Rent seeking behavior. They want subscription revenue instead of wanting to deliver what consumers want.
this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2025
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For the most part, it's believed that carmakers are doing way with Android Auto support simply as a way to expand their control over user data. Because Android Auto utilizes your phone's connection, all of the data that runs through it goes straight to Android and the phone manufacturer. So, by utilizing built-in systems, the car manufacturers would indeed be able to collect more data about how you use the systems in place, while also possibly getting more money out of you through subscriptions.
You are unfortunately correct.
And then carmakers will cry that Chinese cars are reading over the market.
Back to the days of rip out the head unit and stick one in that does have the features you want?
I imagine they’ll try to make this increasingly difficult; maybe even impossible.
It already is for a lot of modern cars. Especially EVs. I imagine they are so tied into the functionality of the car that it makes the vehicle impossible to drive without the OEM headunit.
Couldn't a savvy user just find an exploitable firmware revision, never connect the vehicle to the internet, and install aftermarket software or hardware to bypass the authentication checks? It would be more of a pain in the ass than the previous drop in system, but I'd imagine it's possible.
Depends on how heavily things are locked down, and how much money this tech-savvy person is willing to risk on a bricked automobile.
If the auto industry successfully locks 99.9% of their buyers into their walled garden by making it such a pain in the ass to bypass it, they’ve already won.
The vehicle comes from the factory connected to the internet.
You'd have to find the exploit before they do, and it would be hard to replicate because once they find out, the only cars vulnerable to your exploit are ones manufactured before the patch who have been disconnected from the internet (which is like 2 cars).
It's theoretically possible but very hard to replicate. And on top of that theres always the risk of the car manufacturer voiding the warranty on your $50k vehicle and/or cozying up to your insurance company and convincing them any damage is a result of you preventing their systems from running as intended.
It's a messy high risk low reward game to play. Better option is to just buy a different car if you can.
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I just had a little magnetic clip for my air vent where I could attach my phone and put up a map.
I'd sooner go back to doing that than use a "Gemini-based AI assistant" in my fucking car.
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I wish I could develop my own apps on my own car. I mean I own the car.. why can't I "sideload" my own created apps? Their apps are sht anyways.
You probably can, just nobody bothers to do it. My Subaru has installable apps. Hell older Hondas (and possibly current ones) just run android. You can even get to the regular android UI on them.
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I am always surprised I don't hear more discussion about Automotive Grade Linux.
Man, that sounds INCREDIBLE!!! Never heard of this! Linux on my pc, my laptop, my phone, and now my CAR! 🤣
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Why I like Android Auto:
- I can plan my route on my phone at home and see the map on the big screen instead the little phone ui, or worse putting in the adress manually with the keyboard wheel in Korean instead of copy and pasting it from the Element chat
- I already have all my music on my phone, I don't want to copy and organize it again for hours in my car
- I already have integration with many apps on my phone, I don't want to set everything up again on the car, especially I can't copy and paste my long ass passwords from my KeePassXC into the car and need to painstakingly put in every password with their clunky keyboard, if they even have a keyboard.
I could go on forever. But as long as I can connect bluetooth and set up my phone somewhere so I can see the map while driving I'll be OK. The worst part, at work what I do is car infotainment system software, but it never has any of the features I would want from a car.
Plus if I rent a car that also has Android Auto I only have to pair it and all my stuff is there.
Honestly, I think consumers allowing manufacturers to start integrating screens into cars was a mistake.
Knobs and dials are way easier to nevigate blind (whilst focusing on the road like we're meant to), and none of that stops you plugging in your own third party device for other features, or replacing the headboard yourself.
Giant tablets with complex menus are dangerous to drivers, and only serve to milk the consumer for things they already had access to in their car as standard not 10 years ago.
Yes. It needs heavy regulation, physical buttons is all the driver should have access to.
We also need to ban subscription services in vehicles.
Consumers cannot be trusted to spend responsibly and look out for their best interests.
The consumers did not allow anything. This is the crap they were eventually forced to buy due to lack of any other options. Electro-mechanical-chemical vehicle with a delco radio should be enough. We adopt new tech because it exists, not because we should.
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Because GM sucks.
People aren't asking for much. People just want their phone navigation and music controls displayed onto the infotainment. Won't consider any car that cannot afford me this tiny bit of convenience for the sake of nickel and diming me.
And if every car manufacturer starts forcing me to adopt their own stupid software I'll just buy a fucking phone holder.
And GM has shitty reliability anyways.
GM are saying that their customers want a more seamless integration. Shareholders are slavering at the idea of owners collared to their subscription system. Buyers need to stop buying cars with stupid subscriptions. My 2nd hand BMW has a heated steering wheel that requires an annual fee to use. Nope, heated gloves are the solution!
I imagine you could wire your own mechanical switch to that steering wheel. Fuck them for doing that though.
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I won’t buy a car without CarPlay.
My current car has it and I love it. So I imagine Android users feel the same way.
