Last week, General Motors CEO Mary Barra caused a stir when she said that the company would eventually kill Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in all of its gas cars. The company had already successfully removed phone mirroring capabilities from most of its electric vehicles, and now it was plotting how to drop support from its internal combustion engine vehicles too.
But today, the company is clarifying that this won’t happen overnight.
“We are not making any changes to existing vehicles,” Malorie Lucich, a spokesperson for GM, said in a statement. “If your car supports Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, that will continue. Both will remain available in all GM gas-powered vehicles for the foreseeable future. As we advance toward our centralized computing platform, we’ll gradually move to a better, more deeply integrated experience — a direction the broader industry is taking as vehicles become more software-defined. This will happen over time, not overnight. We value our collaboration with Apple and Google and remain focused on delivering experiences customers love.”
(The statement was originally provided to MacRumors.)
On the Decoder podcast, Barra seemed to suggest that the removal would happen as new models were refreshed. “As we move forward with each new vehicle and major new vehicle launch, I think you’re going to see us consistent on that,” she said.
Now it seems like it won’t happen until GM is ready to roll out the new centralized vehicle computing platform it announced last week. That system, which reduces the number of control modules and improves the ability for over-the-air software updates, is set to make its debut on the Cadillac Escalade IQ in 2028, before moving on to the automaker’s gas lineup.