Why automakers should care about CarPlay
This post is adapted from CarPlay for automakers, a Punchkick strategy guide for automotive brands.
CarPlay is undoubtedly a major play for Apple and iOS, and will help define the category of connected car experiences for a burgeoning industry of developers. In a few years, most every car on the road will be compatible with some form of connected smartphone experience, and drivers will have new opportunities to connect and engage with the world without recklessly taking their eyes off the road. But despite the technological interest and strategic play on Apple’s part, is CarPlay something worth carmakers’ investment?
From one perspective, auto manufacturers don’t have to invest much. Because of its easy compatibility with many popular existing infotainment systems, and because of its feature parity and interoperability with Google’s Android Auto, automakers don’t have many technical hurdles preventing swift CarPlay adoption. (Android Auto utilizes a similar virtual machine approach on top of the same QNX-based operating systems as CarPlay, executing code on the Android phone and displaying different app UIs on the dashboard console, meaning many cars will be compatible with either.) Should manufacturers merely flip the switch for CarPlay, and forget about it?
For many car companies, the answer might be yes. But ignoring the next wave of automotive technologies can only last for so long, and even short-term investments in some of CarPlay’s subtler points will yield massive benefits in the long term. Automakers, too, can develop third-party apps that take advantage of CarPlay and populate the dashboard home screen out of the box. These apps are specific to the car brand—and, sometimes, even to the vehicle—and enable certain vehicle-specific functions that can integrate with iOS voice commands or UI controls.
Because CarPlay lives as a virtual machine above a traditional entertainment system OS, the integration can theoretically allow drivers to control every aspect of their car through CarPlay—assuming automakers opt into such functionality. Such additions might require collaboration with Apple, but the possibilities are enticing: imagine a CarPlay-enabled vehicle that lets drivers control their windshield wipers or adjust the air conditioning with a simple verbal command to Siri. Or a self-parking feature accessible to any customer through a branded iOS app download. This tight iOS ecosystem cohesion is reminiscent of HomeKit’s integration of disparate smart home products, and would not only provide improved customer experiences during their everyday commutes, but also give automakers a competitive advantage over peers slow to dive into CarPlay.
Users would be able to communicate with their car just as they do with their smartphone and favorite iOS apps, leveraging common interface vocabularies and app flows they already love to use. As CarPlay matures and its capabilities within automobiles are unlocked by automakers and Apple, developers can connect with car data in all-new ways. Diagnostic tools like Automatic, which currently depend on the car’s on-board diagnostic port (OBD-II), could instantly access and display a wealth of vehicle information at the moment it becomes relevant. Systems like LoJack could transform into app services reminiscent of Find My iPhone, helping drivers and police find stolen cars with the help of GPS location or Bluetooth Low-Energy. These ideas represent theoretical extensions of the CarPlay technology, but underscore cars’ increasingly connected trajectory.
The horizons for technologically enhanced cars are just now presenting themselves, and the boon for those first pioneers to explore CarPlay is clear: as these connected systems evolve from the luxury to the commonplace, vehicles with better in-car experiences will be more attractive to growing audiences of tech-hungry drivers. And the company that corners the market on exciting CarPlay-assisted ideas will capture the imaginations of customers looking for something beyond power windows.