses whichever they prefer. GM does provide cellular service but it has to be thru OnStar which is ATT. ATT has do many dead lines in my area literally nobody has their cell phones. Again a model in which the customer chooses the cell service that is best for their use case is superior. GM repeat after me: design products that are best for the customer not GM. Repeat 100 times.
I don’t understand why everyone is so against this. Nothing has been lost and the experience is better. Also, I’m not running as much data through my phone, which is better for it.
I rent a lot and use CarPlay and it’s often very buggy. So I’m super okay with all of this.
People want choice. This is mandatory. The entire country has Apple or Android phones. Most likely one app experience in their lives. Not one for the phone and a different one in each vehicle owned
I would argue that the experience is not better. In my ’23 Sierra (with the newest Google-Based OS), the experience has been horrible. It has been to the dealership twice in the last 4 months to be reprogrammed because the OTA updates were corrupted or didn’t install correctly. My wireless Carplay? Flawless. There have also been a couple of times where the Google Maps app lost its GPS signal (usually after driving in a big city) and it will not regain its location, even days later. The last time it happened, I drove through Detroit on a Thursday and on Tuesday the following week, it still could not locate itself…it was still showing I was on a highway in Detroit. My only clue to this was the Speed Limit indicator in the instrument cluster was not reading anything (it is tied to Google Maps). I had to go into the app settings in the truck to force-stop Google Maps and restart the truck in order for it to start reading correctly…THIS WAS 5 DAYS LATER. Until it was reset, I couldn’t use Google Maps at all. To someone who doesn’t know how that technology works or where the option for resetting an app is, they would have to take their vehicle to a service department to fix. How is that a better experience? That is why I don’t use the Google Apps in my truck, it is all CarPlay, Apple Maps, Apple Music, etc. When my 3 years of OnStar connected services expires, they can keep it. I won’t pay for a system that works as bad as an Android Phone.
From GM’s standpoint, this is a money grab. By forcing CarPlay and AA out of the mix, you are dependent on their Google Technology. And because the apps require a data plan through OnStar to function, people will feel forced to pay for the services that they can get off of their phone/cellphone plan that they already pay for. 4G Data or in-car WiFi is the biggest waste of money considering most phones already have hotspot and a faster connection than the AT&T signal going to GM’s cars. I won’t buy a car that doesn’t have CarPlay…if that means I buy a Ford, then that is what I’ll buy. I love CarPlay because regardless of which vehicle you are in, the CarPlay screen is always the same, less fiddling with the phone because everything is identical. This will come back to bite GM hard…just look at any of the comments on any website carrying this story.
Except you’re clearly confused and putting down a system that you’ve never experienced.
The GM OS per this article is only available in the Blazer EV. It will be rolled out in future EVs as they are released. It’s a system that was created specifically for EVs offering features that phone projection doesn’t offer, specifically to assistance with seamless charging experiences.
You’re referencing the Google based system that GM is putting in their latest ICEs. A completely different, inferior system.
Considering you don’t comprehend that difference, you should maybe keep an open mind and experience the new system in an EV. Though you’re probably also against EVs as well.
It may look a little different, but it is written in the same code. The EV version just has specific parts and apps for the battery-related functions. No matter which way you slice it, it is still the same Google-Based infotainment system that requires your OnStar Data plan to operate. If GM can’t create an “inferior” system (as you put it) that gives the customer a good user experience, what makes you think that they can do any better on the EV system?? And, yes, for the record, I am not going out an buy an EV right now. For the price, I can get more use and functionality out of my $60,000 pickup truck with a V8 than I can from a $60,000 Blazer with a battery that has limited range. You know, things that are important like towing, payload, longer range, ability to refill 100% range capacity in less than 5 minutes.
The buggy part is because of the Manufacturer’s implementation, not CarPlay.
Thats literally why people are against it. Car Manufacturers are not good software engineering companies
Yeah, I don’t buy it. As someone previously said, this is “better, but not good enough”.
I’ve got a 23 Silverado. I love the truck, but the infotainment glitches and stops playing around at random times. I have to reset it by holding the mute button for ten seconds. Not a big deal right? But because of “safety” I can only reset the system while in park. (Like I couldn’t hold my finger on a steering wheel button for ten seconds AND be safe on the road at the same time?)
