i'd say primarily because leadership at auto makers are not tech forward. they just don't get it. they're more into factories making loads of cars. and because they don't get it, they don't even understand what they need to invest to do it well.

great ui/ux is REALLY hard. everyone thinks they could do it but when you get into it you realize "oh, not easy". it's a combination of design, human ergonomics, safety, efficiency, etc. even something as ubiquitous as an iphone is by no means perfect. while i see young people navigating it pretty well, i watch older people have no clue about the icloud settings, or the swipe down from top right to get to quick controls, etc. it's amazing how far we've come though because you may remember the days when MANUALS came with electronic products! not any longer, they just have to be largely 'obvious'.

exactly right. they don't attract it because they're not even looking for it. i don't know who did lexus latest infotainment which is obviously a radical departure from what's gone before, but it seems like a hot mess so far, lol.

my experience (being in the tech industry my whole life) is that companies tend to focus on one or two things but not everything. so they might focus on marketiing/sales, or finance, or hardware, or software, or acquisitions, etc. samsung is a good example. EXCELLENT hardware. HORRIBLE software (i'm talking tv's, phones, etc). sony is another good example of wonderful hardware and poor software. most car makers may have focused on engines, driving experience, cost, and manufacturing, without regard to infotainment. even if tesla's software/hardware isn't everyone's thing, they've done both very well, innovated rapidly, and the cars are properly cloud-connected, and part of IoT (internet of things). other companies are just way behind.

yup, that's an amazing thing apple has done, with hardware and software and extending into the hardware of the cars. and google too of course with android auto. in another example of company blind spots, microsoft tried a few times with phones but gave up - they simply didn't have the ux skill and culture to make something truly user friendly and desirable.

i fundamentally disagree, they do both, have always done both, in great harmony, which is why they're so valuable. for apple it's ALL about the ux (user experience), not just an endless feature list (microsoft), or great hardware and lousy software (samsung).

i tell people all the time, of all the computer tech i've used, i'm most impressed by the ipad. it's remarkable and has no competition even after all these years.

ha. thankfully my '21 is fast.

 

You never drove a Jaguar or Land Rover then lol

 

Totally agree, which is why carmakers are better off to outsource it to designers who understand what they need to do to design a good UI. Thats my point.

 

if a company's leaders don't get it, outsourcing won't help, but at least they'll have someone else to blame.

 

Outsourcing will help in that the carmaker will have a better GUI. For instance Chrysler now has Google/Android design their GUI and it is so much better.

 

Between my husband and I we've had a few (still currently have one), I actually almost put it in my post for a point of comparison lol. The Range Rovers were maddening but the Lucid was something else to me. Although to the Lucid's defense the instrument cluster never went black mid-drive.

 

The latest Land Rover and Range Rover system is actually pretty good. It's much better and much faster than the prior versions and has seen some significant functionality added via free OTA updates (e,g. wireless CarPlay and Alexa support were added via OTA). Older JLR stuff wasn't nearly as good. The OTA updates have also enhanced some of the driver assistance tech (intelligent cruise control, lane keep assist etc)

 

you’ve pretty much nailed it


Here is what MB is doing next. Not sure who is writing the new MB.OS





now Car play is gonna reskin many functions. Some auto brands do not want this to happen

 

CarPlay basically (like Android Auto) projects your smartphone screen onto the infotainment system and runs apps from your phone. Those that don't have it, it's usually due to a licensing or integration issue with Apple or Google

EDIT

I forgot to mention, it doesn't reskin any features, just projects your smartphone. Again like mentioned above, having it or not having it is more due to integration or licensing issues between the automakers and the two tech giants

 

Apple is pushing for CarPlay to be a bigger and broader part of the overall vehicle UI. In addition to features like second screen they are looking at letting you control other functions like climate control via CarPlay. There was a lot of content that the Apple WWDC regarding planks for CarPlay in the upcoming iOS 16 and beyond.

 

You mean like Android Automotive (not to be mistaken with Android Auto)? Polestar just added last month support for Apple CarPlay, but it caused a lot of issues and the update had to be pulled...twice. It took about a month to resolve. The issue is that in an EV, the GPS mapping has to collect a ton of data from the car, from current traffic, to road conditions to be able to predict SoC from one destination to another. Google Maps does a great job, it will predict SoC for arriving at the destination and at return...and it's so accurate it's scary! I think Polestar ran into permission and data sharing issues with CarPlay for those who wanted to use Apple maps. But it seems resolved now

 

Reportedly it’s somewhere between the two. There’s a development effort supposedly underway to more tightly couple CarPlay with the manufacturer’s own platform so that you could control climate, seats and so on from within the CarPlay UI but action the request using the car’s own OS etc. so essentially an API layer between CarPlay and the car. The same initiative is looking to enable CarPlay to step in as a digital dashboard as well. It will obviously require cooperation from the manufacturers and not everyone is going to want to let apple take over some of these functions.

 

Yeah what was it with the gauge clusters?! I know two people who have had the same problem...

The new systems are much better. Designed by Google!

 

No offense but I don't want Google's dirty little fingers anywhere near my car. lol

 

resistance is futile unless you'll drive your current vehicles for the rest of your life.