qualcomm Will You Buy an Auto Without Android Auto or Apple Carplay?

[David]

An interesting force is happening in the auto industry, and it comes down to supporting or not supporting the use of Android Auto / Apple Carplay.

This feature which is pretty standard across the internal combustion auto's (ICE) is only found on a select group of electrical vehicles (EVs) as the global auto industry has chosen to move to a Qualcomm Snapdragon Digital Chassis running the Android operating system.

If you wish to understand all the tech details about this platform, you can read it here:

QUALCOMM Snapdragon Automotive 5G Platform

The basic understanding of this system is it is an auto-to-cloud over-the-air (OTA) high speed computer network running the Android operating system. Like android smartphones, this system allows the AUTO OEM to run their own eco system with pay store. Yes, this system does work seamlessly with Android Auto and Apple Carplay and as of today this is where the difference is coming to the consumer.

End result is the auto manufacture can totally control what you buy, install and do on your EV and keep everything to just the auto company or sell it to 3rd party companies. This system allows you to log into your existing Android apps and use them as you would on your phone but on your EV. 

Currently the Auto OEMs have gone into two camps, those keeping everything to themselves and disabling the support for Android Auto/Apple Carplay and those OEMs that support Android Auto/Apple Carplay.

Currently GM, Ford, VW, BMW, Nissan and others have stated they will not enable Android Auto/Apple Carplay in their EVs.

Hyundai, Kia, Genesis, Honda, Volvo and Polestar all currently support Android Auto / Apple Carplay in their EVs running on the same Qualcomm Snapdragon Automotive 5G platform.

You then have the only two EV companies that are exceptions to the above, Rivian and Tesla.

Rivian uses the QUALCOMM Snapdragon Ride Flex system with their own custom software stack, thus not supporting Android Auto or Apple Carplay.

Tesla uses their own inhouse controller board and software stack also not supporting Android Auto or Apple Carplay.

This brings us back to the question stated as the title of this write up.

Would you buy an auto without Android Auto or Apple Carplay?

[Drew Dowdell]

I voted "No".  We're looking at the Honda Prologue over the Blazer EV for this exact reason.  For now, the EValanche seems to be grandfathered in under the old policy.

[David]

3 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

I voted "No".  We're looking at the Honda Prologue over the Blazer EV for this exact reason.  For now, the EValanche seems to be grandfathered in under the old policy.

My concern is that since GM is using the Qualcomm system that they could turn it off. 

Course the opposite is that they come to see customers leaving them and end up turning it on for everyone.

This whole thing has me looking at the Kia EV9, Hyundai equal and the Genesis GV90 EV as a potential next new auto for us.

[Robert Hall]

Definitely a 'No', Car Play is a must have for me. 

[Drew Dowdell]

15 hours ago, David said:

My concern is that since GM is using the Qualcomm system that they could turn it off. 

Course the opposite is that they come to see customers leaving them and end up turning it on for everyone.

This whole thing has me looking at the Kia EV9, Hyundai equal and the Genesis GV90 EV as a potential next new auto for us.

I'm not sure how the Qualcomm system effects whether they turn it off or not, but if they want to really piss off customers and spark lawsuits, they'd turn off CarPlay after selling the car.

[David]

2 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

I'm not sure how the Qualcomm system effects whether they turn it off or not, but if they want to really piss off customers and spark lawsuits, they'd turn off CarPlay after selling the car.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon Android Auto system has a basic software switch that allows the OEM to enable or disable Android Auto and Apple Carplay. This is an easy change that can be done by an OTA update.

This is how Honda on the same system is supporting the two-cell phone connectivity versus GM not supporting it.

Back in 2022 more details were released along with updated SDK for the system. 

Connected Car and the Snapdragon Digital Chassis - Qualcomm Developer Network

This does make me wonder how long before a company like Jet Chips for custom ICE chip replacements gets into an SDK Break package that unlocks everything the OEM thinks the end user does not need.

Yes, this would be aimed at the more technical type folks, much like a cell phone that is broke open for use anywhere.

Interesting times we live in for sure.

[Drew Dowdell]

25 minutes ago, David said:

The Qualcomm Snapdragon Android Auto system has a basic software switch that allows the OEM to enable or disable Android Auto and Apple Carplay. This is an easy change that can be done by an OTA update.

This is how Honda on the same system is supporting the two cell hone connectivity versus GM not supporting it.

Back in 2022 more details were released along with updated SDK for the system. 

Connected Car and the Snapdragon Digital Chassis - Qualcomm Developer Network

This does make me wonder how long before a company like Jet Chips for custom ICE chip replacements gets into an SDK Break package that unlocks everything the OEM thinks the end user does not need.

Yes, this would be aimed at the more technical type folks, much like a cell phone that is broke open for use anywhere.

Interesting times we live in for sure.

Theoretically, they could also switch the carplay on in the EVs in the future.  We just need to pressure them to do it.  The systems in both the ICEs and EVs are not remarkably different.

[David]

@Drew Dowdell @Robert Hall Very cool here as Porsche retrofits older cars with Carplay.
Porsche brings CarPlay to older models with new upgrades | AppleInsider

Seems Carplay 2.0 is coming to Porsche and Aston Martin this year.
Apple CarPlay 2.0 confirmed for 2024 as iOS 17.4 reveals a ton of features — here's everything it can do | Tom's Guide (tomsguide.com)