Point is, I don’t trust GMs ability to create a better system than what I’ve already had with Android Auto and Car Play. I’ve had aftermarket head units for years that worked seamlessly with AA and CP. Why reinvent it? (The real answer is subscriptions, I suspect).
Google maps will eventually be including EV charge stations if they aren’t already.
Take your truck to a dealer and have them reprogram your infotainment system. The same thing was happening in my ’23 Sierra. I called my service advisor and he said they were getting a lot of complaints like ours and he told me to bring the truck in so they could plug it into a computer and update it through GM’s network. It took a couple of hours, but ever since, it has been flawless (about two months now). The problem has not repeated itself. Before the update, I would have to reset my system like you indicated about 3-4 times per week after it muted everything. It is absolutely ridiculous that a $60,000 truck has these kinds of issues.
It’s all about the money. When a vehicle has a usable life of 20 years, and GM charges for necessary services after eight years, they will make more off of the service than the vehicle.
In 8 years apple and android will be so different that they won’t be compatible to your 8 year old car anyway….heck I can’t even use my apple charger from 4 years ago….wake up people.
People where complaining when auto manufacturers stoped putting CD players in their cars and trucks….when was the last time any of you that were complaining about this bought a CD?
And don’t expect them to do anything about it except saying they’re discontinuing support. Same as they did with OnStar. I have three vehicles that the OnStar no longer functions in because GM won’t come up with a hardware upgrade.
Traditional lifetime revenue model for combustion engine vehicles is replacement parts. Electric engine vehicles have very few servicable parts, by comparison. So the companies new revenue model is to get into the subscription infotainment business. Putting someone else’s services in the vehicle via Google or Apple means they will miss out on the most lucrative revenue stream they have avaliable post-sale. That’s the reason they’re doing this; they want to normalize it. It’s like when Microsoft bought whatever the competing software for Lotus 1-2-3 and gave it away for free until they had the monopoly, and then they started charging monopoly prices. Buying a car isn’t going to really be buying a car for much longer, they want it to be a subscription service.
Nobody is asking them to go all in on EVs except overreaching politicians that NEVER have the interests of the voters in mind. And it shows in dealer lots and recent mass price drops in EVs (just ask Tesla) which nobody wants. I will say one thing. I NEVER do subscriptions in cars and NEVER will. I’ve said many times the OnStar button on my overhead console is just a decoration. So even if they hide features like heated seats behind a pay wall (which landed badly for BMW), I will NEVER pay a subscription. They will need to start having a subscription service just to start the car and even then, I would ditch the car altogether and get used to riding a bicycle.
Why don’t you allow the rating? I want to add an up vote but cannot/
Wanted to add to my comment above (the site isn’t letting me edit it so I have to add as a separate comment). I am a 90s kid. So when I started driving, I was in an era where powered windows and Air Conditioning were luxuries. So I have no problem getting a new car and operating it as bare bones basic with zero subscriptions activating its features. But General Motors better be warned. Brand loyalty runs thin with me as I recognize there are many excellent auto manufacturers out there (especially from Japan and Korea) and if the competition offers features like heated seats as a permanent pay once option as they have been this whole time then I will have no problem being wooed over to them. Nothing is chaining me to stay with GM and they should remember that I am not the only customer that thinks this way.
And as a warning to luxury car manufacturers (including GM), I have a Cadillac now and love it. Which I bought because I enjoy the tech and comfortable ride. But if you will start making me pay for features like heated seats I will stop buying luxury cars from you altogether. I see ZERO sense in buying a luxury car if I still have to pay extra to use the tech features. Just because “badge” and “leather” doesn’t cut it for me.
Um, 8 years of connected services means absolutely nothing. Isn’t connected services just receiving diagnostic info about the vehicle? Or giving them permission to data mine your vehicle? You have to pay for remote features, or premium, or safety, or whatever overpriced package names they’ve come up with. Literally $50/mo for garbage.
They want your data to sell. Google does it as well. Part of reason Maps works so well they track all the routes driven to assist in route planning. Will GM sign deals with 3rd parties to route you be some restaurant chain that paid them so you “think I could eat” when you see the place. All kinds of possibilities once they control your data and how it is presented to you
The 8 years includes Navigation, which is literally the only thing from Apply CarPlay that won’t work on the system. You can still use your phone and listen to your music. It is amazing the number of comments on this article that are completely factually false.
