Electric GM Cars Will No Longer Support Apple CarPlay and Android Auto

General Motors said it will kill support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in its future lineup of electric vehicles, Reuters reports(Opens in a new window). 

The move means that iPhone or Android owners will no longer be able to mirror their phone’s screens in a GM dashboard display, though gas-powered models, which GM will continue to produce until 2035, will still offer CarPlay and Auto.

The 2024 Chevrolet Blazer will be the first GM EV that will no longer offer the features. GM will instead provide its own navigation and infotainment systems which it has been designing with Google since 2019. As Reuters notes, the Google collaboration will be more tightly integrated with GM’s Super Cruise driver assistant and will include access to Google Maps and Google’s voice assistant, at no extra cost to the vehicle owner for eight years.

The decision comes after Chevrolet once advertised itself as being the brand that offered more models with CarPlay or Android Auto than any other US car brand.

As Reuters reports, the killing of CarPlay and Android Auto support comes as GM pushes ahead with a strategy for its EVs to be platforms for digital subscription services. Services and applications its infotainment system will offer also include Spotify and Audible, Amazon’s audio-book platform. 

GM’s Chief Executive Mary Barra is reportedly said to be aiming for between $20 and $25 billion in annual revenue from such subscriptions by 2030.  

Speaking on the decision, Edward Kummer, GM’s Chief Digital Officer, said: “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 [a] person having a cellphone.”

GM told Reuters that drivers of future electric models will still be able to listen to music or make phone calls on iPhones or Android smartphones using Bluetooth.

In an interview last week, also with Reuters, GM’s Vice President for Software Scott Miller said “ChatGPT could be in everything” — including its cars. Though GM has not confirmed a working relationship with OpenAI, it’s been reported the carmaker could integrate ChatGPT technology to help a driver pull up information from a vehicle manual, or even schedule an appointment at a car repair shop.