Re-title: Apple isn't the only one to blame, car companies are also to blame, CarPlay loses favor

Apple has been ridiculed by us for saying that it cannot build cars, but in fact, it has been secretly operating in the automotive industry to "build good cars" for car companies

At WWDC in 2022, Apple announced that 98 % of U.S. cars support CarPlay, and 79% of U.S. consumers say they will only buy cars that support CarPlay. Apple’s mobile phone market share is close to 60%, which means that most of its users have a certain reliance on efficient car-machine collaboration

Apple does not have its own car, but it has achieved such a high market share and user stickiness in the automotive field.If Apple takes action, wouldn’t all car companies have to become a “fruit chain”?

Rewritten in Chinese as follows: Just kidding, CarPlay’s influence in the automotive industry is so great thanks to Apple’s deep understanding of interaction and multi-device ecology. When using CarPlay in the car, the operating logic is exactly the same as that of the iPhone, the learning cost is low, and there is almost nothing to fault about the use experience. Everyone likes CarPlay precisely because Apple has solved the shortcomings of automobile companies in the field of intelligence

However, as the times change, more and more automobile companies focusing on the new energy field have begun to advocate Ditch CarPlay and Android Auto. General Motors is a pioneer in the traditional American brand camp. When Cadillac released the pure electric version of the Escalade IQ, The Verge confirmed to General Motors that the Escalade IQ did not support Apple CarPlay. and Google's Android Auto, but supports its own proprietary car system

(picture from Cadillac) Escalade IQ How did the proprietary car-machine system come into being? General Motors uses Google's Android Automotive platform for development, which can essentially be regarded as an "Android system"

does not rely on third-party vehicle systems. In the short term, it means that General Motors will give up those "Android systems" Is it really right for General Motors to do this to the user group who “buy a car for CarPlay”?

Traditional car companies are awakening,

Apple CarPlay is imminentOn April 1, 2023, General Motors announced that from this year Begins to phase out Apple's CarPlay and Google's Android Auto, switching to first-party car systems co-developed with Google

In addition to Cadillac's Escalade IQ, General Motors is also phasing out Apple's CarPlay and Google's Android Auto ,

Starting from the new Chevrolet Blazer EV launched this summer, subsequent new cars will no longer provide CarPlay and Android Auto natively. This elimination plan will be deployed to fuel vehicles starting in 2035.

(Picture from Cadillac) Will General Motors still produce fuel vehicles in 2035? In fact, General Motors has earlier launched some fuel models that natively support third-party in-vehicle systems such as CarPlay, but within General Motors, this issue has not been prioritized as a high priority for elimination. This does not mean that General Motors will still produce fuel vehicles in 2035. Both iOS users and Android users must purchase models that support CarPlay and Android Auto. So, will existing GM vehicles that support third-party car systems Will it appreciate in value in the second-hand market? If this doesn’t happen, it means these users are just paying lip service

(Picture from Cadillac)

As expected, General Motors’ bold decision attracted dissatisfaction from the outside world. Directly canceling CarPlay and Android Auto will result in users being able to connect to the vehicle only through Bluetooth and not being able to cast the screen through the interconnection function of the mobile phone. This will instead lead to a gap in the "communication" between the car and the mobile phone, which may restrict the use of some functions

In fact, GM is not the only traditional car company to "retire" CarPlay. The 2020 or 2020 models of BMW, Ford and other manufacturers have Later models will no longer have built-in CarPlay

On the one hand, it may be that overseas car companies have been affected by the new forces in China’s car manufacturing in terms of intelligence and have increased their investment in the research and development of smart cars. Today’s availability It is already as good as third-party products like CarPlay, and provides more operating space on top of it. There is no need to continue Apple and Google.

On the other hand, CarPlay and Android Auto have similar features to "Screen Casting" and can only provide similar Functions such as phone calls, navigation, infotainment, and simple voice assistants are not deeply integrated with the car, and are more suitable to make up for the lack of intelligence in old traditional models. However, using CarPlay on smart cars is an "insult" to the first-party car engine

So you see, how many domestically produced cars support CarPlay?Because the vehicle-machine system interaction of domestic new energy forces is mature enough and easy to use, and they have a complete software service system, they even disdain to look at third-party transitional products with poor integration capabilities.

It is normal for car companies to not do smart things before and often rely on third parties to stay competitive. But now times have changed. First-party independent car systems are becoming more and more competitive. Third-party screen projection car systems such as Apple CarPlay and Google Android Auto have gradually lost the favor of car companies. First-party independent car systems have gradually lost the favor of car companies. is the mainstream direction of new energy vehicles in the future

For these gradually abandoned There are two options for third-party car systems: one is to cooperate with car companies to build it into a smart cockpit solution; the other is to build the car yourself

Apple Car may be CarPlay The only way out

Although Apple stated at the WWDC conference that the next generation CarPlay system will be more deeply bound to vehicle hardware,With the deep integration of electrification architecture and software, CarPlay will also It can display power, fuel level, speed, air conditioning and other working status, and can even directly control the vehicle.

In this case, CarPlay is no longer just an in-car entertainment system, but a smart cockpit launched by Apple, which is similar to the Hongmeng Smart Cockpit and is a vehicle-wide smart solution. As long as car companies have in-depth cooperation with Apple and open interfaces, it can be regarded as an "Apple car"

But it is obvious that not many car companies are willing to do such a business. The cars of the future will be driven by software Definitely, if the software aspect is controlled by Apple, the road for car companies will also be narrowed.Apple may not be able to build a real car, but it has a lot of patents and software. Car companies that value commercial secrets will definitely want to do everything themselves.

Besides, if the operating logic of smart cars in the future is educated by Apple , then other car companies will have no choice but to follow Apple's lead. The latest generation of Apple Car Play has been released for 10 months, but so far I have not heard of any car companies using it

Of course, car companies value profits most, and using CarPlay means that you need to ask Apple Pay a protection fee and follow some of Apple's usage standards. This means that each car needs to be MFI certified, and the price of MFI certified chips is US$3 each, plus 17% VAT. The greater the shipment volume of a car company, the more licensing fees it pays to Apple

In order to cope with BMW, which cannot bear this part of the expenditure, the car company chose to pass on the cost to consumers, becoming the first A car company that adopts the CarPlay subscription model

This fee is really expensive. Users can choose to purchase it once or pay annually. The option price of the former is 300 US dollars, while the latter is 80 US dollars. USD/year (first year free). Although everyone thinks this is unreasonable, the annual licensing fee paid by car companies to Apple is not a small amount, unless they build their own first-party in-vehicle system

This is a good explanation of why General Motors Choosing to once again emphasize that CarPlay and Android Auto are not supported natively on the Cadillac Escalade IQ.However, if users insist on using it, Xiaotong believes that there is still a certain way to crack it, which is not difficult for some experts.

Under this trend, Apple and Google’s influence in the automotive field is getting smaller and smaller, and they may eventually disappear directly. The only hope for the development of CarPlay may be pinned on Apple cars.

This content comes from the WeChat public account: Dianchetong (ID: dianchetong233), the author is the tea governor

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