Apple's New Car Software Could Be a Trojan Horse Into the Automotive Industry (cnbc.com) 53
With Apple's new CarPlay software announced in June, the company is "is diving deeper into its automotive ambitions, opening up the possibility to enter into a multibillion segment of the auto industry that's growing quickly: The ability to sell additional services and features to car owners," reports CNBC. From the report: The auto industry faces an unappealing choice: Offer CarPlay and give up potential revenue and the chance to ride a major industry shift, or spend heavily to develop their own infotainment software and cater to an potentially shrinking audience of car buyers who will purchase a new vehicle without CarPlay. [...] Industry observers believe carmakers need to embrace software services -- and look at Apple's offering with skepticism -- or risk getting left behind. "It's a really difficult time in the industry, where the car companies think they're still building cars. They're not. They're building software on wheels, and they don't know it, and they're trading it away," said Conrad Layson, senior analyst at AutoForecast Solutions.
The new version of CarPlay could be a huge emerging revenue engine for Apple. First, if a user loves the iPhone's CarPlay interface, then they're less likely to switch to an Android phone. That's a strategic priority for Apple, which generates the majority of its revenue through hardware sales. Second, while the company doesn't yet charge a fee to automakers or suppliers, it could sell services for vehicles the same way it distributes iPhone software. In June, Apple revealed that it has explored features that integrate commerce into the car's cockpit. One new feature announced this summer would allow CarPlay users to navigate to a gas pump and pay for the fuel from the dashboard of the car, according to Reuters. Apple already generates tens of billions from the App Store, and stands to boost that if it ever decides to charge for services in cars...
The new version of CarPlay could be a huge emerging revenue engine for Apple. First, if a user loves the iPhone's CarPlay interface, then they're less likely to switch to an Android phone. That's a strategic priority for Apple, which generates the majority of its revenue through hardware sales. Second, while the company doesn't yet charge a fee to automakers or suppliers, it could sell services for vehicles the same way it distributes iPhone software. In June, Apple revealed that it has explored features that integrate commerce into the car's cockpit. One new feature announced this summer would allow CarPlay users to navigate to a gas pump and pay for the fuel from the dashboard of the car, according to Reuters. Apple already generates tens of billions from the App Store, and stands to boost that if it ever decides to charge for services in cars...
apple toll pay / apple parking pay only 30% more (Score:1, Funny)
apple toll pay / apple parking pay only 30% more for one ez way to pay sign up now!
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The fact is that the auto manufacturers tried to both internally develop good interfaces and to contract that out, and failed miserably. Every UI in every screen in every car apart from maybe Tesla sucks complete ass. The only possible option these people have is to give up and let either Apple Carplay or Android Auto
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The only possible option these people have is to give up and let either Apple Carplay or Android Auto take over more and more of the interface.
Or, and I'm just spitballing, maybe NOT have every control shoved onto a screen where you can't find anything unless you're explicitly looking at the screen, and instead go back to buttons which are easily identifiable and last (effectively) indefinitely. Unlike the shitty software which requires to be patched every other week and if something happens, takes your c
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But there is an art to even that and the car companies regularly botch it. For example, the fan speed for the climate control should just be a single dial. I was just in a rental Kia sedan they instead had done it with two separate buttons, one higher one lower,
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How is that supposed to work? You're paying the 30% in the form of higher listed prices. It doesn't materialise out of nowhere.
Re: apple toll pay / apple parking pay only 30% mo (Score:2)
I thought you were referring to in-app purchases on Apple's platform where they take a 30% cut of everything.
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> How is that supposed to work?
Easy. Before the App Store, if you were a small and independent developer and not one of the big names like EA (Or willing to be acquired by them.) who *can* afford to roll their own payment, placement, marketing, and distribution networks... and you wanted to be paid for your efforts... you had two options:
1) You could go the shareware route, hope that word-of-mouth would get you known, hope that enough BBS operators would host your download, hope that people were honest
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I donâ(TM)t pay at the pump, or in store for gas. I pay on my phone. Tolls are paid with an Iâ(TM)d tag on my car. I think a standardized interface to pay for things securely is not uncalled for. When I am out of the US I hardly ever pull
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This is an opportunity for Apple to embrace and extend to create a monopoly
Yeah, great - just what we need: yet another monopoly that no one asked for or needs.
Re:apple toll pay / apple parking pay only 30% mor (Score:5, Informative)
Those are still only one time payments. Beats the tar out of Tesla demanding you pay for a subscription to getting your ass and your hands heated in winter.
