Ford CEO says Apple CarPlay will live on in its cars

Ford CEO Jim Farley says the brand will continue to offer Apple CarPlay even after rival General Motors says it won’t feature it in its upcoming electric vehicles.

In an interview with TheWall Street Journal, Mr Farley discussed why Ford has chosen to keep the Apple infotainment integration alive.

“70 percent of our Ford customers in the U.S. are Apple customers,” he said.

“Why would I go to an Apple customer and say ‘good luck’?”

General Motors is rolling out an Android Automotive-based infotainment system but while other brands offer this technology with Apple CarPlay, the rival American automaker is phasing this smartphone mirroring feature out from its electric vehicles.

The company says it’s doing this as many of its new driver assistance features are “more tightly coupled with navigation”, however it admitted there are subscription revenue opportunities.

Mr Farley says that data from an Android Automotive infotainment system doesn’t make money, and would rather focus Ford’s efforts on other areas.

“In terms of content, we kind of lost that battle 10 years ago. So like get real with it, because you’re not going to make a ton of money on content inside the vehicle,” he told The Wall Street Journal.

“It’s gonna be safety, security, partial autonomy, and productivity in our eyes.

“So that relationship for content is between you, The Wall Street Journal, and the customer. I don’t want to get in the middle of that, but Tesla and other companies believe differently.

“They want to have complete control over the interior experience.”

Apple announced last year it’s significantly upgrading its Apple CarPlay integration.

The upcoming overhaul for Apple CarPlay will offer multi-screen support which will automatically extend and optimise itself for the screens on a digital dashboard.

Apple has also added functionality for users to change the air-conditioning and temperature settings as well as switching radio stations.

Google’s Android Automotive has been finding a place in myriad vehicles of late.

Volvo and Polestar currently use Android Automotive, while other companies rolling out this technology include BMW, Honda, Renault and Stellantis, among others.

MORE: Apple CarPlay: Deep dive into the next generation MORE: Android Automotive: Who’s partnering with Google?