GM wants to drop Apple Car Play and Android Auto for an in-house set-up - but maybe not on Chevrolet product presently sold here.

RIPPLE effect from General Motors’ determination to drop Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in favour of an in-house system might not hit New Zealand-destined product for years yet.

That’s the vibe from the local arm of General Motors Speciality Vehicles, which presently serves NZ with two Chevrolets, the Corvette factory-built in right-hook and Silverado full-sized pick-up, converted from left-hand-drive in Australia.

The Australia-overseen national operation intends to enhance the Corvette fleet that presently limits to the standard and ZO6 types to a hybrid, marrying the current mainstream models’ 6.2-litre V8 petrol to an electric assist. 

In the longer term, sometime after it rolls onto US roads in 2025, an all-electric Corvette is planned for national release.

In 2025, GMSV will also add the Denali eight-seater sports utility, which derives from Silverado, again in petrol V8.

All those products run the third-party phone apps through their infotainment and General Motors has not indicated changes for that architecture.

Whether that holds true, also, for the all-electric Cadillac incoming in 2024, the Lyriq, is not entirely clear. Lyriq launched in North America last year with Car Play and Android Auto.

For now, the only product that is definitely engineered for the new in-house system, called Ultifi, is the Chevrolet Blazer (pictured), on the same electric platform as Lyriq.

It is presumed Blazer could become an export product, and might well be welcomed by the seven-strong GMSV national franchise network, given it has been excluded from representing Cadillac, which will instead operate as a standalone entity here. 

At present Blazer is solely for North America.

Ultifi is certainly different to Car Play, which has become a standard feature in many cars sold in New Zealand, moreso than Android Auto, though the latter has also become entrenched. 

The highest profile hold-out here for years was Toyota, which insisted that it could develop a better in-house provision than the services, whose inclusion into cars requires paying a licensing fee. Ultimately, though, Japan’s top maker surrendered to Apple. 

Ultifi isn’t actually wholly in-house, either, as it uses Google apps built right into the system, like Google Maps and Assistant, which GM hopes customers will use for more voice controls. It can handle things like calls and texts, and it can control the audio and climate systems.

GM says the new way will prove to be “compelling”, but has so far had trouble convincing anyone of any obvious benefits.

Recently, it began claiming that Apple CarPlay and Android Auto actually cause safety issues.

Speaking to a big US publication, Motor Trend,  GM’s head of product for infotainment, Tim Babbit, voiced thought that Apple CarPlay and Android Auto encourage cell phone use behind the wheel, but aren’t perfect programmes. 

GM’s argues both have stability issues that manifest themselves as bad connections, poor rendering, slow responses, and dropped connections. 

It argues that, when CarPlay and Android Auto have issues, drivers pick up their phones again, taking their eyes off the road and totally defeating the purpose of these phone-mirroring programmes. Solving those issues can sometimes be beyond the control of a carmaker, it suggests.

The thinking is that if a car’s in-built infotainment system is good enough, drivers will be less likely to use their phone for what they’re trying to do while they’re behind the wheel — though Babbitt admitted in speaking to US media that GM hasn’t exactly tested this in a controlled setting to see whether or not it’s true.

GMSV’s spokesman in New Zealand was unable to score more background from Detroit but says communication with the operation Stateside is challenging, due to this being a holiday break in North America.