Among all of Apple’s achievements, one of the most underrated has been making driving less miserable. Before Apple CarPlay debuted, about a decade ago, drivers were stuck with whatever clunky tech features were preloaded into their car. By projecting a simplified iPhone layout onto the car’s central screen, CarPlay lets you use apps such as Apple Maps and Spotify without fumbling for your phone, make hands-free calls, and dictate text messages. It is seamless, free, and loved by millions of iPhone owners.
Now one of the world’s biggest car companies is taking it away. Last month, General Motors CEO Mary Barra announced that new cars made by the auto giant won’t support CarPlay and its counterpart, Android Auto. Ditching smartphone mirroring may seem to make as much sense as removing cup holders: Recent preliminary data from AutoPacific, a research firm, suggest that CarPlay and Android Auto are considered must-have features among many new-car shoppers. But according to GM, the company can create an even better experience for drivers by dropping Apple and making its own software. And like it or not, the move says a lot about where the auto industry is headed.
GM has gone as far as invoking Apple in defending its decision: Remove a feature, such as the disk drive on a laptop, and people eventually adapt and move on. A GM spokesperson told me that the change “will happen over time, not overnight” and “if your car supports Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, that will continue.” Before its announcement, GM had already nixed CarPlay and Android Auto in many of its electric vehicles (although it kept the software in its gas-powered vehicles, which GM sells many more of). In my experience test-driving GM’s new EVs, the company’s replacement software is indeed impressive. It’s fast and easy to use, and it offers apps such as Spotify, HBO Max, and, soon, a voice assistant powered by Google’s Gemini. But it’s not CarPlay. Some popular apps are missing, such as Apple Podcasts and Apple Music.
There is one other crucial difference. Because GM’s software isn’t tied to a phone like CarPlay is, access to the full suite of software requires its own data plan—through GM, of course. (The cheapest plan costs $10 a month.) Get used to these kinds of subscriptions, regardless of what kind of car you drive. In recent years, automakers have realized how much money they can make from in-car technology: Maybe they charge a subscription fee for hands-free highway cruise control (GM has already had considerable success with that). Maybe they charge for apps that let you control aspects of the car from your phone. Or maybe they sell data that your navigation system collects about where you go and what you do.
Whatever the case, car companies are moving beyond making money only when they sell you a car. For GM, eliminating Apple as a middleman provides more opportunities to charge for things. “It’s a turf war, and the car is real estate,” Craig Daitch, an auto-industry analyst and a former GM marketing manager, told me. Tech-first car start-ups such as Tesla and Rivian have never offered CarPlay; the latter argues its own systems are better without the software. (Even so, plenty of owners have hacked work-arounds to add it over the years.)
Although GM is the largest automaker that is ditching CarPlay, other car brands are also locking features behind a paywall. Toyota has some navigation tools that require a subscription, but CarPlay does about the same thing at no cost. I own an older Mazda with a remote-start feature that works every time I hit a button on my key fob; on my newer electric Kia, I have to pay up to $200 a year if I want to unlock that service. (I haven’t yet; in fact, study after study shows that consumers are broadly skeptical of more subscription features.)
Some automakers have made a point of proclaiming their allegiance to CarPlay, knowing that’s what buyers want. Toyota’s EVs tell CarPlay how much electric range they have left, so that Apple Maps can prompt the driver to stop at a nearby charger on a road trip. But the relationship between Detroit and Silicon Valley can be a tense one. Apple sees tremendous value in expanding its presence in your car: The next step is CarPlay Ultra, which enables your phone to control more of your car. Want to fiddle with the temperature? Ask Siri to do it. It’s an Apple lover’s dream and a car company’s worst nightmare. If that feature catches on, companies will just be makers of rolling shells for tech companies. One executive for the French automaker Renault was reportedly blunt with Apple: “Don’t try to invade our own system.” (Apple declined to comment.)
No matter what car you drive, the glory days of CarPlay may be numbered. For the auto industry, there’s just too much money to be made from creating their own versions. Get ready for a day when your car’s technology expenses are another line item on the credit-card statement, right next to the Netflix subscription.
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