8 years includes navigation? Is that new for 2024? My 2023 Bolt EV requires me to pay for data services after the short initial trial period if I want to use built-in apps. Plus, I hope to drive my car well beyond the 8 years that would be covered….then it would be back to phone mounts on the dash. I just hope they don’t stop supporting critical updates for pre-2024 infotainment systems and that the updates don’t disable CarPlay on the older vehicles.
Article cleared a lot up, but still need to know about usb streaming and weather I can use google maps though my phone. I need to be able to get lossless music into the system without bluetooth, hence the usb audio on Android. Unless the car is using a lossless Bluetooth codec.
Whatever, I don’t use or need any of that.
Agree, as long as it has an AM/FM radio, I’m good. I have google maps on my phone, what else do you need?
the apple play kicks in and out all the time on out GMC. It is not a great system and a real pain.
With all the “you can still do this”, there is no reason GM couldn’t “still allow AA and Car Play”. The tech to allow it is in place allowing everything else.
Doesn’t bother me, I don’t use it.
In my opinion. Stupid. They get revenue stream maybe from subscribers later, or selling to advertisers like Google. But they lose customers because why buy car that with only tiny market share proprietary os? Better to chose option of being able to switch to Google or Apple or Gm… whatever is best in 5 years
It’s like having a computer that won’t support Google browser, only internet explorer.
The world of car computer interface could be much different in 5 or 20 years, will hurt resale value to have an incompatible odd ball. Eg my mom’s low km 17 year old car would be a bit nicer with Bluetooth
How is it incompatible. Did your read the article. It will work with any phone. Tesla doesn’t use Android Auto or Apple car play and it seems to work. You might even have access to more apps than you currently can use with either of them. There is noting magical about AA or Carplay. Just gives you a different interface.
To me it will be simplier since you don’t jump from the car platform to the AA or carplay and back. That’s where most of clitches are now.
XT6 is also using much older tech than the New Cars either EV or Ice. You can connect your car now to your phone hotspot to run pretty much anything built into the system.
Why not give it a chance. Seems it will be fine. Android Auto and Apple Car play are not top of line integration by any means. Lets see how it works, it might surprise a lot of people. Seems noone has really complained about it yet except for people on here who hasn’t even seen it work.
I was very upset when they first announced the end of carplay support, and hearing the justification for dropping it, and the features that still will be available, it seems like maybe it won’t be as bad as I thought initially…..EXCEPT that the vehicle requires constant internet connection. I don’t like this, not one bit. Whatever GM vehicle I buy next, I’m going to disconnect the cellular connection. I don’t like the idea that my vehicle is going to be actively tracked/connected to all the time, or the idea that, because of the new electrical architectures, that it could get remotely bricked.
How are you going to find a charger on a road trip with no internet connection? How do you think your phone finds a charger?
Cellular data.
Thanks for the more in depth and accurate explanation of the reasoning behind it Alex. It introduces a change that some may initially be uncomfortable with but in the long run it makes sense with our electric future, whether we like it or not.
Does Apple Maps work without Apple Car Play? (and the Android equivalent?)
No…you can use it off of your phone, but not through the system. Their version of Google Maps requires an OnStar Data/WiFi plan in order to work. Don’t pay for the data…can’t use the apps.
You can also tether to your phone’s data connection if you have hotspot capability.
This is just RIDICULOUS – I already pay a subscription on my cell and link it to my 2023 Siera – I do this to avoid the ABSOLUTELY ridiculous price of $15.00 for 1.5 GB – that is gone in a couple of days – Ridiculous – this is just another way for GM to force a RIDICULOUSLY priced FORCE sale of media so they can make a profit – I mean mine is a $92000 truck and now they want to force you to pay a subscription for some features – GM can stick it where the sun don,t shine
I share your pain. My Silverado was not as much as your Siera and I’m really into music so Sirius/XM is all I listen to. When I purchased the truck new in 2020 I as well as the salesman was under the impression this truck had a receiver but didn’t. This option didn’t include a CD player or Sirius receiver. It was designed to stream thru your device. I was not happy learning that I had to pay for data.
Just more B.S. This is only done to keep OnStar from going belly-up. They cut out the useful parts of OnStar, now no one wants it. This is the only way they can keep charging owners for it’s “service”.
