Hi guys, software engineer and app developer chiming in here. I am primarily an Apple guy myself — privacy/ security being the main considerations. And I prefer the Apple ecosystem. That said, I’m totally on board with this. If we ever see a fully integrated Apple system for the automotive world, it will be in an Apple product, be it a car or dedicated infotainment system under the Apple logo. Apple has been rumored to be working on their own car, self-driving abilities, and all sorts of things. It’s hard to know what, if any of that, is true. Leaks do happen from time to time for small things, but Apple is better at keeping secrets than just about anyone.
The current dominant system that most all auto interfaces and infotainment systems run on is QNX — a lightweight, embedded UNIX operating system developed by BlackBerry. Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto interfaces found in many newer vehicles run on the user’s phone and display data to a graphics layer provided by the QNX system.
Google has been pushing Android more to manufacturers in many industries for use as an embedded operating system to replace QNX as the industry standard. It seems Mercedes and Audi/Porsche are adopting it and I fully expect it to replace QNX in the next few years. It makes a lot of sense as it better supports modern hardware and user device interfaces and can provide far superior functionality to any QNX system. Better responsiveness, graphics performance, much more capability. Security on QNX is mediocre at best, it’s mostly that the system itself is dated and no longer actively developed, or at least not in a truly meaningful way. Android is a lot more robust and secure. It also allows integrators to mostly customize the user experience. Users will have access to the Google Play Store for apps, games or whatever.
Since Apple keeps their software and hardware closely tied together, it’s not anywhere close to an option at this time. So the only other options would be embedded Windows (Microsoft Surface), which becomes a very muddy mess of options and real weirdness from Microsoft and some of those are even hybrids with QNX (Ford/ Microsoft Sync). Then there’s embedded Linux. A wonderful choice in actuality, infinite hardware possibilities and capability. Within the auto industry not many cars utilize it. The highest profile use of embedded Linux is Tesla. And while it’s great, they have not allowed much for developer access and there’s no large App Store to entice people. Tesla’s included apps like Netflix, Hulu, Caraoke, etc.. are all great. It’s just a small selection of what could exist and what will exist with GM choosing Android.
And Google is starting to follow Apple’s lead on the latest privacy developments. They’re doing the right thing and have pledged to go all the way. But they’re saying they will take baby steps at first — I think they’re trying to appease some app developers that are not happy with Apple right now or the increased privacy and tracking controls.