I think you're confusing Tesla with BMW.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/14... [cnn.com]
https://www.theverge.com/2022/... [theverge.com]
Get smart now (Score:4, Interesting)
People need to get smart now and support legislation that enshrines that software and hardware are separate. That if a car maker, or Apple, or Google or anyone uses their software to artificially cripple capabilities just so they can be sold back to you that you have the right to change software and that you can buy a car that doesn't report everything you do back to the automaker or any other business entity. And that functionality of the car or connected thing cannot continue to be crippled if you choose to use different software. If these things don't happen, you will wind up with something that only gives the illusion that you have choice, meaning you either accept these things or you drive a 20 year old car.
dealer service only and miss one = limp mode (Score:2)
dealer service only and miss one = limp mode
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We've even had an article about it here on Slashdot: https://tech.slashdot.org/stor... [slashdot.org]
For now they offer a "one time payment" if you want want to pay for a subscription and want to have a warm balls in winter.
Though if corporations realize that they can get away with literally having people by their balls, it won't take long for "one time payments" to gradually disappear.
"Software on wheels"? (Score:5, Interesting)
They're building software on wheels, and they don't know it
That, in a nutshell, is what is wrong with the entire fucking auto industry. I, for one, would be VERY happy to be able to buy a new car whose only software is that which allows the engine to run at peak efficiency and/or lowest emissions, and to monitor the car for signs of problems with brakes, fluids, etc. I'm also OK with software that implements cruise control and collision avoidance - as long as I can turn them off easily.
I don't want a touchscreen that is the only way of controlling things like heating/cooling and the audio system - they are a fucking abomination, and I want my tactile buttons and switches back. I don't want an always-on cellular connection that allows the company to dick with MY car's features and functions without my explicit permission. I don't want the gaping security hole represented by having the infotainment data and the drive-train data share the same bus.
In short, I want to drive a CAR - not an oversized cellphone / laptop with all the utterly shitty UI 'features', security nightmares, forced updates, and lack of control that those devices typically represent.
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start supporting the manufacturers that produce the things you do want
I'd like a 70 Series Landcruiser. But we cannot have them in the USA. I'll have to hang on to my FJ40.
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My current car is a 2011 Volvo C30. Many, many computers, but they're unobtrusive, and allow me to drive the car without getting in my way. Every control is analog, and feels like a knob, even if it's just a fancy click wheel. I can control everything without taking my eyes off the road. No fancy graphics, just a couple of text displays, and a pair of huge honkin' analog dials for speed and tach.
I'm going to hate replacing it. :(
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The problem with that is that it is a very expensive way to build a car. All those individual switches controlling individual circuits means lots of mechanically complex switches and a heap more heavy and expensive wire. It is much less expensive to run a single data bus, a single power distribution system, and control it all with cheap modules using cheap - but highly reliable - tactile dome switches, putting commands on that data bus.
And then, once you are controlling the car with data on a bus, you no lo
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and a heap more heavy and expensive wire
OK, wire is more expensive than it used to be, but it's not that expensive.
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Join the club, there's not enough of us to matter.
Sure there is. Not every car is going to be like that but there are niche products that serve this niche market. I have a 79-series Toyota LandCruiser, I bought it brand new from the dealer 2 years ago and it has none of that stuff in it, not everybody wants such a vehicle though.
I also understand the majority of people don't care about that. Get in, set the seat position and climate control and off you go getting from A to B. What's the problem? People befuddled by touch screens? Or is it an objection to c
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I don't want the gaping security hole represented by having the infotainment data and the drive-train data share the same bus.
It is not on the same bus.
Car relevant data is on a CAN-Bus, a serial (simplified speaking, token ring like) bus.
The rest usually is ethernet.
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I'm not sure I'd trust Apple to do any better. They are hardly debacle-free, and if Tesla is any indication of what a typical software company doing cars will be like it's kind of terrifying.
Just today Bjorn Nyland did a video about Tesla's new vision-only (no radar) cars, and how terrible they are: https://youtu.be/Wi0kmshoVDk [youtu.be]
The auto high beams switch themselves on when you engage autopilot. They don't work. As you can see from the video, they often blind on-coming drivers, or randomly flash at them. It's
Distracted drivers kill people (Score:1, Insightful)
Drivers should be focused on the road, not on the latest tech nonsense present on one of many massive screens. Tech companies and auto manufacturers who supply this technology are bringing more and more death to our roadways, and should be held responsible for this behavior in court.
Re: Distracted drivers kill people (Score:2)
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Trojan Horse (Score:2)
So the plan is for Apple to unlock the gates at night, then rape, pillage and burn the automotive industry to the ground?
What a peculiar plan. It's almost like an accepted metaphor has completely lost sight of it's original meaning-- my other pet peeve is "they drank the kool-aid"-- in which case, THEY'RE DEAD.
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> So the plan is for Apple to unlock the gates at night,
> then rape, pillage and burn the automotive industry
> to the ground?
You say that as if it's a bad thing.
Considering the utter shite made by Detroit's "big 3" car makers (The first Japanese car I ever bought outlasted every American car I've ever owned combined, twice over, and then some.) I'd happily see their gates stormed, inhabitants put to the sword, and vaults plundered and pillaged for whatever mediocre treasure they have; so that more
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First, you're missing the point, second, all your information about quality and reliability of cars is about 20 years (or more) out of date.