Yes a forced money grab – pathetic
Machts nichts, I’ll continue to do what I do in my 2014 Impala. I suction cup my iPhone, ala Uber, and use it for everything. My 2019 XTS has ACP, so it’s OK. If and when I buy anyone’s EV I’ll use the 2014 Impala strategy.
I only read the first paragraph. Haven’t they ever heard of an app called “A Better Route Planner”? (ABRP). With a bluetooth unit plugged into the OBD connector you get exactly what the GM spokesperson says the $ubscription is supposed to be for. What will be the next bogus reason they come up with before they finally admit it is for the money?
You will save significant time at a fast charger if the battery is pre-conditioned. They only way to properly pre-condition the battery is if the vehicle knows when you will arrive at the fast charger. I really thought this article did an excellent job explaining this. Apparently some folks either didn’t read the article and commented anyway or they just don’t understand how EV battery charging works.
Tesla does not have apple car play or Android Auto…no need for them! most of the cry babies here really don’t understand how much easier it will be with out them.
yep
In summary, GM wants to implement and mirror what Tesla did. Tesla’s solution is all encompassing to the vehicle, it’s not an infotainment system like GM. While Tesla doesn’t offer an interface to Apple or Android, Tesla’s customers love the one screen touch interface and ease of use. I am not a Tesla owner or a fan of EV’s however I do have family and friends who do own Tesla’s. The sad truth is, GM is financially throwing all of it’s money into transitioning to EV’s. it will never be able to build, duplicate or compete with Tesla’s strategic planning, engineering or software development. GM needs to rethink its long-term strategic plan which should include ICE, Hybrids, Hydrogen and EV’s. Continuing to put all your eggs in one EV basket will be the death of GM.
Yes, GM is trying to mirror Tesla…which isn’t a good thing now. Tesla used to say use of their navigation maps data would be free for life, but last year they back-tracked and now say it is only free for the first 8 years. After that, it’ll be a monthly subscription. Not sure if that also effects other data-dependent features such as the camera system recordings, super cruise (whatever they call it), etc.
Battery pre-conditioning for fast charging is a big deal. When I rented a Tesla and did not use their nav system to go to a supercharger, it took me longer to charge because the battery was not pre-conditioned. This is the first rational explanation for eliminating phone navigation mirroring that I have heard.
I’d never buy a GM vehicle to start with – so having one more reason not to buy one (driving 100 miles out of the way due to a lack of charging stations) – changes nothing for me. ha
Then you are admitting that you are a troll that only comes here to cause grief for others.
This makes sense, and it would be really bad press for a car company when drver’s are using Waze for navigation, not getting charge stops added to their trip and running out of charge. I still think they could do a better job of integrating the two so that you don’t lose the functionality of CP/AA and still have the trip planning integration. That said, I haven’t had CarPlay for aobut 18 months in my Rivian, and don’t necessarily miss it, but there are times it would come in handy.
The bottom line (which they will never say publicly) is that it equates to more money for them in the long run.
#1 is they do not have to pay royalties to Apple for CarPlay. I suspect they still have to pay Google since the system is Google based.
#2 is they will eventually start raking in money from monthly or yearly subscriptions. I have a ’24 Sierra HD (with the new Google-based infotainment baked in) and I ALREADY have to pay a subscription in order to use the built-in Google Maps (or any of the other apps from the Play store). GM highlighted that I get a few years years of OnStar, plus I’d get a month trial of SiriusXM and the AT&T Unlimited Data/WiFi hotspot as well. But what they didn’t tell me was that the whole baked in Google system is completely dependent on that Data plan/subscription and it basically does NOT work without it! So I would now have to pay $25 a month if I wanted The baked in Google system to work again.
THANKFULLY, this infotainment system has AA and Apple CP, so I have been using AA instead. It’s free and it receives updates immediately, and it works better than the baked in Google system. I still see the turn-by-turn stuff in my HUD, and AA works in true full-screen mode.
Actually, this is false and shows why managers should never make decisions about software. If they actually looked at the bottom line, what they would find is the following:
a) it provides a poor customer experience: Let’s face it, car companies real strength is in making cars, not software. If they were strong in software they would be a software. No one goes, “OMG, this GM software is awesome!” Try their app, it is awful.
b) Google is rubbish when it comes to privacy. Even when they say things are private it turns out it isn’t. Ever.
c) OnStar does have good customer service. I will still depend on AAA which, again, has decades of experience in this area compared to GM.