If there is truly no option, then my phone is getting the window/airvent mount option.
I’ll never subscribe to their bs.
My car is from the 2010s.
I bought a GPS looking screen for $40 that has android auto and carplay. I already have Bluetooth added onto the radio for audio streaming.
Works perfectly for GPS off of my phone and as a media controller.
Only thing I'm missing is steering wheel controls.
I’m in a country where stuff in the car is not regulated as much as the US.
One of my ride share drivers had basically a 13” android tablet instead of the stock radio in the car 😂
It was all hooked up to the car to act as a legit part of the car.
Yeah this is the kind of shit I was looking forward to when I got into driving in the 2000s. But then car manufacturers started doing thier own non standard radios.
Then the car mod communities made kits to for a dual bay fit.
Then the corpos made radios required to service the car...
No regulations to protect the consumers let them do what they want.
The car part of the car should be completely independent of the entertainment part of the car. Fuckers.
The line can get blurry when you talk about EVs but protections should still be possible.
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My take on Android Auto (I'm sure everyone wants to hear)
pros:
- free to choose the maps app you want (OsmAnd, Organic Maps, Google Maps or anything)
- stream music for the app you want
- decent voice control for maps and spotify
- decent integration with some EV charging apps, you can find and initiate chargers from the dashboard
- you can write your own Android Auto apps
cons:
- Android Auto app is very invasive, polluting phone with stupid notifications
- the standard is shit. Android Auto doesn't work work with Android Go phones but it's not specified anywhere in the documentation, wireless Android Auto only works with latest android but it's also not specified anywhere
- it's controlled by Google and there are no alternative implementations
My solution so far is to use cheap, secondary phone for AA (which was hard to find because of the stupid limitations). If someone would create a open AA client not controlled by Google I would put it on my primary phone. AA should now work with Graphene OS so I may try to set it up in separate profile some day.
On my GrapheneOS phone I have AA set up in a work profile that is paused 90% of the time. It works without any issues. Or at least no more issues than AA ever had.
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2015 cars came with bluetooth support for hands free calling using your phone. This was great.
After that, it was replaced with carplay or android auto as the only means to get hands free calling. Stupid...stupid.
Plus, last 2 new cars i bought, i had to take the interior roof apart so i could access the built in cellular antennae wire and remove that spyware P.O.S. And by the way, car works fine without it.
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Every day I get more thankful for my hand-me-down car. It has no heated seats or anything fancy, but that also means no subscriptions, no wifi tracking/stalking, no digital touch screen over physical buttons, etc. All I've ever done is use a clip holder on my AC vent for my phone, so I'm used to it. It's given me time to see how others feel about Android Auto and features in newer cars, and I can make an informed decision whenever my baby decides to kick the bucket. Hopefully I can get something not too stalkerish nor with subscriptions.
I'm super pleased to have gotten a vehicle right in the breakpoint between dumb and dumber vehicles, 2018, center console without touchscreen, mouse/dpad instead, no connected services except offline gps with option to update maps via tethered network, no sos lojack. Got lane assist, adaptive spees etc but nothing actually 'smart'
Next year model got it all, touchscreens, lojack, annoying android..
I bought a cheap chinabox for android auto instead of upgrading software via dealer for higher price, and now I can connect whatever I want to the system below android, enter ui for dashcams, kill it entirely or just use the good ol radio.
Not looking forward to 'upgrading' in the future at all, I'd rather let this one turn to rolling rust.
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I'll just take a bluetooth battery powered speaker in my car if they keep locking it down
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Way to make people hate your cars even more.
I hate techno feudalism so much.
the only integration i want between my phone and my car is a 3.5mm audio jack. i'm driving a 2016 right now and am dreading replacing it because i doubt i'll be able to find anything without this "infotainment" crap. i thought i had read that those were being phased out because consumers unilaterally hated them, so reading the opposite here is a huge bummer
Unironically, you’re missing out.
Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are both just ways to project the smartphone already in your pocket onto an additional screen (like plugging a second monitor to your laptop or PC).
Manufacturers like GM and Tesla hate it because it stops your data from being readily collected and stored with the purpose of building up a profile of ‘you’ that they can then sell to advertisers and insurance companies.
Now if only manufacturers had the good sense to keep things like climate control as physical switches - that’s my own personal bugbear. 🤬
I'm afraid the best I can give you is a proprietary, always online, underpowered, half-assed piece of spyware that will probably end up costing you a yearly subscription fee if you don't want advertisements and get a mandatory, irreversible AI integration over-the-air upgrade 1 month after you buy it.
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oh sweet jebus i gues i am buying a 1980s car then. screw this crap. I own my car you are not getting any of my money.
I don't own a car but I rent them a lot. Part of my "go bag" includes blue tack. A semi sticky putty that doesn't leave a residue. I use this to stick my phone to the surface of whatever screen is in the car. This puts it right where I can see it and interact with it easily. Then I don't have to learn a new system in every different car I drive.
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