Buick, Ford, Chevrolet (and Corvette) are all frequent features on the "most reliable" lists at JD Power-- Honda, however, is mostly absent, and the Japanese are largely Nissan and Lexus, with occasional mentions of Toyota. A friend has a Fiat Abarth 500, which he bought in 2012-- and it's been very reliable the past 10 years.
While average car prices have skyrocketed,
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Also-- If they burn the industry to the ground, what cars will they put their software into?
The whole point of the exercise is to actually get their software into the major automotive space, so destroying it would be incredibly stupid.
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Buick, Ford, Chevrolet (and Corvette) are all frequent features on the "most reliable" lists at JD Power
The one that polls owners after 90 days of ownership? I have no idea why anyone puts any stock in that at all. Who cares if a car can last 90 days without issues?
A friend has a Fiat Abarth 500, which he bought in 2012-- and it's been very reliable the past 10 years.
A sample size of one is meaningless.
While average car prices have skyrocketed, the reality is that major manufacturers can no longer afford to produce crap, and few of them do.
It's true that hardly any new vehicles (I hesitate to say absolutely none) are crap anymore. But that doesn't mean there aren't significant differences between brands in long term quality.
So maybe you should reexamine your decades-old biases, and perhaps try and enter the 21st century.
Maybe you should find some better data to base a conclusion on. Maybe you're even correct, but the evidence you presented
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If you've got a better metric for reliability of cars sold in the USA, I'd love to see it.
But at least I provided some valid information, instead of a biased, hate-filled emotional diatribe with no evidence to back it up.
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To be quite honest with you, I don't really feel like looking that stuff up. But Consumer Reports has some good longer term if somewhat flawed data. And information about car registrations would be useful. If a brand has a high percentage of cars still registered after X years that would be a good indicator of good long term quality.
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Then you're probably not aware that JD Power's metrics are based on 90 day, 12 month, and 3 years.
Consumer reports lost my support two decades ago where they would systematically rate a vehicle in every category higher than the equivalent Honda, and then rate the Honda as a "better" car.
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You're right, I was not aware of that.
Not a Trojan, a bribe (Score:2)
If Apple is getting into the car business they are doing it "right." They get in close with the money players first, make them wealthier, then ask for what they want.
This way they can avoid getting on the wrong side of the unmitigated power auto industry leaders have and use to their benefit.
A Trojan horse would be a hostile attack. Apple is just participating in the world's oldest profession. They're paying our pimp to fuck us.
Re: Not a Trojan, a bribe (Score:2)
Then they start competing with them with their own EV and offer superior integration because the hardware is being simultaneously developed with the software, while the rest of the car industry gets sloppy seconds.
Re: Not a Trojan, a bribe (Score:2)
PS. Plus the rest of the car industry and their users of course has to pay Apple more than Apple pays itself, so instant cost advantage too.
Ecosystem lockin is the greatest monopoly ever (Score:1)
First party services and hardware have a massive advantage within an ecosystem. Combine this with the fact that Android isn't a true competitor because it's build on a fundamentally flawed foundation (advertising and data mining users) which is slowly killing it and Apple has a defacto monopoly which doesn't have a free market equal in history.
It's a 11 digit dollar venture to start competing with Apple, you have to offer competetive services on everything. Hardware across mobile, laptops, A&V, home aut
Stop this... (Score:2)
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This should be stopped and regulated, these services should be based on a standard and not locked into one walked garden,
To be clear you are advocating against the free market then?
Why can't the industry come up with a standard instead of having their own systems or limited selection of other providers like Apple or Google. One system where any provider can offer their services and not being further locked into the walled garden the Apple system is, which gets more popular and forcing other companies to use their system and give Apple a big slice of their cut.
The automotive industry has their standards. What Apple/Android does is outside of those standards as they are in smart phones and aps. I suspect if the industry had standards, it would be 5-10 years behind the current smartphones. For example, I have used Waze to help with daily commute traffic for years. If I waited for the automotive industry to have some sort of standard, they might not have one even today.
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Maybe because that "one walled garden" (And there are actually more than one, but whatever.) was built by a company that put in the time, money, and effort to do so when others couldn't be bothered? It's not unreasonable to expect to profit from your own efforts versus being expected or ordered to do that work work gratis for the benefit of your enemies.
What's important, the platform or the apps? (Score:4, Interesting)
I use Android Auto, but I really only use and see the apps, like Google Maps and Spotify. Unless the choice of Android Auto or Carplay makes a difference for the functionality or interface for the app, I don't care about the platform. I'm mostly obliviously to it. The 99% of the time while I'm using the app (e.g., Google Maps or Spotify), I can't even really tell what the underlying platform is. The less than 1% of the time I slightly care is when I'm starting, stopping, and switching apps, and even then, I don't really care. For me, the choice of Android Auto or Carplay is entirely dictated by which phone I happen to already have.