GM CEO Confirms Apple CarPlay Will Be Dropped From Future Gas-Powered Vehicles

General Motors CEO Mary Barra has confirmed the company plans to phase out Apple CarPlay and Android Auto from its future gasoline-powered vehicles, doubling down on a controversial strategy that was previously limited to its electric models. In a new interview on The Verge's Decoder podcast, Barra said customers should expect the feature to be removed from gas cars as they receive major updates.

When asked why phone projection remains in the company's internal combustion engine vehicles, Barra explained it was a matter of timing with product update cycles. "We made a decision to prioritize our EV vehicles during this timeframe, and as we go forward, we'll continue across the portfolio," she said. When pressed on whether new gas cars would also lose the feature, Barra confirmed, "As we get to a major rollout, I think that's the right expectation. Yes."

The move marks a significant expansion of a policy GM first announced in 2023, which stated the company would drop the features from its EVs starting with the 2024 Chevrolet Blazer. Chief Product Officer Sterling Anderson defended the strategy, comparing it to Apple's own "Jobsian" decisions, like removing the floppy disk drive. He argued that a deeply integrated system is safer and more capable. "You are in a much more immersive environment that can do so many more things; why would you use the equivalent of a phone mirroring application on a laptop in your car?" Anderson said. "We're taking out the disk drive, guys; get on board with flash storage, that's where the future is."


The decision comes despite data showing strong consumer preference for phone projection. A recent J.D. Power study found that Apple CarPlay receives the highest customer satisfaction score for in-vehicle infotainment. By pushing users to its own software, GM hopes to generate new revenue streams from digital services, with a stated goal of reaching $20 billion to $25 billion in subscription revenue by 2030.

GM's integrated system is being developed with Google and will feature apps like Google Maps and Google Assistant at no cost for the first eight years. Barra also noted that GM maintains a "good relationship with Apple" at senior levels and will soon announce support for Apple Wallet, leaving the door open for future individual app integrations, though not CarPlay itself.

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