Earlier this yr, GM introduced its plans to ditch CarPlay in its electrical automobiles in favor of a customized infotainment system developed by GM in tandem with Google.
On the time, GM’s causes for doing this appeared fairly clear. Like most such strikes, it was a matter of following the cash. GM stated it needed to construct a system that “will likely be extra tightly built-in with different automobile programs equivalent to GM’s Tremendous Cruise driver assistant,” which may additionally gather information on driving habits and probably result in an additional $20-25 billion in annual income by pushing GM automobile house owners to a subscription mannequin for its companies.
Nevertheless, one GM government could have put his foot in his mouth extra lately by attempting to cowl the corporate’s actual intentions by offering one more reason. In accordance with Tim Babbitt, GM’s head of product for infotainment, GM’s new infotainment system is supposedly all about driver security.
At a press occasion for the brand new Chevy Blazer EV, Babbitt informed MotorTrend that CarPlay and Android Auto are issues for security as a result of they encourage drivers to choose up their telephones extra typically, leading to driver distraction.
In accordance with Babbitt, CarPlay and Android Auto have stability points that manifest themselves as unhealthy connections, poor rendering, gradual responses, and dropped connections. And when CarPlay and Android Auto have points, drivers decide up their telephones once more, taking their eyes off the highway and completely defeating the aim of those phone-mirroring packages. MotorTrend
In accordance with Babbitt, GM believes that by forcing customers to do the whole lot by its personal built-in programs, they gained’t be tempted to choose up their telephones, protecting their eyes on the highway as an alternative. Babbitt admitted to MotorTrend that GM hasn’t examined this thesis even within the lab, a lot much less the true world, however “believes it has potential if prospects go for it.”
When MotorTrend requested Babbitt why plugging the telephones in wouldn’t overcome a number of the connection points he spoke of, Babbitt defined that even a bodily connection doesn’t clear up the issue, as “ iPhones […] undergo from backwards compatibility points that trigger older iPhone fashions to have bother working CarPlay constantly.”
Babbitt additionally cited information from J.D. Energy that implies most automobile house owners are likely to blame the producer when CarPlay (or Android Auto) fails to work correctly, which might be one of many different basic the explanation why GM desires to section the system out — it’s bored with buyer complaints with CarPlay and Android Auto dragging down its buyer satisfaction scores.
Nonetheless, it appears Babbitt could have spoken out of flip — or, on the very least, GM determined it wanted to stroll these statements again and do a bit of harm management after a big a part of the business discovered the “security” claims to be considerably laughable.
Shortly after MotorTrend revealed Babbitt’s feedback, a GM spokesperson contacted the publication in an try to “make clear” his remarks, saying the corporate’s place was “misrepresented” and reinforcing its “valued partnerships with Apple and Google and every firm’s dedication to driver security.”
In the meantime, GM doesn’t appear to be having a lot success with its new system. As 9to5Mac lately reported, reviewers haven’t been impressed with the brand new 2024 Chevy Blazer EV — GM’s poster little one for a CarPlay-free world — with Edmunds and InsideEVs each reporting severe issues starting from {hardware} failures to poor experiences with the in-car infotainment system equivalent to infinite reboot loops and system crashes leading to one driver spending 20 minutes on the facet of the highway troubleshooting the system. However a minimum of GM can say they didn’t have to choose up their iPhones whereas driving.