Mercedes will continue to offer Apple CarPlay, but won’t allow it to take over every screen in the cockpit of its vehicles
- Mercedes says it won’t allow Apple CarPlay to completely take over its vehicles’ infotainment systems.
- However, unlike GM, the automaker will still allow drivers to use the standard versions of CarPlay and Android Auto.
- Mercedes will work with technology companies to develop features (such as a customized navigation app) for its vehicles.
Back in 2022, Apple announced that its in-vehicle smartphone mirroring system, CarPlay, could take over any screen in a vehicle, including the instrument display. However, Mercedes says it will not hand over complete control of its infotainment offering to the technology company.
According to the German automaker’s CEO Ola Kallenius, vehicles need a “holistic software architecture” to meet the needs of customers seeking a seamless infotainment experience, but handing the reins to Apple is not the way to achieve this.
Read: The US is challenging Apple’s CarPlay takeover of your car’s screens in a legal dispute
“The short answer is no,” Kallenius told The Verge when asked if Mercedes plans to introduce a fully immersive version of CarPlay. “The entire cockpit head unit – in our case a passenger screen – and giving it all away to someone else, the answer is no.”
However, that doesn’t mean Mercedes will go to the extreme lengths of a company like General Motors, which recently announced that it won’t offer any form of Apple CarPlay or Android Auto in its upcoming electric vehicles.
“We are not fundamentalists when we say we will not allow a customer to use Apple CarPlay for any reason if they choose to do so,” Kallenius said. “So we have Apple CarPlay. We have Android Auto. If you feel more comfortable with this on some features and want to switch back and forth, be my guest. You can get that too.”
Mercedes is open to working closely with technology companies and plans to install a custom version of Google Maps in its vehicles. However, the automaker will work with the tech company’s engineers to develop something customized without handing over full control to the outside company.
While the decision to allow a tech company to take over an automaker’s infotainment and instrument screens may seem strange, that’s exactly what Porsche and Aston Martin are planning to do. They have already demonstrated what the immersive Apple CarPlay display will look like in their vehicles.
