Waze, Google Maps, Spotify, Deezer or even Chargemap are part of the daily life of many motorists who use them to the full on the screen of their car thanks to compatibility of multimedia systems and smartphones. From a consumer perspective, enjoying smartphone apps on the car screen is obviously very practical. It allows maintain your search habitsbut also take full advantage of Google’s intelligence (in the case of Maps and Waze) or an active community (for Chargemap, charging station locator and electric car route planner). And thus compensate for the shortcomings of the on-board multimedia system at these points.

Android Automotive instead of a smartphone

But General Motors no longer wants users to use their smartphones for these purposes. This does not mean that these programs will no longer be offered. On the contrary, the American giant wants to now have direct access to them through a vehicle. That’s why the Chevrolet Blazer EV, which is slowly making its way to dealerships in the United States, opens a new infotainment system based on Android Automotive, Google’s operating system, which is already in Polestar, Volvo and even Renault. This further increases the presence of the sprawling Silicon Valley company in the automotive world after other such prestigious brands as BMW or Volkswagen have also announced their intention to use it in the short term. The difference is that these manufacturers still offer smartphone compatibility for now.

Soon to become widespread in the future?

According to General Motors (GM), choosing to “force” the user to use the on-board system allows to optimize the electric experience, in particular by bringing the battery to the optimal charging temperature when the user approaches the terminal. We clarify that this “incompatibility” does not apply no calls or streaming stored music on the phone, which will of course remain available via Bluetooth. And, at least for the moment, this only applies to the group’s electric vehicles. But this radical decision may become widespread in the future, as the benefit for GM is also to collect more valuable information about users’ travel, commuting and charging habits. Data that will be key to the development of artificial intelligence for autonomous cars (the American group has already been working with Google on this issue since 2019). So other brands might be tempted to do the same.

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