General Motors dropping Apple CarPlay, Android Auto for safety; issues cause drivers to pick up phones

General Motors plans to stop offering Apple CarPlay and Android Auto on its future electric vehicles beginning with the Chevrolet Blazer, Motor Trend reported.

According to the carmaker, safety was the key factor over the removal of said smartphone integration systems, specifically to eliminate driver distraction by phone usage at the controls of the vehicle, said GM head of infotainment product Tim Babbitt.

This is due to stability issues that show themselves as bad or dropped connections, poor rendering and slow responses, and drivers will pick up their mobile devices when the Apple CarPlay or Android Auto functionality runs into these issues, wrote Motor Trend.

The idea is that if drivers were to handle these functions through the vehicle’s built-in system, they would be less likely to pick up their phones, be less distracted and therefore be safer at the wheel of their vehicle, said Babbitt, though admitting that he theory has not been tested either in laboratory conditions or in the real world. However, he believes this approach has potential if customers go for this.

Meanwhile, the carmaker also said that it does not want its car’s features to be dependent on the users’ mobile devices. We have a lot of new driver assistance features coming that are more tightly coupled with navigation. We don’t want to design these features in a way that are dependent on person having a cellphone,” GM executive director of digital cockpit experience Mike Hichme told Reuters.

While the carmaker plans to drop Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for its EVs in the future, it has been working with Google since 2019 for infotainment systems that are more tightly integrated with other vehicle systems, such as its Supercruise driver assistance suite.

General Motors’ future EVs with the new system will have access to Google Maps and Google Assistant, as well as a voice command system for free for eight years, GM was cited by Reuters as saying.

Its Ultifi infotainment setup runs the Android Automotive operating system, which supports apps including Spotify, Audible and more, wrote Reuters. However, GM plans to continue offering Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity on its combustion-engined models.

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