As a software designer, companies see their initial rollout and think, “Why did we ever pay Apple?” What they DO NOT understand is the cost is NOT in the initial rollout, it’s in the hundreds of updates. It is the continuous maintenance. It is in the new releases.
That is the REAL cost and it is the reason so many people use AA or CarPlay. It’s why GM outsources parts — it’s cheaper in the long run to have OTHER COMPANIES assume the risk.
Our plan is to charge a monthly subscription fee for each option you purchase on your new electric vehicle to replace lost revenue from combustion engine repairs. Simple really
Super Cruise monthly fee, data plan monthly fee,enhanced cruise control monthly fee.
I could live without CarPlay as long as the new system has a Wayz and Spotify App. Wayz really helps in keeping an eye out for police if you drive on the highway a lot. I don’t see why GM’s infotainment cannot work in the background to understand where you’re driving and proximity to charging if you’re in another app.
I know for a fact that the Spotify App works on the new Google based systems because I have the new ’24 GMC Sierra with it. You go to the Google Play store, download it, and then it log into the app as you would on your phone. So I assume Wayz or any other App in the Google Play store works the same. Where they get you is with the data subscription (which they didn’t tell me about). I had a free month of unlimited data Wi-Fi hotspot, but as soon as that stopped, so did my Google Maps, Spotify, and basically everything else that requires an active data connection. Thank God our systems still support wireless AA and Apple CP for free! I was not about to pay $25 a month for a data plan!
Huge mistake… !!! I have been a GM owner all of my life and I hate Google and will never use any product or services from that horrid company! I will never buy any vehicle that forces me to use Google…!!!
Basically it comes down to money. Now that GM has signed a UAW agreement that will cost $8 billion over the term of the contract, GM needs to make up that lost revenue through a new revenue generating idea called a subscription service. I will be the first to say that I did not understand any of the gobbledygook explanations between the GM EV systems and ACP and AA. That to me is sad excuse. The fact is Steve Jobs and Elon Musk would have found a way to make it work. The fact is GM did not want any competition from ACP or AA when it came to Navigation. If the new version of GM’s navigation is anything like the C7, then I will pass on the EV Corvette.
Am I getting this right? the new GM OS is merely a customized version of android similar to the complete garbage samsung has on their phones? So it is essentially an android tablet with GSM/att radio for data? just bundled with GM specific apps? Does anyone know the bus/connection to the vehicle? is there devkit to write apps for it?
It might end up better because after 8 years android and even apple gets old so seemingly there is a possibility to upgrade the display. Apple and google both seem to drop support for older hardware a lot sooner then a cars dies.
As far as the subscription model and data mining, you can thank Elon Musk.
No, it’s running Android Automotive, a platform specifically built for cars. It’s also used by Honda, Volvo, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, Stellantis, Audi, BMW and Lucid. Ford and Volkswagen are also adopting the platform.
I’ve driven a GM vehicle for the last 15 years and never had a radio been worse than the google driven system in my 2022 Silverado. If they’re putting all of their eggs in that basket there will be a problem. Sometimes it takes 5 minutes just for google maps to load or for the Sirius radio to play. Guess what portion of the radio works flawlessly…CarPlay. GM is just trying to monetize this. Their comments about safety are bull$hit. They should give the driver the option to use what they want. I curse at my truck every day that I get in it and the radio doesn’t just do what it’s supposed to.
Lost me at “requires an active Internet connection”.
I’m not paying for that.
Just like that, I took Chevy off my car shopping list. For my safety? Yeah sure.
My ’24 Chevy 1500 is crap for infotainment.
No chance to buy the Bolt, which I was considering buying. But now with no car play, I will not go for any GM cars in future.
I drive Chevys for a dealership, doing exchanges and deliveries. Today I was taking a Suburban to swap for a 2500 Silverado. The dealership Getting the Suburban has a stipulation that any changes come in with a full tank. So, I stopped and filled the tank. Being that the Suburban hadn’t been purchased, the only navigation available to me was the new Google crap that GM is building into all the cars now. When I got back into the SUV after filling up the tank, I had to start over again putting in the destination. Never have to do that with Car Play. So, after putting in the destination I started off again. But this time Google kept going into and out of re-routing. I had to grab my phone and watch it while going down interstate 95 to the next exit. I may not be doing these exchanges much longer, if this keeps up. I’ve already decided I won’t be purchasing any more GM products without Car Play.
