In search of a new cash cow, the brilliant minds at the American carmaker decided to abandon two essential car features. Android Auto and CarPlay would no longer be available in EVs produced by General Motors starting in 2024. Instead, the company will go all-in on Android Automotive, which will allow it to insist on a subscription-based strategy.

The goal is obvious: General Motors wants to turn subscriptions into a money-making machine despite the plan causing much frustration in its customer and potential-customer base.

Android Auto and CarPlay have grown to become essential features in new cars. Despite projecting the mobile screen to the display in the cabin, their benefits are obvious. Drivers can run the navigation on a larger screen, control the music playback, and handle phone calls and messages hands-free.

Long-time users, however, certainly know that neither Android Auto nor CarPlay provides a 100 percent flawless experience. In the case of Google’s app, things tend to break down all of a sudden without users even changing anything on their sides.

The release of Coolwalk was supposed to breathe new life into Android Auto. Thanks to its CarPlay Dashboard-inspired layout, Coolwalk allows users to run multiple apps on the same screen regardless of display size and resolution. It’s an incredible update that makes perfect sense for a driver.

The old Android Auto problems, however, are still there. The app sometimes stops responding, apps crash for no reason, disconnections continue to happen at random times. Furthermore, the voice commands are incredibly inconsistent, and essential features, such as the ability to respond to a message, could go missing because God knows why.

Many users decided to jump ship, sometimes moving to CarPlay in search of a more reliable experience. I chose a different path, and my alternative so far is mind-blowing.

Photo: Bogdan Popa/autoevolution

Goodbye, Android Auto!

The main reason I decided to give up