Ford yields to giants: Apple CarPlay & Android Auto prevail

• Android Auto and Apple CarPlay dominate the infotainment market, surpassing other players.
• General Motors plans to develop its own infotainment system, opting out of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in 2024.
• Ford’s CEO confirmed that they would continue offering both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, recognizing their popularity and user experience.

If we talk about infotainment in cars, we have to admit that Android Auto and Apple CarPlay have beaten any other player in this market by a huge margin. These infotainment collect various data about users’ habits and other things. In late March, General Motors announced that it won’t be offering Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in its EVs starting in 2024; the reason behind this is that they will support their own infotainment system. Ford’s CEO, on the other side, has confirmed that they will keep both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in the future.

Ford’s CEO Jim Farley said during an interview with The Wall Street Journal, “In terms of content, we kind of lost that battle 10 years ago.” He also said that “So, like, get real with it because you’re not going to make a ton of money on content inside the vehicle.”

Automakers can collect a lot of data from their users, which offers more opportunities to advertise and optimize. With Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, they can still access data, but ultimately it will be Google or Apple which will have full access to users’ data and habits on the road. Farley’s statement does make complete sense if you think about it. Almost all the users bring their mobile in the car. They want their infotainment system to be an extension of their phones.

Let’s be honest; the idea of bringing our own infotainment system is very difficult to implement because there will be a lot of issues like interface problems. So we think a lot of car manufacturers will stick to offering Apple CarPlay and Android Auto; another reason for this is that both have been offering a very good experience to users.

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