Android Auto keeps the route as well if you get out to fuel, eat, pit stop at the world’s largest ball of yarn.
I can confirm, this is a GM issue, not an Android issue.
reading all the planning and gymnastics that has to go into a trip in a EV makes my head hurt.
BEV may be a solution for someone, but it is not mature enough for me.
Thank you GM for letting me know what vehicle I will not be purchasing next. My last 4 vehicles have been GM. Silverado, Suburban, SS and our current 2020 Yukon Denali. I also have a Tesla LR model S.
Not having CarPlay in the Tesla SUCKS. GM needs to open their ears to all the people complaining to Tesla. I pay for the $9.99 a month unlimited data with Tesla, so I get all the data/traffic any way.
I also owned a 2013 Volvo S60… OMG Volvo has set the bar with turning a vehicle into a subscription based, having to pay for upgrades, which are just a toggle switch away from working.
We will not be buying a new Cadillac IQ most likely due to this new info. If we do buy a replacement for the 2020 Yukon (with CarPlay) it will be a 2021-2023 model year. Even those are hard to find with wireless charging, with GM eliminating it in some due to supply chain issues (but oh, here is your $50 credit… but it costs $900 to have it installed now…)
Man, I would hope that GM would have their people with some eyes on this site, and see the kind of responses here. Some on here are not “GM people” and they still see the problems with the decision. But a lot of us on here pay attention to this site because we DO have GM vehicles. We are overwhelmingly against the move. Please GM, listen to your customer base on this! 🙏
That’s something Mary doesn’t do. She just sits there and counts her money.
So far I’ve been happy with ACP and AA on my 2019 XTS. As a technical exercise, wanting to modernize my 2014 Impala, I plugged in Echo Auto, using my iPhone for its signal and I have Siri, Alexa, and all the usual iPhone apps. All I’m missing is a large screen. I thought about buying one of the tablet/ACP boxes but decided not to. I want to keep my dashboard uncluttered.
Low cost, low-ish technology, it all works.
I custom ordered a 2023 Cadillac CT5 Sport Platinum and have Apple CarPlay and everything performs superbly. I am very happy and very sad I will not be able order another ICE version with a V6 in a few years…🥲
I am surprised that people would fall for this argument. If GM were confident that EV customers will value features of the new system, they would let customers choose to pay the premium for the extra features beyond Car Play or Android Auto.
Trying to sell OnStar for $50/month rather than pricing it based on what it uniquely offers Car Play and Android users has failed. Rather than price for the value-add, they are eliminating the alternative.
I have just purchased a cadillac lyriq with android auto… I am now told it will be eliminated. That was one of the selling points to me. I wonder if a class action lawsuit may be appropriate. Or can I return it for another brand that isn’t as greedy or nonresponsive to buyers?
I have been a GM buyer all of my life. Sadly I will never buy any vehicle that forces me to buy a subscription rather than allow use of my iPhone and Apple Car Play. I do not and never ever will use any Google products or services…!!!
The value of pre 2024 used vehicles will skyrocket due to this rediculous non-customer focused change!
I hope GM executives listen to their customers and allow us to choose our services rather than loose us!
My understanding is it will allow you to use the hotspot on your phone for data if you don’t subscribe to OnStar.
Terrible idea. They’re just trying to spin the idea so they can charge monthly. Now I understand regarding long trips, but most people don’t do long trips often. Id personally want the option.
My guess is they couldn’t get it right.
I will cut to the real reason. Connectivity fees they found by putting google systems in cars they can give you google maps straight to the car but now charge you to be connected to their service. Toyota lexus already doing it, ford is doing it in 2025 with its new Google based system and GM is next. Currently they doing soft opening by allowing google based systems and AA and car play to work but if you look at the service at some point all manufacters are going to cloud navigation and cloud music streaming and killing phone mirroring. Google already cashed in they developed chevy, ford and toyota new systems. Apple will be the sore loser and consumer will be forced to pay for navigation services
To my surprise, I love the google system in my 2024 Colorado, I said I would never pay monthly fee however after owning truck I am 100% pleased and impressed with this system. So I signed up. My truck has apple car play (which I am glad of) however with the built in Waze app on truck and built in google maps I am no longer using apple car play as much. I drove all the competitions new mid size trucks prior to purchasing Colorado and I am blown away by how much nicer the Colorado is over the new Tacoma and new Ranger. Ranger is more impressive then the New Tacoma.
