Apple CarPlay and Baidu CarLife want to seize the initiative from car companies

Image source: @VisualChina

Leitech

In 2013, before the Apple Car project was established, it was already preparing for entering the automotive industry and released the extremely critical car system CarPlay. At WWDC 2022, Apple publicly stated that 98% of vehicles in the United States support CarPlay, and 79% of consumers will only buy cars that support CarPlay.

The development of the automotive industry to now, has long been not a simple travel tool, in addition to the pursuit of safety, convenience and other aspects, the entertainment function of the car is becoming more and more rich. In order to meet the needs of users, many cars are installed with seven or eight speakers and equipped with large screens, but traditional car companies lack experience in entertainment, and are still using the thinking of making cars to make car systems, which gives some enterprises focusing on intelligent travel opportunities.

The system launched by car companies is too simple, so make your own system to replace it and give users a more complete experience. Overseas Apple CarPlay, domestic Huawei HiCar, Baidu CarLife+, Xiaomi CarWith are such products, these third-party car systems can be connected to the car through mobile phones or professional equipment, and replace the original car system of the car.

According to Apple's official data, CarPlay has a wide audience in the United States, even close to 80% of people require cars to support CarPlay, can the third-party car machine system really completely replace the original system of the car machine?

With the blessing of ecological advantages, Apple has the glory of the past

Third-party vehicle systems such as CarPlay, HiCar, and CarLife+ actually run the system on mobile phones or professional devices (such as Huawei intelligent driving recorder and degree mirror), and then map to the car, which can bring some of the functional features of iOS or Android to the car, which means that the car will have richer ecological functions.

At present, the functions of HiCar and CarLife+ are relatively simple, CarPlay has a long admission time, the functions are more abundant and perfect, and the basic functions of the iPhone can basically be realized through the car screen.

It is reported that the next generation of CarPlay, which will be launched at the end of this year, will support more brands of cars, and will also be able to read data such as the car's temperature, speed, and remaining fuel, and can control the car's air conditioning, radio and other functions through Siri. Of course, relying on these functions alone, it is difficult to open the gap between the third-party vehicle system and the car's own system experience, and CarPlay, HiCar, CarLife+, etc. also have killer features.

Basic functions such as navigation, car control, and light entertainment will not be worse than Apple, Huawei, and Baidu. Xiaolei has experienced Baidu CarLife+, download the app on the mobile phone, connect the car with the data cable, and use it if the car supports it. Basic functions such as navigation are not significantly different from cars.

Compared with CarPlay, HiCar, and CarLife+, the biggest disadvantage of traditional vehicle systems lies in ecology. Jeff Williams, Apple's senior vice president of operations, has said that cars are the ultimate form of mobile devices. In today's rapid development of the Internet of Everything and the Internet of Things, cars are undoubtedly a part of the intelligent ecology, coupled with the gradual commercial popularization of autonomous driving technology, in the future, we can even remotely control cars through voice assistants to pick us up and from work.

With a rich ecology, CarPlay has achieved great success in the United States, but this does not mean that the third-party vehicle system has no shortcomings, and the adaptation of car companies to it is a big problem. It is not that the car opens support for CarPlay, HiCar, and CarLife+, many cars need to adapt third-party vehicle systems according to their own software and hardware configurations to achieve perfect operation.

First of all, we must understand that Apple, Huawei, and Baidu will not take the initiative to adapt to cars, these work need car companies to do, and Apple's CarPlay also needs to pay extra to install MFi chips. The existence of third-party vehicle systems has threatened the interests of car companies, and opening interfaces and installing special chips also requires costs, and car companies are naturally not happy.

After the advent of the era of smart cars, many car companies have launched subscription payment functions, and in 2020, GAC NIO even stated that the comprehensive profit of hardware will not exceed 1%, mainly relying on software to make money. Third-party vehicle systems are bound to affect the interests of car companies, and in the face of the threat of CarPlay, HiCar, and CarLife+, car companies will inevitably come up with a plan to fight back.

The counterattack of traditional car companies does not belong to Apple in the future

As far as Xiaolei's experience is concerned, the vehicle performance and App ecology problems of traditional cars are more serious, especially for low-end models. Most of the low-end cars are equipped with entry-level chips from Qualcomm, Intel and other manufacturers, and the performance is not even comparable to the mainstream domestic mobile phones above 1500 yuan. High-end models are better, usually equipped with flagship chips from Qualcomm, Intel, NVIDIA, AMD and other manufacturers, Tesla's Model S/X model computing power is not inferior to Sony PS5.

