Plugging in your phone as soon as you get in the car to take advantage of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is a reflex of many motorists today. In the newest cars with the ability to use these two apps wirelessly, you no longer even need to connect the phone, the phone automatically connects to the car as soon as it is turned on.

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto quickly became a solution to the all-too-often incomplete and poorly organized infotainment systems of manufacturers. And yet, General Motors will soon do without these two programs. At first glance, this is a rather strange decision, but it is justified by the appearance of a new native system.

General Motors uses Android Automotive

Starting with the electric Chevrolet Blazer, which will arrive in the third quarter of this year, General Motors will no longer integrate Apple CarPlay and Android Auto into its new cars.

Now the American group is working on the development of a new infotainment system based on Android Automotive. It’s not about Android Auto, but a native embedded system based on Google technology with Android Automotive.

We already know this system, as it is already present in Renault, Volvo, Honda and soon BMW and the Volkswagen group. It’s a system that we’ve already had the chance to use many times and which is quite convincing, with almost the same characteristics as a smartphone.

However, this choice does not necessarily justify the removal of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Mike Himche, director of digital showrooms at General Motors, explains: “We don’t want to develop features that depend on the user’s smartphone”.

Will General Motors Do Like Smart?

Customers will be able to download in-car applications such as Spotify, Audible and many others through a “store” system comparable to the App Store or Play Store on smartphones. Customers will still be able to use their smartphone with the car, but as a Bluetooth audio source.

It remains to be seen whether customers will take this decision sensitively, knowing that Smart made the same decision for launch #1, but given customer feedback and the growing demand for compatibility with these systems, the manufacturer finally backed down.