I was driving a 2022 Tacoma SR5 4cyl which was really slow and it seemed like it took 3 days to go 0 to 60 so I was waiting for New Tacoma to come out. When I drove and compared the new Tacoma to other makes I was disappointed in it.
The difference in the infotainment and dic screen in 2024 Colorado compared to the new 2024 Tacoma is shocking. Tacoma has seem to of taken a step backwards for some strange reason.
Are you paying for the google? If so how many? Me I’m not paying any more for google, not happening.
I don’t pay for “google” per say, it’s on star service which gives me Wi-Fi service which allows for many apps
Yes I bet it’s great and better than other vehicle systems but I’m not paying for anything. If I can’t use my Apple CarPlay in the future I will not be buying a GM vehicles again.
It wasn’t too long ago I said “I won’t” buy a new vehicle that didn’t have a CD player in it.
I have a 2019 chevy volt, gm want $29 a month to keep the chevy ap functions. I didn’t pay it AA still works. What going to happen when the free service ends. At least $29 because it includes maps
I’d like to find out from someone who has Chevy’s new Google software, if using it with an iPhone, can you use the phone for calls (I’m pretty sure that would work) and also listen to the music you have stored in the phone, and use the mapping software at the same time with no issues, like we could with CarPlay.
I firmly believe that this is because GM plans to follow the subscription model and they can sell you a data plan or whatever else they want to. They want to be able to charge you monthly to be able to utilize the full extent of your vehicle.
If that’s true I’m done with GM. And I have been with them my whole life.
GM is trying to follow Teslas lead and capture the console as a form of entertainment revenue.
I can do everything GM is talking about with an ODB2 dongle, Torque app, and ABetterRoutePlanner on my Android phone regardless of access to the console. But without the console, I cant stream entertainment, navigation, or any other apps. But now GM can provide those as monetized features.
Having had my Blazer EV for a few weeks and this is my impression of the infotainment center UI experience (I am a pro software designer of over 40 years and have developed UI’s)
Much of it is painful: it is inconsistent, buries much of the information you REALLY need in submenus, whines when you turn things off (“turning this off could affect other software” — which software? It never says), turning off google maps prevents the cameras from recognizing speed limits (WHY? They are not connected!)
It’s a jumbled mess of inconsistent design. They want to say “layers” but that is pure rubbish. There are distinct subsystems that do not rely on another — GM has managed the impossible: force you to use Google even when something doesn’t require Google.
Don’t get me wrong, the underlying embedded car subsystems are very good. Thank goodness they have nothing to do with the infotainment system. I have no quarrel with them: the car as a whole is sound.
The infotainment, however, is better left to people who specialize in software user interaction and that is NOT GM. Just as an example, the “X” to close a window, is inconsistent: it could be on the left or the right — there is no rhyme or reason. It’s like they took the concept of a “consistent user experience” and said, “Why does that matter?”
Let’s take a simple, SIMPLE example: brakes. I live rurally so we open a lot of gates. In my diesel (which we traded in) I pull up to the gate, leave my foot on the brake, and partner opens the gate, I drive through, and partner closes it. The EV locks all the doors as soon as I move. There is no option to prevent this. I cannot say “lock as soon as I exceed 10 mph”. As a result, I have to put it in Park every time we want to open and close a gate or the door is locked. Why? Because someone at GM who lives in an apartment never asked a customer in rural America how one handles gates. It is poor customer design when it doesn’t have to be.
And the list goes on and on and on.
Could GM fix this? Sure, it would be easy. Will they? No, because they do NOT have engineers who understand how things work, they have engineers who ask “How do things work for me”. A city dweller will never ask how someone in the country lives.
Don’t EVEN get me started on using reverse in a field. It is an exercise in frustration.
Is it a good vehicle? Yes, it really is. But their infotainment system really is as bad as people say. It is very inflexible, makes a LOT of very bad assumptions (why all the fixation on the battery? I’m driving, tell me what the speed limit is!) — hell, even that car status WILL NOT TELL ME HOW CHARGED THE BATTERY IS! Tires? Sure, they have me covered! Want to see the car in 3D? Yup!
