[gregmac]

> Cars should have third-party entertainment systems. Everything about 'infotainment' systems is a terrible idea, because integrating something that changes three to five times in the life of the vehicle is stupid.

In my mind this has been largely solved for the past few years with Android Auto / Carplay. It would be nice if there was a true standard, but at the same time, there's only two phone operating systems so it works.

If you're not familiar with it, there are some huge benefits of the way it works:

* The system updates with your phone, not your car. Applies to both hardware and software.

* Data plans are also tied to your phone, which you presumably have anyway.

* Preferences are personal; my partner and I each get our own music, podcasts, and suggested destinations.

* Personally I love that my music/podcasts follow me around. I can browse and start listening to something in the car, then hours later throw in my wireless ear buds and continue from where I was while I mow the lawn.

There is also some level of upgradability from the car side, too: I recently added a wireless android auto adapter to my 2016 car. It was under $100, plugs into USB, and once I got it paired to my phone, I basically get in and start the car and in a few seconds the UI is there.

What I am skeptical about is that this will continue to be solved for the next few years: there's always that chance that Google will outright kill it, or Apple/Samsung/whoever will become exclusive to a single car manufacturer, or the manufacturers will somehow bungle this up with a subscription model of some sort.

[monknomo]

Carplay &co are good right now, but as someone that hangs on to cars for a long time, the trouble is that phones have a much faster lifecycle than a car, and are pretty unlikely to continue to work as smoothly as they do 20 years down the line.

For example, I just junked a radio with a 30 pin ipod connector. It was great and smooth in its day, but now, not so much.

Could be we'll get lucky and the phones of 2043 will work with the cars of 2023, but I think it's more likely that the car will work and the infotainment stack will be a half-functional ghost mall of tech in the middle of the car

[gregmac]

> and are pretty unlikely to continue to work as smoothly as they do 20 years down the line.

This is a fair point... but also just what happens with technology and time.

I assume you junked the radio not because it was broken (that can happen to any gear) but because the 30-pin interface itself is no longer desired -- it's no longer the best way to get the content you want (ie: from your phone).

This isn't really a different situation from a 20-year-old car (CD player), 35-year-old car (cassette deck) or 50-year-old car (8-track).

20 years from now, if there's a market for it and it's technically possible, someone will make adapters to get AA/Carplay units to be compatible with whatever the current technology is -- basically the 2043 equivalent of a cassette adapter.

[lotsofpulp]

CarPlay and Android Auto is just an interface that allows the phone the use the screen.

As long as Apple/Google maintain the ability to use the interface in iOS and Android, it will continue to work.

Also, that would be a reason for cars to come with replaceable head units.

[HDThoreaun]

I think the issue here is largely that automakers don't want you driving a 2023 car in 2043.

[JohnBooty]

     In my mind this has been largely solved for the 
     past few years with Android Auto / Carplay. 

I mean, yeah -- absolutely. For all the reasons you say.

But auto companies like Tesla and GM are now working hard to unsolve it because there's no profit in it for them. They want to control the experience and extract sweet, sweet subscription revenue. So, I'm not sure how "solved" it is.

[amethyst]

> What I am skeptical about is that this will continue to be solved for the next few years: there's always that chance that Google will outright kill it, or Apple/Samsung/whoever will become exclusive to a single car manufacturer, or the manufacturers will somehow bungle this up with a subscription model of some sort.

Or the manufacturers decide they don't like users bypassing their revenue models:

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/03/gm-confirms-its-droppin...

FWIW, I absolutely love Carplay and paid extra to have compatible head units installed in any of my previous cars that didn't have built in support. It's been fantastic, but I don't trust manufacturers to do what's in my own best interest.

See also the recent Mozilla privacy findings for cars.