Apple and the Apple Car: Is it cosplay or CarPlay?

Apple isn’t playing with CarPlay

We all think Apple is working on a car, and some recent reports have even told us the company is signing up component suppliers for the vehicle, but Volkswagen CEO, Herbert Diess isn’t sure if we will see such a car – but does recognize Apple’s ambition to take space on car dashboards.

‘I’m not sure Apple will being a cars to market’

“I’m not sure if Apple will actually bring cars to the market in the end. It would be a big effort,” Diess told the hub.berlin conference in Berlin, Germany. He is certain Apple wants to get into the car cockpit market, he also said.

Apple introduced a big update to CarPlay at WWDC in June 22 when it announced 14 car makers who will roll out support for the new system by 2023, including Ford, Nissan, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Porsche. The company wants to get more vehicle manufacturers along for the ride.

The new CarPlay interface will be able to provide content for multiple screens within the vehicle. Deeper integration with the vehicle will allow users to do things like control the radio or change the climate directly through CarPlay, and using the vehicle data, CarPlay will render the speed, fuel level, temperature, and more on the instrument cluster.

You’ll be able to deploy different gauge designs, Apple said, promising more information about its system in future with the first cars next year.

You can also add additional widgets, which I suspect reflects Kevin Lynch’s involvement in the project.

From 38 minutes in 

Car makers push back

It is, however, interesting that the Ola Kallenius, CEO of Mercedes, which is included as a company that may support CarPlay on an Apple list, told The Verge:

“We are very much looking at providing a holistic Mercedes experience. It is physical and it is digital. It is beautiful and it is intuitive. Does that mean that it is a closed environment? Of course not. You have to speak to the ecosystems of the platform companies. You can choose to have Apple CarPlay in our cars today if that is more convenient for you.

[Also read: Apple Car will be as disruptive to transport as combustion]

“Our clear goal is to have a Mercedes experience through and through,” Kallenius said, adding, “We have a very good relationship with [Apple], and decided early on that the CarPlay function is something that customers may want to use. We will have to discuss how we further develop that relationship.”

“Apple had to announce it, in part, to help pressure automakers to adopt the software,” wrote Mark Gurman. “It’s a source of tension: Some car companies don’t want Apple to take over their interface, and the software could ultimately be used in a future vehicle that they have to compete with…”

It likely reflects that kind of tension that Apple execs Craig Federighi and Greg Joswiak used a WWDC interview to confirm the new interface is meant to give carmakers the ability to integrate a CarPlay experience with their own branding.

Branding is the deal here. The updated CarPlay is a challenge to vehicle manufacturers. Should they accelerate attempts to build unique digital interfaces, or should they give up control of the dashboard to the tech companies?

The old CarPlay 

The problems with tech

Tom Blackie, CEO, VNC Automotive, warned: “While, on the face of it, Apple’s advances seem like a good thing giving customers a familiar interface to interact with, it also cuts vehicle manufacturers out of the in-car experience and limits opportunities to create brand loyalty.”

There are problems with making a user interface too attractive, he thinks. He points to “growing disquiet as drivers push-back against the level of attention these interfaces demand.”

In a recent study, the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory found that drivers took their eyes off the road for as long as 20 seconds when asked to play a track from Spotify, long enough to travel a third of a mile at motorway speeds. The European Commission, meanwhile, estimates that driver distraction is a factor in up to 30% of all accidents in Europe.

Apple, presumably, recognizes this and hopes that by making systems easy to understand visually it will reduce the friction for vehicle drivers making it quicker, easier and less distracting to check items on the console.

“We expect these enhancements to further Apple’s ambitions in the auto industry,” Citi analyst Jim Suva said.

But what about bigger partnerships?

For now, it’s all about striking partnerships with vehicle firms. Apple was recently revealed to be hiring automotive software engineers in China. These engineers are being asked to provide integration support to automotive partners and assist developers in completing system certification with Apple.

But, given that Apple’s much speculated Apple Car could use a similar interface on its own dashboard, automakers may need a little more reassurance before they too hastily embrace Apple’s case. Though it is also possible that, given the challenges Apple has faced in manufacturing its own vehicles, that it may also be developing a partnership model in which its software plays an increasingly important role in future semi-autonomous vehicles.

Please follow me on Twitter, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.