GM claims CarPlay and Android Auto cause “unsafe” driver behavior
GM can’t really catch a break on its decision to end support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in-vehicle projection modes. And while that choice does have a defensible business purpose (more on that in a moment), recent comments from Tim Babbitt, GM’s Head of Product for Infotainment, to Motor Trend seem like an unforced error — making an already unpopular move feel even less justifed.
Specifically, Babbitt claimed that frequent freezes, disconnections, and bugs with CarPlay and Android Auto cause drivers to look at their phones because the projection systems aren’t behaving as intended. This “totally defeats” the purpose of those projection systems, and takes the eyes of drivers off the road — the unsafe driver behavior referred to in the title of this article.
There’s not much more to Babbitt’s reasoning here, except for the context that such issues are more common with Android Auto because of GM’s practical inability to properly validate its vehicles against the full ecosystem of Android devices (and re-validate with every system OTA those devices receive). This is at least a sympathetic claim: Google really is the one holding the ball when it comes to ensuring all Android devices behave similarly when in Android Auto projection mode, though vehicle manufacturers are still the final “check” on that behavior when all is said and done.
The comments were made during a press event for the Bazer EV, and I am sure that GM continues to face almost unending inquiry about dropping CarPlay and Android Auto from basically every automotive journalist. GM’s PR provided the following statement in response to Motor Trend’s article:
“We wanted to reach out to clarify that comments about GM’s position on phone projection were misrepresented in previous articles and to reinforce our valued partnerships with Apple and Google and each company’s commitment to driver safety. GM’s embedded infotainment strategy is driven by the benefits of having a system that allows for greater integration with the larger GM ecosystem and vehicles.”
General motors
Electrek’s Take
On some level, I can empathize with what Babbitt is saying. Especially with Android Auto, where the number and variety of Android handsets causing compatibility issues is certainly real. This diversity has caused problems with the wider ecosystem of services, software, and accessories since Android’s earliest days. But I’m far from convinced that this is GM’s real motivation behind its decision to drop CarPlay and Auto.
I have seen zero evidence that CarPlay presents anything like this difficulty to OEMs, and that’s where Babbitt’s comments about safety really start losing steam. iPhones generally run the same version of iOS within 5 or so years of hardware generation, and there are an order of magnitude fewer iPhone models actively in use on Earth than Android phones. iPhones being a very consistent development target is a very real advantage of the iOS platform from an outside developer perspective. Have I experienced CarPlay connectivity issues? Sure. Very early implementations in Porsche vehicles were finicky, and I have no doubt that other manufacturers have less-than-perfect behavior with CarPlay. But in general, even Mazda’s positively ancient head unit stack worked very reliably for me with CarPlay (barring wireless mode, which sucks on pretty much every car I’ve tried).
And even if you take Babbitt at his word here that Android Auto and CarPlay are so buggy that they constitute a legitimate safety issue, the idea that native infotainment eliminates drivers using their phones is facially absurd to me. No native vehicle infotainment system is going to display full-length text messages while a vehicle is in motion, or play Netflix, or allow a driver to do one of a dozen other things that are objectively unsafe to do while operating a vehicle. Native infotainment makes such behavior even easier if you actually understand and have used Android Auto, in particular. Android Auto makes it notably difficult to access your phone’s standard interface while it’s in operation, specifically to discourage a driver reaching for the phone. CarPlay, admittedly, doesn’t do this, but Auto seems to be the platform targeted more so as causing the “unsafe” behavior discussed here because of difficulties in controlling for end user hardware.
This feels like yet another sidestep of GM’s real motivation for eliminating CarPlay and Android Auto: Software subscription revenue. If GM is not the owner of the “portal” to services like music streaming or whatever other content you might choose to access in your car, GM has no opportunity to sell you those services and earn a commission. Personally, I also don’t see anything morally wrong about this. GM is running a for-profit business, not a charity. It’s not like Google and Apple are selling you software and services out of the goodness of their own hearts, either — consumers are just voicing their very understandable preference for an integrated ecosystem.
I think GM needs to just take the “L” on this CarPlay / Android Auto debacle and own up to the fact that this is a business decision made in order to achieve a business objective. Let the marketplace decide if that decision has enough benefits to outweigh the drawbacks. In other words: Let your product speak for itself. If customers decide GM’s native infotainment platform provides an experience they like, I suspect those customers will use that platform. If they don’t? They’ll do what customers do and vote with their wallets. The more rationalizing and sidestepping GM does, the bigger a hole it digs itself, and the less confidence it appears to have in its convictions.
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Kia’s electric SUVs are taking over. The EV3 is the best-selling retail EV in the UK this year, giving Kia its strongest sales start since it arrived 34 years ago. And it’s not just in the UK. Kia just had its best first quarter globally since it started selling cars in 1962.
