General Motors' decision to ditch Apple CarPlay in its new electric vehicles is part of a larger battle for control of the vehicle infotainment center.
Nearly a decade after most automakers touted smartphone mirroring through CarPlay and Android Auto as a standard feature, many wonder if they surrendered an important part of the car to big tech and are looking to reclaim the vehicle interface before Apple can expand its reach.
The automakers are emulating newcomers such as Tesla and Rivian Automotive, which opted to develop their own advanced interfaces instead of mirroring a smartphone screen. They want to claim an attractive revenue stream — subscriptions to software features sold to drivers directly through the infotainment center.
GM said this year that it won't support CarPlay in its upcoming EVs but will leave it for now in combustion engine vehicles.
"This is a go-forward strategy focused on future EVs," said Anna Yu, a GM spokesperson.
It is a dramatic reversal for the automaker.
"For most of us, our smartphones are essential," CEO Mary Barra said in 2015. "Partnering with Apple and Google to offer CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility across the widest range of models in the industry is a great example of how Chevrolet continues to democratize technology that's important to our customers."
The campaign to privatize that democracy will require conquering the so-far-undefeated empire of user attention: Apple. It will also require recovering from clunky displays and soothing consumers fatigued by a never-ending stream of subscription payments and logins, from Amazon Prime to Netflix.
"I intend to only consider a car that's going to have Apple CarPlay in it," said Prentis Reedy, a driver in Houston who changed his mind about his next vehicle once he learned that GM won't offer Apple CarPlay in the 2025 Sierra EV Denali.
Most new cars sold in the U.S. — more than 98 percent — support CarPlay.
As of December, iPhones accounted for 57 percent of the smartphone market in the U.S., according to Counterpoint, a technology research firm.
Retention rates for Apple users are "well north of 90 percent," said Angelo Zino, vice president of CFRA Research, an investment research firm. In other words, Apple users are usually Apple users for life.
"They have the most loyal consumers on the planet," said Zino. "The decision to walk away from an Apple brand, especially in the U.S. market, is just not a smart move in my view."
GM is undaunted.
"We understand there is high familiarity with phone projection systems, but we are confident that as our EV customers become more familiar with this purpose-built, integrated system, they will find it easy to use and recognize its many capabilities and benefits," said GM's Yu.
GM is designing its new interface using Android Automotive, Google's open-source software development kit. It is a different product from Android Auto, Google's automotive phone mirroring software. Other vehicles using Android Automotive include the Polestar 2, Volvo's XC40 Recharge P8 and Renault's Megane E-Tech.
About half of the light vehicles sold in the U.S. this year are projected to contain an infotainment center running on Android Automotive, according to SBD Automotive, a research and consulting firm.
For now, some automakers say they will retain support for CarPlay while improving the native infotainment center.
Honda customers "find value in our support" of CarPlay and Android Auto, and the automaker "will continue to offer a range of high-quality, interactive solutions to provide value to our customers that match their own technology choices," spokesperson Chris Abbruzzese told Automotive News.
Polestar plans to continue supporting Apple CarPlay and Android Auto "for the foreseeable future," said JP Canton, a spokesperson.
For years, automakers toiled in vain to design workable infotainment centers. They had to predict the future, imagining the world in five years to build hardware that could support navigation and music of seemingly unlimited source and file type.
That resulted in early interfaces that were "universally pretty bad," said Alex Oyler, director of SBD Automotive, North America.
Meanwhile, cellphones developed more quickly, with sleek screens, intuitive navigation menus and coherent voice responses in the dulcet tones of a Delta flight attendant. And they were updated constantly with ever-improving music apps and navigation.
But at 2022's Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple revealed that the next iteration of CarPlay will include instrument clusters that show driving speed and fuel level, and integrate climate-control functions.
For some automakers, that "was validation of fears that some of the tech giants have ambitions beyond just the smartphone projection and want to essentially take over the user experience in the car," said Oyler.
Startups such as Rivian and Tesla have long been anti-CarPlay. Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO, has said that he sees Apple as a "direct" competitor, and RJ Scaringe, Rivian's CEO, has said that the company wants to "be the arbiter or head chef" instead of "handing over control" of the in-car software experience.
Yu described GM's move as a "strategic decision" to create "a more seamless, built-in infotainment experience."
But it's also about money.
GM has said it expects up to $25 billion in annual revenue from software and subscriptions.
McKinsey & Co. estimates that companies across the auto supply chain could generate between $250 billion and $400 billion in annual incremental value, in the form of sales and cost savings, by 2030 through "car-data monetization." This includes strategies such as offering software on demand.
If important features are delivered through software, there is "potential for a different revenue stream," said Stephanie Brinley, associate director, auto intelligence for S&P Global Mobility. "You should, in theory, be able to sell new features and upgrades."
Tesla, for example, charges $199 per month to upgrade from Basic Autopilot to its Full Self-Driving driving assistance feature and $3,000 a year for a diagnostic software subscription.
Rivian, which originally provided a bundle of benefits such as charging services, wireless connectivity and roadside assistance for free, said the company is "moving away from the bundled Membership model and will begin offering services in more of an a la carte fashion." In a 2021 SEC filing, Rivian said each car has the potential to generate revenue from "a monthly subscription plan for infotainment, connectivity, diagnostics, and other services valued at $5,500" for the lifetime of the vehicle.
For GM's new infotainment center, it will pay to license Google Maps and Google Assistant — free to drivers for eight years, the company said, though it's not clear what will happen after.
Audi drivers can pay $85 a month for navigation through Audi connect PLUS, which includes satellite map imagery and a 3D city view.
GM EV drivers will still be able to connect their phones for calls and music using Bluetooth, and "there are no plans to make this important and basic capability a paid feature," GM's Yu said.
While subscription revenue sounds appealing, automakers face another obstacle.
Americans are generally exhausted with the cost and number of their subscription services. Video subscription growth has slowed, and nearly half of consumers said they pay too much for streaming, according to Deloitte's 2023 digital media trends report.
An April 2022 survey by Cox Automotive found that three-quarters of consumers would not pay an annual or monthly fee for most items in their next vehicle, and they expect features such as lane-keeping assist and heated seats to be built into the upfront sales price.
Only a fifth of consumers surveyed had tried auto subscription services, including free trials.
The integrations that exclude CarPlay will also have to be significantly better than mobile phone mirroring to succeed — especially navigation, which is available free through smartphones in exchange for user data.
"The general public is correct to have a 'prove-it' attitude about this," Oyler said.
Some drivers will wait and see how the interface looks. Seth Roseman of York, Pa., who was previously interested in a Chevy Equinox EV, will be keeping an eye on the ease of navigating the infotainment menus and the size of the icons.
"I want to see what it looks like before I commit," he said.
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