Cupertino no longer races (by car). Apple Car remains in the garage and CarPlay 2 is dumped by car manufacturers
Apple is discovering the hard way that the automotive world is not easy to scale: after the cancellation of its self-driving electric car, the CarPlay 2 on-board software disappeared from the radar and would have been left alone by some big brands that they prefer to do it themselves without giving data to third parties. Facts, statements and indiscretions
What happened to CarPlay 2? It was supposed to revolutionize the way we approach smart mobility. Yet the software, announced in 2022 to be marketed at the end of the following year, instead disappeared from all Apple events, including the last one on September 9th . How come?
WHAT IS CARPLAY 2?
CarPlay 2 was shown not as the canonical software that overlaps with the infotainment system of the car you drive – therefore it will not be the classic IT appendage to be used if you do not want to resort to the proprietary system – but as a program capable of integrating perfectly with the on-board computer, effectively becoming its user interface.
In short, through the Apple program, the driver should have been able to control the main functions, from the radio to the climate control. Furthermore, thanks to a continuous exchange of data from the car, CarPlay should have been able to show information that is usually found on the dashboard, such as speed, fuel level, temperature and related warning lights, etc…
SOFTWARE TOO CURIOUS?
A sort of benevolent "virus" that would have insinuated itself into the on-board software – naturally only with the brands that in the meantime would have had to enter into partnerships with Apple – in the hope, nourished by Cupertino, that the car manufacturers would prefer to continue making cars, delegating technological development to third parties. In Cupertino, precisely.
THE PETROL OF THE THIRD MILLENNIUM? THE DATA
The problem is that in the last 24 months car manufacturers have begun to realize that private mobility as we have known it could be on its last legs, perhaps replaced by the sharing economy.
Or, in any case, even those who make cars have understood the importance of data: so many, infinite, capable of moving and making the economies of the Web flourish. Why not use it personally, given a car market that is becoming more asphyxiated?
For car brands it remains necessary to prepare systems capable of communicating with Apple (particularly widespread in America) and Android, but there is no longer all this enthusiasm to leave the steering wheel, in the software field, to Cupertino and co.
MERCEDES DOWNLOAD APPLE CARPLAY 2
Proof of this is that the CEO of Mercedes-Benz, Ola Källenius , one of the major automotive brands initially included in Apple's presentation, stated bluntly : “Give up the entire cockpit in favor of someone else? The answer is no."
The American newspaper Wired , which heard from some of the brands that intended to collaborate with Apple, reports that Porsche has no longer had any updates on the launch date, while Aston Martin refers to Apple for any news.
CUPERTINO TRY AGAIN
It seems that Cupertino has taken advantage of the criticisms made by brands in the automotive world by implementing options that will allow car manufacturers to maintain some control over the interface, thanks to a feature called "punch-through UI". But apparently the situation does not seem to have been resolved, if CarPlay 2 continues to be missing in September 2024.
OVERTAKING THE ASIAN BRANDS?
With the entry into the automotive world of Asian hi-tech brands such as Huawei ( which has allied itself with Audi ) and Xiaomi , it seems increasingly difficult for Apple to dominate that market too. Furthermore, some manufacturers have decided to do it themselves, such as General Motors which has announced that it will continue to use a proprietary operating system for its smart cars. Volkswagen, with the exception of the aforementioned Porsche, slowed down by the internal hi-tech division Cariad, should – according to rumors – turn to Chinese technological solutions.
In short, Apple is discovering at its own expense that the car sector is not as scalable as it thought: after the cancellation of Project Titan, the self-driving electric car made in Cupertino which was supposed to rival the Asian giants, the slowdown of CarPlay 2 represents another blow for Big Tech USA in the world of four wheels.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/apple-carplay-2-cosa-succede/ on Sun, 15 Sep 2024 15:28:47 +0000.