GM Once Again Trying to Explain Its Decision to Drop CarPlay in New Electric Vehicles

American automaker General Motors (GM) announced this would happen last year. CarPlay support is being phased out and Android Auto prefer its own software platform called Ultifi for its new electric vehicles. The decision has been quite controversial, with many drivers seeing CarPlay as a must-have feature in a new vehicle. For example, in 2022, Apple said 79% of US buyers would consider a vehicle that only works with CarPlay.

To make matters worse, GM’s launch of the Ultifi went pretty poorly; Some of the first to review the Chevrolet Blazer EV last year experienced technical issues with the platform. Some of these issues have since been resolved, but it’s clear that the automaker may not be as effective at software development as a tech company like Apple.

One Statement shared with MacRumors Last year, GM said its software strategy was “driven by the benefits of having a system that allows for better integration with the larger GM ecosystem and vehicles.” So the automaker wants to control the entire in-car experience, which is both a logical and risky decision.

In a recent interview with thresholdNilay PatelBarış Çetinok, GM’s senior vice president of software, also tried to defend the automaker’s decision to phase out CarPlay. According to his LinkedIn profile, Çetinok worked at Apple from 2012 to 2021, leading the launch of Apple Pay, Find My, iCloud Drive and more.

Cetinok joined GM months after announcing its decision to phase out CarPlay and Android Auto, but unsurprisingly he stands behind the automaker’s decision. He told Patel that GM “strongly believes” that creating the entire in-car experience provides a “better customer experience” with “end-to-end magic.”

2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV with GM’s Ultifi software platform

“But we have a strong belief that the effort will pay off for a better customer experience,” said Cetinok. on decoder podcast. “You’re getting the most out of your vehicle because we’re now the company that produces the vehicle and also creates the infotainment experience, the cluster experience, the app and everything else. We’ll build that one day, and maybe the only way to create that end-to-end magic is if you want to have it all.” It’s about having a strong belief.”

He said GM wants to deliver a seamless experience that doesn’t require switching in and out of phone mirroring systems like CarPlay and Android Auto.

“When you want to create something this seamless, it’s hard to think about getting in a car and saying, ‘OK, I’m towing a trailer on the highway, but let me switch to a completely different user interface to select my podcast.'” said Cetinok. “By the way, this is one app-obsessed interface; it’s still hard to believe. So I select my podcast and go back to the trailer. Ah, now I can do the Super Cruise trailer too. Let me direct that. So wait, now it’s potentially Level 3, We’re getting into Level 4 levels of autonomy, which should be deeply integrated into the conversation with the map where the lanes are, but wait a minute, the map I’m using isn’t actually talking to my car.”

Full transcript of the interview is available with more CarPlay commentary Open threshold.