Recently, according to overseas media reports, the U.S. Department of Justice filed an 88-page antitrust lawsuit against Apple, including the widely used CarPlay car-computer interconnection system.
The lawsuit stated: “The CarPlay application adopts a restrictive strategy, and Apple intends to prevent interconnection with other mobile phones, thus allowing users to further lock out the relevant functions of the iPhone.”
It is worth noting that the antitrust lawsuit also mentions the next-generation CarPlay system. The new-generation CarPlay is deeply integrated with car hardware and can provide content for multiple screens in the vehicle and allow users to perform operations such as controlling the radio directly through CarPlay. , and use features such as vehicle data. The U.S. Department of Justice believes that this deeper interconnection will undoubtedly further enhance Apple’s monopoly.
In addition, the U.S. Department of Justice also believes that CarPlay reduces the incentive for automakers to innovate because automakers are forced to share data with Apple and cannot differentiate themselves.
As early as June 2022, Apple launched the latest generation of Carplay system. According to the display at the conference, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Nissan, Ford, Lincoln, Audi, Jaguar, Acura, Volvo, Honda, Renault, Infiniti and Polestar are all partners.
At the end of 2023, General Motors said it would abandon Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and instead develop its own software to avoid the “distraction” problems that these two connected technologies bring to drivers.
However, some people believe that CarPlay does not mean a monopoly. Sam Abuelsamid, chief analyst and vehicle software expert at Guidehouse Insights in the United States, said that car manufacturers still need to build a basic software interface so that car owners can adjust the air conditioner, change radio stations or operate local Navigation map. They can’t assume that every car owner has a smartphone, let alone an iPhone, the car needs to be able to operate without a smartphone.
