In 2023, GM announced it would begin phasing out support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in future models, starting with EVs. Immediately, there was backlash because it’s a patently bad idea to leave out two features that are useful to the 91% of Americans that own smartphones. But, GM wants to force people across its brands to exclusively use its in-house infotainment system. GM even went as far as shutting down an aftermarket solution to reintegrate CarPlay and Android Auto, but now it looks like a climbdown has started.
Evolving Infotainment Strategy
The Cadillac configurator is up for several 2027 models, and we spotted that the Lyriq still shows CarPlay and Android Auto being standard. The Lyriq is Cadillac’s first all-electric vehicle and a tech-forward vehicle that we think is becoming one of the best luxury EVs available. So, it piqued our interest that the GM brand was still including the things it was supposed to be phasing out, and we reached out to Cadillac for comment.
“Cadillac is continuing to evolve its infotainment strategy across the EV portfolio, based on customer feedback, while also prioritizing the native, in-vehicle experience,” a Cadillac representative told CarBuzz. And, the language is telling. The plan was to start the phasing out of phone projection with the 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV, with CEO Mary Barra saying: “We made a decision to prioritize our EV vehicles during this timeframe, and as we go forward, we’ll continue across the portfolio.”
The Walk Back Is Starting
Now, though, it’s gone from a hard decision for GM to remove CarPlay and Android Auto across its EVs in 2023 to “continuing to evolve its infotainment strategy across the EV portfolio, based on customer feedback” for Cadillac in 2026. Tech-forward brands like Tesla and Rivian never allowed Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, but GM appeared to have forgotten that these are tech-forward automakers, and CarPlay has been “in the works” for Tesla since 2025.
Tesla owners are used to “coming soon” features that may never come, and Tesla owners have been wanting at least CarPlay for years, but GM’s brands are mainstream and the Apple and Android systems are expected. Both offer car buyers familiarity and superiority when it comes to voice control over anything any automaker offers, including Tesla.
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters
GM has a history of selling people’s data and publicly stated it wants to implement more subscription services. However, when people use Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, they are simply using the car’s screen as an interface for the phone and applications they own and use. It cuts out the automaker’s opportunity to monetize their own system through subscriptions, and limits the amount of data they can gather on drivers. BMW tried making access to Apple Carplay a subscription service back in 2020, and it played out exactly how you would expect.
GM’s answer has simply been to not include phone mirroring software, and it looks like it’s also playing out exactly how we expected. Consumers are tired of subscriptions, and they have already paid for their phone and its software with mirroring built into it. The user interface for CarPlay and Android Auto is consistent with the phones they use all the time, and automakers can’t provide a service that matches or exceeds them. Ultimately, GM needs to sell cars before it can monetize them further and harvest data, and people take these smartphone integrations into consideration when making car buying decisions.