Pay me GM, and I’ll help you redesign the system to make sense. Give us an iPhone/Android passthrough, that would fix a lot. A subscription car (pay a lot for the car and pay a lot for the subscription) is a bad model when just the BASICS aren’t even well designed.
A few months ago got a 2023 Bolt. It worked fine for a while but then a glitch started, sometimes the quick buttons on the bottom wouldn’t do anything when pressed. Brought it in, they put in a new infotainment system, issue still happened so they replaced some part that connects to the infotainment system or something like that.
Now sometimes when I get in the car music will play, then it’ll turn off then sometimes play another song and sometimes the same one that was playing. This didn’t happen before but the guy at Chevy said the tech couldn’t find an issue. Well, we brought the car in a few times for the infotainment system, then we had a broken seal in our back break light which was fixed. Now I’m fed up bringing my car to Chevy and I told them I wanted to lemon law it, then they can fix the issues and sell it used while I get a car that hopefully has no problems (I hear for the most part they’re reliable).
The second problem is the front USB (the C to C and the A to C) don’t charge but the battery doesn’t go any lower. Sometimes the battery will go up one point then go back down again. Well, my father doesn’t have a smart phone so if he wants to charge his phone, he’s SOL. The same person above said, “maybe that’s the way it works” and that his car (a BMW I think.) the USB’s charge the phone really slowly. It doesn’t really charge at all. Then he tells me to get one those things you plug into the cigarette lighter that has a plug at the end. I showed him a video of the screen saying, “Phone not found” and it stayed like that for a minute. I showed him a video of me starting the car and a audio book that I was listening to the other day started playing and wouldn’t play music until I hit home and clicked on Spotify and the book I was listening to the other day and had played music because my father was in the car, and it goes back to it?
Last week he had something up his ass and said I just wanted a buy back. I told him I’d just be getting another Bolt; not like I’m going to get another car. Then I threw it back at him and told him that they don’t want me to have a buy back so you’re making excuses not to do it (If he can call me a liar I can to him.) What has to happen, whatever is wrong has to completely fail and maybe burn out some other systems? Oh, and the problem where the bottom buttons don’t work happened again, only once since they fixed it, but it happened.
So am I crazy? Am I in the wrong? I brought the car in some many time the guy made a joke about not coming back.
I have found Apple CarPlay to be a bit glitchy at times. Annoying? Yes, a little, but not something I would consider worth taking to the dealer for service. Hmmm….perhaps GM has taken similar complaints under consideration in its decision to drop CarPlay and Android Auto. What remains to be seen is whether they can manage to make a system that is less glitchy than what we’ve had for free up to now.
There is a difference between glitchy and just flat out bad design. I discovered a new on. You can drag down notifications screen (in my case it was blank) but no way that I could find to make it go away.
That’s not a glitch. That is a deliberate design flaw. A feature was added and no one bothered to check the edge cases.
This. Is. Bad.
This and other serious flaws leads me to wonder how serious the GM team is on their software?
Let’s again talk about how poor the status is: it will tell me the inflation of the tires. Cool! But I don’t know what is normal. Give me a simple Green/Yellow/Red. Same with charge. Most people don’t know how many gallons of gas their car holds. If these GM designers had it their way, it would say five gallons. Is that a lot? Not enough? That’s why GAUGES were invented!
It is this sloppy “reinvent the wheel” mentality without understanding why things exist like this in the first place that makes this interface dumb.
Bells and whistles mean nothing if you can’t give me important and RELEVANT information.
Weird that the Honda Blazer… erm… Prologue… is able to have Google Built-In as well as Car Play and Android Auto…why, it’s almost as if GM *wants* you to not be able to rely on something that brings them no revenue.
This subject needs an Anti-trust Lawyer to review it and a a Lawsuit to follow. No manufacturer can force clients who chose to have Apple Technology stack in their household and force them to use Android base ecosystem running on clunky OnStar BROKEN ecosystem with cellular provider of GM choice. that is pure none-sense in my area ony 10% of celluar provider work properly , our area is a blackhole to the 90% rest of cellular providers. GM should open the option so Customers use their Phone of choice or worst case scenario offer to use your SIM that works for your area, like any cellular family plans etc…
Makes it even less likely that I will ever buy another car made by GM.