Porsche Embraces Apple CarPlay for a Familiar In-Car Experience
In the world of luxury vehicles, technology integration is becoming increasingly important. Many automakers are realizing the value of seamless connectivity between cars and smartphones. While some companies, like General Motors (GM), are making the questionable decision to abandon Apple CarPlay in their electric vehicles (EVs), others are fully embracing it. Porsche is one such automaker.
Porsche has been expanding its focus on CarPlay, most recently introducing its My Porsche app for CarPlay, which includes climate controls and other in-car features. In a recent interview with ArsTechnica, Cyril Dorsaz, Porsche Digital’s principal product manager, shed light on why the company believes CarPlay is the way forward.
During the development process of the My Porsche app, Dorsaz explained that Porsche made conscious decisions about which font to use. They opted for the San Francisco font, which is commonly used in other apps in the Apple ecosystem, to create a sense of familiarity for users. The goal, according to Dorsaz, is to make the user interface and experience in Porsche cars as familiar as possible, leveraging the familiarity that drivers have with their iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches.
Dorsaz highlighted the dissatisfaction of customers in having to switch back and forth between different interfaces to control various features. With the integration of climate controls, lighting, and more into the CarPlay experience, Porsche aims to provide a feature-rich and convenient experience for its users.
While the new My Porsche app for CarPlay is currently only supported on the 2024 Porsche Cayenne, Dorsaz mentioned that the company hasn’t made a decision regarding support for older models. Unfortunately for Android Auto users, a similar experience may not be on the horizon, as Porsche cited the lack of an equivalent automaker toolkit and the lower incidence of Android use among their customers.
Porsche’s approach stands in stark contrast to that of GM, Tesla, and Rivian, who are moving away from CarPlay to have greater control over the in-car experience. This decision has not been well-received by iPhone users, who have expressed their dissatisfaction, especially with GM. Ford, on the other hand, has voiced its support for CarPlay and has shown a commitment to integrating it into their vehicles.
While Porsche is fully embracing CarPlay, there is still anticipation for the next-generation CarPlay platform that Apple announced at WWDC 2022. Apple has promised that the first cars with the next-gen CarPlay will be announced by the end of this year.
As technology continues to evolve, it is clear that automakers like Porsche are recognizing the importance of seamless integration with smartphones. By leveraging platforms like CarPlay, they can provide a familiar and user-friendly experience for drivers, aligning with the devices they use in their everyday lives.