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Like anyone who has ever used Apple CarPlay or Google Android Auto know, there are limits to the kinds of things phone projection software can control in your car. Media and volume are the metric for the vast majority of vehicles. For everything else, like air conditioning, audio settings, and instrument cluster information, you have to fall back on the underlying infotainment system or the physical buttons and switches, if your car still has them. Apple doesn’t like it, because of course not. According to Bloomberg, he’s looking to change that.
The report says that Apple is working on a new initiative called IronHeart that would deepen CarPlay hooks in different vehicle systems, so occupants can adjust more settings and see more data without leaving CarPlay:
The work underscores the idea that cars could be a major source of money for the tech giant, even without selling a vehicle itself. While plans for an Apple car have seen setbacks, including the defection of key executives this year, the company has continued to make inroads with CarPlay. It allows customers to connect their iPhone to a vehicle to manage so-called infotainment functions. Seven years after its launch, CarPlay is now offered by most of the major car manufacturers.
IronHeart would push CarPlay even further. The iPhone-based system could access a range of controls, sensors and settings, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the project is under wraps.
The types of things IronHeart would ideally be able to influence are “indoor and outdoor temperature and humidity readings; temperature zones, fans and defrost systems; parameters to adjust surround speakers, equalizers, tweeters, subwoofers and fade and balance; seats and armrests; and the speedometer, tachometer and fuel instrument clusters, ”explains Bloomberg. Naturally, none of the code responsible for managing these items is flowing between a car’s USB port and anything connected to it, so Apple is going to need automakers to work with this one.
And why the hell would they do that?
The advent of phone projection software in cars was troubling enough for manufacturers. I remember an insightful story from 2017 by The edge, which detailed automakers ‘initial apprehension about allowing Apple and Google to dominate their vehicles’ touchscreens – screens that could otherwise be used to capitalize on branding opportunities.
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At the time, a group of big industry players, including Toyota and Ford, joined forces to create a consortium called SmartDeviceLink. It was an effort to dismiss Big Tech and create a distinct app ecosystem and platform that would keep the number one priority of automakers’ money-making potential as infotainment systems more sophisticated. From the edge:
But the ability to keep apps and services in a branded environment isn’t the only reason half a dozen automakers have joined the consortium. Depending on who you ask, the other reason may be even more important: application and data control.
“The lifetime value of a customer with [a carmaker] is usually around half a million dollars, ”says Roger Lanctot, analyst at Strategy Analytics who focuses on infotainment systems. This value comes from the sale of new vehicles and services, he says. “Losing control [of the data], and they lose some of that $ 500,000. “
SmartDeviceLink has essentially evaporated and thankfully automakers have since realized and stopped resisting CarPlay and Android Auto, recognizing that these are features their customers want and base their purchases on. They also realized that the only way to convince customers to choose their interfaces over a phone is by developing better alternatives. Which brings us to Android Automotive.
Almost two years ago, a few manufacturers, including Volvo and Stellantis, began announcing partnerships with Google to integrate the tech giant’s software into their respective infotainment systems. It was a surprising display of good business sense on both sides; rather than arguing over who will be headlining, they could join forces. Automakers would benefit from Google’s ability to design better interfaces than they knew how to do, and Google would gain another way to offer its extensive services, like Google Assistant, right into vehicles.
Key to this arrangement, however, was that Google was prepared to cede the overall look of this experience to the automakers to some extent, using the automaker’s fonts and distinct graphic styles to create branded platforms. . It seemed like a victory for everyone involved, and the fact a growing number of manufacturers have announced partnerships with Google since indicates that the cooperation has been successful.
Android Automotive wouldn’t have taken off if Google hadn’t compromised. And Apple, the company that has repeatedly failed to woo the world’s largest companies to build his car – has not historically displayed a tendency to compromise, to say the least. No automaker wants to be relegated to the big stupid ship that Apple software is powered through.
For now, you should always leave CarPlay to, for example, adjust the temperature of the air conditioning. Existing infotainment systems aren’t completely obscured by CarPlay, but they sort of would be if IronHeart grows exactly the way Apple wants it to. Therefore, Apple will have to cede something if it expects the auto industry to play the game.
It will be messy. Different automakers could allow different aspects of the IronHeart package, as Bloomberg predicts:
Still, automakers risk angering iPhone fans by focusing on their own incompatible systems. And that could ultimately inspire more of them to embrace Apple’s technology. They can also choose to implement the features in different ways depending on the car. In some vehicles, Apple could take control of the climate controls, while others may only offer speaker access.
For Apple, the project could provide useful information for its efforts to build an autonomous car. However, the company would not collect user or car data as part of the initiative.
That brings us to the other big reason your phone can’t see or affect the kinds of vehicle functions Apple wishes it could: security. Automakers like to keep all of these things inside vehicles, where they can’t be influenced by an outside device. Above all if that external device has a multitude of third-party applications that could potentially exploit this link for harmful purposes.
On the one hand, if a company has the clout to do something like this, it’s Apple. On the flip side, Apple’s overbreadth is exactly what the auto industry is afraid of. Infotainment systems were so horrible for so many years; today, they have finally achieved a quality of design and ease of use comparable to the best consumer electronics devices. It took a lot of investment across the industry. I don’t see the biggest automakers in the world throwing this away for nothing.
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