Many cars support downloading apps, but considering the performance of the car, the apps for the car platform are usually simplified versions. For example, Xiaolei often uses the Amap, which is often used by his own driving, the mobile app is like a hardcover room with too much furniture and a little crowded, and the car end is a rough room with a bed and a coffee table.

The performance and ecological development of high-end models are good, taking Tesla as an example, Model S is not only equipped with AMD high-performance chips, but also supports playing 3A games. At the level of the Internet of Everything, car companies are also developing, and in the current situation, the core and control center of the Internet of Everything is a mobile phone that is inseparable from us.

Car companies have two choices, first, cooperate with mobile phone manufacturers and integrate into the smart ecology of mobile phone manufacturers, and the vast majority of car companies choose this solution; Second, make your own mobile phone, NIO chose this solution.

Musk has also bluntly said on Twitter that he has plans to enter the mobile phone industry. However, the mobile phone industry has long been solidified, and it is too difficult for new manufacturers to succeed, and buying a car and sending mobile phones may be the best solution for them to increase mobile phone sales and increase user stickiness.

As for the threat of third-party vehicles, the response plan of car companies is very simple, just do not adapt. If you are concerned about the reputation of consumers, you can also support adaptation, but charge consumers for car owners. The 2019 BMW car has launched a CarPlay option + subscription plan, which costs $300 to install CarPlay, and $80 per year to use CarPlay (free for the first year).

On the issue of whether to support third-party vehicle systems, car companies have the absolute initiative. Chen Hong, chairman of SAIC, once said:

It's like a company providing us with a holistic solution, so that it becomes the soul and SAIC becomes the body. For such a result, SAIC is unacceptable, and it is necessary to take the soul into its own hands.

It can be seen that car companies do not want their cars to use third-party vehicle systems, and recognize the huge business opportunities of vehicle systems, and continue to increase relevant research and development investment. In this context, CarPlay, HiCar, CarLife+ do not say that it will be difficult to replace the original vehicle system.

The survival path of third-party vehicle systems

The era of autonomous driving is coming, and car owners will be more dependent on the vehicle system, even if CarPlay, HiCar, CarLife+, etc. add support for automatic driving, they will probably be charged. Third-party vehicle systems support automatic driving, which inevitably requires access to information collected by automotive radars and cameras, which may also cause information crises.

There are various contradictions, as well as conflicts of interest, and the living space of third-party vehicle systems will be very small in the future. In fact, some car companies have long been aware of the problem, such as Ford's Ruijie Automobile, 2016~2018 models support CarPlay, 2020 model canceled support for CarPlay.

According to data from the Easy Car Research Institute, in 2021, 80.58% of car owners in mainland China will use mobile phones to navigate by car, of which 92% of elderly users use mobile phone navigation. However, among young people, especially new energy vehicle owners, the frequency of using vehicle machines is higher. According to AITO data, the navigation usage rate of the M7 is 93.1%.

The utilization rate of vehicle machines continues to increase, the functions and commercial value that vehicle systems can play will rise, and traditional car companies will spend a lot of R&D funds, and the experience will be closer and closer to CarPlay, HiCar, and CarLife+ developed by Internet manufacturers. Therefore, Xiaolei believes that the living space of third-party vehicle systems will become smaller and smaller in the future, and it is necessary to seek the direction of survival.

Third-party vehicle system manufacturers have two choices, the first is to build their own car, Apple, Xiaomi are taking this road, although the cost is high, but if it can be successful, it is equivalent to getting a hen that lays golden eggs; The second is to cooperate with car companies to provide vehicle machine systems for car companies. Judging from Chen Hong's speech, some car companies are not willing to accept this plan and prefer to develop their own systems.

Considering the Internet of Everything and intelligent ecology, Xiaolei believes that the best solution is to cooperate with car companies, provided that the former does not have its own products and will not pose a threat to car companies, and the latter cooperates with multiple companies at the same time, and the eggs are not placed in one basket. Huawei, iFLYTEK, etc. are representatives of third-party vehicle enterprises, mainly developing vehicle systems and autonomous driving, and promising to only be supply chain manufacturers.

Geely is a long-term enterprise of car companies, and Huawei has cooperated, some models are equipped with Hongmeng intelligent cockpit, acquired 79% of Meizu's shares, the two have also reached in-depth cooperation, some models will be equipped with FlymeAuto, their own vehicle system research and development team is not idle.

Even if the product is equipped with Hongmeng intelligent cockpit and FlymeAuto, it needs to be jointly adapted, Geely still holds control and will not completely "lose its soul", and the income of various OTA upgrade functions and paid subscriptions is also negotiated and handled by cooperative enterprises. Reasonable distribution of benefits and avoiding confrontation with car companies is the vitality of third-party vehicle systems.