GM is removing CarPlay, and now this story that they are dropping support for in car infotainment apps for cars that are 5-7 years old. Are consumers really going to buy their cars? I won’t consider a new car that doesn’t offer CarPlay/android auto.
This is everything that is wrong with "smart" devices. Just give me a normal radio with Bluetooth capabilities, especially if you're unwilling to support something for the reasonable life of your product.
CarPlay/Android Auto is how you can get a modern infotainment system on a car that's a decade old. A new phone - a fraction of the cost of a new car - and you get access to all the new shiny stuff. That also means that people are less incentivized to upgrade a car that has CarPlay/Android Auto support - probably exactly the reason why GM wants to drop support for them.
Why isn't there still no HID or touch coordinate feedback feature in HDMI? That would solve this problem once and for all. There are Ethernet over HDMI, CEC(IR remote), ARC for audio, but not USB or touch. That seems like a mildly big oversight.
The title "GM Deprecating In-Car App Store for Models as Recent as 2020" is not the real title, which is "These GM Vehicles Can No Longer Download Apps Through Their Infotainment System"
I'll also point out that "deprecate" is not a fancy synonym for "shutting down"; it means that something is discouraged and might be removed in the future. GM is not deprecating the app store; they are removing access.
Its moves like these that make me bet on Tesla. They are miles ahead of legacy auto when it comes to technology and I'm not even referring to any of the self driving stuff (which is also miles ahead of anything else). I feel more and more vehicles are moving from complex mechanical machines with crap software slapped on top to computers on wheels. Back to the Tesla example, the entire car is designed around the software and the hardware that software runs on. We live in a world now where most car buyers grew up with smartphones and everything IoT under the sun and in another 20-30 years every car buyer will have grown up in that world. The younger generation expects good tech in their car. If you have a legacy auto, when was the last time you got an update to the infotainment system? I've owned a model y for a year and half now and in that time have had 36 updates averaging an update every 16 days. I can honestly say my car has gotten better since I bought it. New features like adaptive headlights, more streaming music and podcast apps. new UI, etc. A buddy of mine has a 2018 model s and is still getting software updates and new features. What legacy auto car from 7 years ago is still getting software updates?
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 38.6 ms ] threadThe infotainment only adds to reasons to not buy GM.
Who is forcing your hand here.
I'll also point out that "deprecate" is not a fancy synonym for "shutting down"; it means that something is discouraged and might be removed in the future. GM is not deprecating the app store; they are removing access.