"Automakers: it’s time to let Apple fix terrible car software" - Article

[Tooney]

Apple announced two new partners for its next-generation CarPlay platform this week — Porsche and Aston Martin. The latter, a storied but historically technology-challenged (remember the Lagonda?) sports car brand that would greatly benefit from using someone else’s software, makes sense. But Porsche? That was more than a bit of a surprise to me — especially given the company’s storied reputation for engineering its own solutions and recently announced Android-based Macan.

But I believe Porsche knows something much of the industry isn’t yet ready to accept: That Apple’s software can create far more value for Porsche’s cars than Porsche could ever create on its own. Other automakers should start living in this reality instead of chasing the fantasy that they’re software companies, if only we’d give them 10 or 20 years to figure it out.
...
Even without Android Auto or CarPlay, Tesla is still generally recognized as the world leader in vehicle software — rightly so. No one has ever really caught up, and it’s been over a decade. Rivian is always a step or two behind and the rest of the industry is a distant third. Still, everyone wants to be Tesla. This much is evident when you look at GM’s software strategy in its Ultium vehicles, Mercedes-Benz’s MB OS, or even the ongoing slow-motion train wreck that is Volkswagen’s Cariad division. There’s a race to be the “next” Tesla of car software, and it appears that… no one is winning. Or even driving on the course.
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Apple builds the world’s most loved consumer software. And it’s aggressively courting manufacturers to put that software on their vehicles. It feels like this should be a no-brainer, and for some companies, it clearly is. That campaign is yielding tangible results, with brands like Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar-Land Rover, Audi, Porsche, Ford, Volvo, Honda, and the Nissan-Renault Alliance on board as partners for the next generation of CarPlay. We don’t know to what degree these manufacturers will embrace that software (for example, if they’ll use Apple’s full instrument cluster overlay). Still, if the mockups released as part of the Porsche and Aston Martin announcements this week are any indicator, it seems clear that Apple is the guiding hand in this relationship. And that’s how it should be.

Legacy carmakers have proven utterly incapable of designing performant, usable software. They have proven incapable of iterating that software in a timely manner. They have proven incapable of developing it without significant bugs. And they have proven incapable of delivering value above and beyond that which a company like Apple (or Google) does via its ecosystem — and they almost certainly will never develop such capability.

https://electrek.co/2023/12/22/auto...-time-to-let-apple-fix-terrible-car-software/

 

[f1eng]

I still haven’t found anything available in CarPlay that inclines me to activate it.
I had a weird experience today which i have no explanation for, I was at my daughter’s house and when I jumped in after about a second the music I had been listening to stopped and some very loud music I didn’t recognise started along with a screen asking me if I wanted to change account, or something. When I drove off it went back to normal but now I am suspicious somebody was trying to clone my key

 

[WasserGKuehlt]

Something something core competencies etc. Good on Porsche for the admission. Software in cars doesn’t bother me at all, but the arrogance of “hold my beer, I’ll do my own software-defined car” approach of many manufacturers lately is more than a bit annoying - it’s not that it can’t be done, but is it being attempted for the right reason/is this for the benefit of the customer?

 

[or1]

Even though I am a heavy Apple user (Mac, iPad, iPhone), I'm not sure that I want their software to handle the car's displays. Apple aesthetics are not car aesthetics: their tendency is to simplify too much.

Porsche software is not exemplary, and their abilities to update, adapt and allow more user cofiguration are quite far from what I think we deserve (at the prices we pay). Still, I prefer Porsche to CarPlay.

 

[RAHRCR]

I like carplay a lot but I agree with the post above. Automakers need to keep their individual identities if/when they let Apple ‘take the wheel’ on basic UI.