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Does your car offer Android Auto? What about CarPlay? Chances are you're familiar with this technology, which leverages your phone to give you the latest and greatest user interface. It makes it easy for people to move from car to car and keep familiar settings. It may not be as flashy as some of the systems from luxury car makers — yet — but it's reliable and familiar, and both systems get regular updates.

So, back in 2014, why did I worry that systems like this could be a colossally dumb idea? I'm far less worried about it ten years later, and here's what we've all learned in the meantime:

Most manufacturers who offer one also offer the other.

My biggest worry was that if you bought a car with Android Auto, you'd never be able to change over to CarPlay. It turns out that it's pretty easy to switch from one to the other, from what I've seen in the rental cars I've used. Unlike many other parts in a car, it doesn't require that hardware be changed or that a mechanic unlock something. It's also fairly easy to use neither system if you don't want to. You might be limited to AM/FM radio, but you'll still be able to get from place to place.

Putting these systems in didn't make cars less reliable.

One of my big worries about all of these systems is that you would be locked out of key systems like brakes and acceleration if something crashed. First of all, neither Apple nor Android have systems that take the place of the main dashboard yet. That's good news, and the truth is I'm not sure I ever want them to. But, having talked to a fair number of people with Teslas, I've found that when their screens lock up they can still drive the car. An astounding number of things don't work, from the speedometer to the sound of the directional signals, but you can still go, stop, turn, and brake. If nothing else that means you can get off to the shoulder, reboot the car, and get everything running again.

Reliability hasn't really been an issue

My experience with CarPlay has been 100% positive when it comes to reliability. Maybe now and again it will lose a text message, but in most cases it just works. People with Android Auto tell me that it's getting that point with that system too. It's a lot harder to implement anything for Androids because there are so many different models, but these systems keep evolving and getting better.

The key for both systems is that they really aren't relying much on the car at all. Both systems function as what the industry calls "projectors." They're essentially a second screen and input device for your phone. So it's always your phone doing the hard work, while the car is just showing stuff on a screen and accepting touch inputs. That's all. That's good because it lets Google and Apple fix problems quickly without worrying too much about the car side of things.

But, I'm still a little worried about the next generation

9to5Mac

Apple has been teasing a system like what you see above for about two years. In theory, CarPlay would be able to take on all the display tasks for your car. It would be your speedometer, climate controls, and even open your hood and trunk. That would put it on par with similar systems from BMW, Tesla, and others. I'm sure it will be great when it works. And what happens when it doesn't?

Hopefully these systems will still be one step removed from the basic operations of the car. As I said, you need to be able to steer, brake, and that sort of thing if the system stops working. As much as we like to talk about self-driving cars, they're not to the point where we can trust them yet. We still need manual control and I hope that carmakers will be required to keep offering it.

I love the idea that I'll be able to customize my car's user interface in all sorts of neat ways. I love even more the idea of walking into a new car and having all my settings follow me. But I'm old enough to worry about how well-thought-out this tech is, and what might happen if it doesn't work.

Oh well, I guess I'll talk about it in another 10 years in another Throwback Thursday.

The post THROWBACK THURSDAY: When I worried about CarPlay and Android Auto appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.

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