I love CarPlay/AA, and maybe this is hyperbole but not doing CarPlay/AA isn't that crazy of a decision. Tesla, GM, other big automakers have done this too.
It's not always about that. AA and Car play are a very common reason for service visits and it's not uncommon for customers to get their entire head unit replaced because of frozen screens or whatever. GM hired a lead dev from CarPlay to help lead their replacement. When they work it's great but my touchscreen freezes regularly and it's extremely annoying.
So basically, automakers can't make a robust console to simply display the streamed content. What makes you think that their software will be any better?
It’s the natural result when software (and sometimes hardware) is treated as a line item to be contracted out to the lowest bidder. Infotainment is a core feature that shouldn’t be cheaped out on, but many automakers haven’t realized that.
It’s also just more lucrative to drive people to use the built in stuff instead of mirroring their phone, both for easier data mining and for pushing users into subscriptions.
Tesla also started doing their "iPad with a car attached" thing before CarPlay was released in 2014.
Arguably they could have switched over at some time, but they're doing well enough that they haven't felt the need.
But I'd be surprised if there isn't a Tesla somewhere in the bowels of Musk's volcano lair that has CarPlay running, just waiting for the right time to release it as a software upgrade option (only $1000!).
Address book syncing is the main issue. I want my contacts on my phone. So taking phone calls gets a bit awkward, though with Siri getting a little better it’s sort of doable.
Other than that it’s the constant re-typing of destinations from the calendar.
Here’s a fun tip I learned recently - you can press the share button on your phone and send the location to Tesla. This makes copying addresses from calendar or anywhere super easy
Idiots.