Kia EV3 is the best-selling EV in the UK through March
In March, Kia sold a record nearly 20,000 vehicles in the UK, making it the fourth best-selling brand. It was also the second top-seller of electrified vehicles (EVs, PHEVs, and HEVs), accounting for over 55% of sales.
The EV3 remained the best-selling retail EV in the UK last month. Including the EV6, three-row EV9, and Niro EV, electric vehicles represented 21% of Kia’s UK sales in March.
Kia said the EV3 “started with a bang” in January, darting out as the UK’s most popular EV in retail sales. Through March, Kia’s electric SUV has held on to the crown. With the EV3 rolling out, Kia sold over 7,000 electric cars through March, nearly 50% more than in Q1 2024.
The EV3 was the best-selling retail EV in the UK in the first quarter and the fourth best-selling EV overall, including commercial vehicles.
Starting at £33,005 ($42,500), Kia said it’s the “brand’s most affordable EV yet.” It’s available with two battery packs, 58.3 kWh or 81.48 kWh, good for 430 km (270 miles) and 599 km (375 miles) of WLTP range, respectively.
With new EVs on the way, this could be just the start. Kia is launching several new EVs in the UK this year, including the EV4 sedan (and hatchback) and EV5 SUV. It also confirmed that the first PV5 electric vans will be delivered to customers by the end of the year.
Electrek’s Take
Globally, Kia sold a record 772,351 vehicles in the first quarter, its best since it started selling cars in 1962. With the new EV4, the brand’s first electric sedan and hatchback, launching this year, Kia looks to build on its momentum in 2025.
Kia has also made it very clear that it wants to be a global leader in the electric van market with its new Platform Beyond Vehicle (PBV) business, starting with the PV5 later this year.
Earlier today, we learned Kia’s midsize electric SUV, the EV5, is the fourth best-selling EV in Australia through March, outselling every BYD vehicle (at least for now). The EV5 is rolling out to new markets this year, including Canada, the UK, South Korea, and Mexico. However, it will not arrive in the US.
For those in the US, there are still a few Kia EVs to look forward to. Kia is launching the EV4 globally, including in the US, later this year. Although no date has been set, Kia confirmed the EV3 is also coming. It’s expected to arrive in mid-2026.
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Environment
Podcast: Tesla’s disastrous deliveries, more Trump tariffs, EV delivery numbers, and more
In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Tesla’s disastrous deliveries, more Trump tariffs, EV delivery numbers, and more.
The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.
As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.
After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:
We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.
Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:
Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET):
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Charging your EV in freezing weather could soon become dramatically faster, thanks to a big breakthrough from the University of Michigan engineers.
Neil Dasgupta, U-M associate professor of mechanical engineering and materials science and engineering and corresponding author of a study published in Joule, and his team have developed an innovative battery structure and coating that can boost lithium-ion EV battery charging speeds by a whopping 500%, even at frigid temperatures as low as 14F (-10C). “Charging an EV battery takes 30 to 40 minutes even for aggressive fast charging, and that time increases to over an hour in the winter,” Dasgupta explained. “This is the pain point we want to address.”
Freezing weather has traditionally been harsh on EV batteries because it slows down the movement of lithium ions, resulting in slower charging speeds and reduced battery life. Automakers have tried thickening battery electrodes to extend driving range, but this makes some of the lithium hard to access, making charging even slower.
Previously, Dasgupta’s group sped up battery charging using lasers to carve pathways around 40 microns in size into the graphite anode. This allowed lithium ions to reach deeper into the battery more quickly. However, cold-weather performance still lagged because a chemical layer formed on the electrodes, blocking the ions. Dasgupta compares this barrier to “trying to cut cold butter,” making charging inefficient.
To solve this, the team coated the battery with a thin, glassy material made of lithium borate-carbonate—only 20 nanometers thick—which prevented the problematic chemical layer from forming. Combined with the microscopic channels, the results were groundbreaking: the modified batteries retained 97% of their capacity even after 100 fast-charging cycles in freezing temperatures.
“We envision this approach as something that EV battery manufacturers could adopt without major changes to existing factories,” Dasgupta noted. “For the first time, we’ve shown a pathway to simultaneously achieve extreme fast charging at low temperatures, without sacrificing the energy density of the lithium-ion battery.”
This innovation could tackle one of the biggest concerns holding potential EV buyers back.
The new battery tech is moving closer to commercialization, supported by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s Michigan Translational Research and Commercialization (MTRAC) Advanced Transportation Innovation Hub. The research devices were built at U-M’s Battery Lab and studied with help from the Michigan Center for Materials Characterization.
U-M Innovation Partnerships assisted the team in applying for patents, and Arbor Battery Innovations has licensed the technology for market deployment. Dasgupta and the University of Michigan hold financial stakes in Arbor Battery Innovations.
Read more: California now has nearly 50% more EV chargers than gas nozzles
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