What? The benefit of CarPlay is that I can use my map app of choice. Apple Maps, Google Maps, Waze, whatever. In 5 years of daily driving I rarely used Tesla’s maps and opted for my phone connected via Bluetooth.
Any map without easy pinch and zoom is garbage. IDK perhaps you haven't used Tesla, but carplay just is incredibly inferior. I feel like I'm arguing about iPhone vs Nokia/Sybian in 2008.
> In 5 years of daily driving I rarely used Tesla’s maps and opted for my phone connected via Bluetooth.
> IDK perhaps you haven't used Tesla, but carplay just is incredibly inferior.
Necromancy here, but I'd missed this earlier. If it wasn't clear in my comment somehow, I was referring to driving my Tesla daily for 5 years. It is interesting that I have the exact same feeling about the iPhone vs Nokia argument, but opposite: the switch to CarPlay from Tesla's infotainment was hands down the biggest upgrade of our new car.
I have a 2023 Subaru and a 2013 Lexus. The Lexus has built-in mapping in GPS. The Subaru does not. It uses CarPlay or Android Auto.
The difference between changing to a different input source or changing a track or adjusting the audio settings between the two is night and day. I don't have to have my phone plugged into a USB port, which is flaky. The Lexus automatically goes back to the map after a few seconds.
I don't understand the appeal of having your car screen be a dumb terminal for your phone. Maybe it's better if you use Spotify or Apple Music or something, I don't know.
Same UI across all cars and one less thing of business creating an avenue / exit for your data.
I get into a rental car, I connect my iPhone and use CarPlay, I don’t have to worry about leaving my contacts data behind or anything else, and I am already familiar with the UX.
That is why Tesla and Rivian and GM don’t offer CarPlay, even though it is free and easy to implement. They don’t want people to be able to easily switch cars, they don’t want to just be a fungible appliance.
But as a consumer, I do want them to be a fungible appliance.
