After automakers GM and Rivian announced they would not support CarPlay, Apple has recently announced that more than 800 models in the U.S. market now support CarPlay to meet the varying needs of consumers, in an effort to boost the confidence of automakers and consumers.
Apple’s website in China still shows over 600 models, and it’s expected that the data will be updated later.
At last year’s WWDC developer conference, Apple said that 79% of US buyers would only consider buying a CarPlay-compatible model and that it covered 98% of vehicles sold in the US. Apple proudly announced at the conference that “CarPlay has become standard for US car owners”.
Apple plans to launch a new generation of CarPlay later this year that will send content to multiple displays in the vehicle, allowing users to control radio stations, adjust the environment in the car and more directly through CarPlay in-car.
In addition, users will be able to personalise their driving experience through the next generation of CarPlay, choosing a different dashboard display. The new generation of CarPlay Car also adds support for widgets, so users will be able to view a quick overview of the Weather App and Music App directly on the vehicle’s dashboard.
However, GM and Rivian have announced that CarPlay will not be supported summarised the news as follows:
GM:
In an interview with The Verge, Scott Miller, GM’s vice president of software-defined vehicles and operating systems, said he believes Android Auto and Apple CarPlay aren’t the best infotainment experience, but rather a stopgap measure.
He said that consumer demand for these two systems reflects their desire for a better infotainment experience, but that these projection systems are not the end of the line. He believes that consumers will abandon Android Auto and Apple CarPlay if they can provide a better native experience.
Rivian:
RJ Scaringe, CEO of car company Rivian, recently made it clear that its electric cars will not be adapted to Apple CarPlay.
Scaringe responded that Rivian does not want to hand over control of its in-car systems to a company like Apple, but rather wants to build its own in-car experience, one that it can control:
Rivian wants to integrate multiple top platforms, whether it’s music or mapping, and Rivian still has to play the role of arbiter or chef as it moves forward to upgrade the experience and to have enough control over the in-car system. And that’s an important part of enhancing the user experience, and we’re not going to hand it over to another company.
