In this episode of Talking Cars, we discuss why modern vehicles rely so heavily on software, apps, over-the-air updates, and smartphone integration. We compare the pros and cons of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, discuss the learning curve of built-in infotainment systems, and explore personal data privacy and how you can best protect your information while using a vehicle.
Join CR at https://CR.org/joinviaYT to access our comprehensive ratings for items you use every day. CR is a mission-driven, independent, nonprofit organization.
SHOW NOTES
-----------------------------------
0:00 - Intro
01:20 - CarPlay vs. Native Infotainment Systems
02:20 - Why Connectivity Still Fails
03:40 - Software Updates, Over-the-Air updates
07:04 - Why EVs Depend on Advanced Software
10:50 - Common Infotainment Frustrations
18:20 - What Makes a Good Infotainment System?
20:25 - Privacy, Data Collection & Connected Cars
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How Do In-Car Infotainment Systems Compare to Apple CarPlay and Android Auto?: https://www.consumerreports.org/infotainment-systems/in-car-infotainment-systems-vs-apple-carplay-android-auto/?EXTKEY=YSOCIAL_YT
How Do Over-the-Air Update Work: https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/car-maintenance/ota-car-software-updates-are-they-safe-how-they-work-a4081157745/?EXTKEY=YSOCIAL_YT
How Long Does It Take to Charge These Popular Electric Cars?: https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/hybrids-evs/fastest-charging-electric-vehicles-a4112188427/?EXTKEY=YSOCIAL_YT
Get the Most From Your Car's Infotainment System: https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/automotive-technology/get-the-most-from-your-cars-infotainment-system-a1056374937/?EXTKEY=YSOCIAL_YT
How to Clear Your Personal Data From a Car: https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics/personal-information/how-to-clear-your-personal-data-from-a-car-before-selling-a2082502452/?EXTKEY=YSOCIAL_YT
00:00:11
Hey. Welcome back I'm Keith berry.
00:00:12
I'm Maddie mccarty. I'm Michael Crossan.
00:00:14
And we've got a very special episode
of Talking Cars.
00:00:18
Today we are going to talk about
why the heck so many cars
00:00:23
feel like a phone,
and why so many cars need a phone.
00:00:29
So this is this is sort of the role
that software plays.
00:00:33
Your car is a smartphone on wheels, right?
00:00:36
One way to look, that's one way to
look at it.
00:00:37
Or your car is a screen
00:00:39
that you bring your smartphone to,
depending on which car you buy.
00:00:43
Yes. So there's like two camps here.
00:00:46
So there's like there's kind of like the
that some automakers that are like
00:00:50
we're just going to have a screen,
bring your own device, plug it in.
00:00:52
And then they're the other ones who are
like, leave your device in your pocket.
00:00:56
Your this car is software defined, right?
00:00:59
Yeah.
00:00:59
And it's typically a lot of the EVs,
our scene where they want you
00:01:03
to put your phone down
and use their system as an experience,
00:01:07
especially since it can be tied
to a lot of EV features.
00:01:10
Yeah.
00:01:10
But yeah,
then you definitely have others that
00:01:13
it doesn't seem like they invest maybe
so much into their infotainment system.
00:01:16
So then you can just plug it in
and use your own Honda. And.
00:01:20
Exactly.
00:01:20
And we're also starting to see GM
2028 right.
00:01:24
They're going to drop this.
00:01:25
So I think anyone who's watching
00:01:27
this is probably familiar
with Apple CarPlay Android Auto.
00:01:30
You plug in or connect your phone,
00:01:31
and all of a sudden those familiar apps
and icons appear on your screen.
00:01:35
That's Tesla never had it.
00:01:37
Rivian A few of the other EV manufacturers
like you said, kind of
00:01:41
went their own direction.
00:01:42
But now a major, major
00:01:44
automaker GM is talking about
getting rid of that too, right?
00:01:48
Yeah.
00:01:48
And they've they've
sort of made some moves to that as well.
00:01:51
They have
just have a lot of native things.
00:01:52
You can download apps like if you like,
ways you can download ways to the vehicle,
00:01:56
you know, if that's your preferred
navigation, app of choice.
00:01:59
So I think it just comes down to,
I mean, I know be
00:02:01
curious of what everyone here
thinks, about what?
00:02:05
Which one in particular?
00:02:06
Like, do you. Yeah.
00:02:07
Do you just want
do you want to live with native?
00:02:10
Oh screen native function and features,
or do you want it all based on your phone
00:02:14
because you're sort of an expert in this
00:02:16
and I know what I think,
but I feel like I'm wrong
00:02:17
and I know what I think, but
I feel like I need to know more from you.
00:02:20
Oh, okay, I use both.
00:02:22
You use both
because I don't trust either completely.
00:02:25
Because the native system
is going to rely on a,
00:02:31
an internal, like Wi-Fi connectivity
or cellular connectivity,
00:02:36
and then your own phone is going to be
either on Wi-Fi
00:02:39
connected to the vehicle
or a hotspot or a cell phone.
00:02:42
But that just means that there's
so many opportunities for the system
00:02:46
to go wrong, or to fail to load
or to disconnect and so for me,
00:02:50
having both my phone plugged in
and the native system map
00:02:53
like pre mapped, then if one fails
I can just switch to the other.
00:02:58
Okay. That's that's called being prepared.
00:03:01
That is being prepared,
00:03:02
being terrified of getting lost
in the middle of nowhere with no service.
00:03:04
That is true.
And we have a lot of that around here.
00:03:07
We have a lot of that.
It might not be something.
00:03:09
It matters as much
if your commute is on kind of main roads,
00:03:12
but if you're in a dirt road
in sort of the middle of nowhere,
00:03:16
you with no cell service,
you really want to know where you are?
00:03:19
There's like a patch that's like a
mile down the road where every single time
00:03:23
I come into work, if I'm, like, listening
to something that just drops out
00:03:28
for just, like a quarter of a mile,
and that's one of the issues.
00:03:32
So I know that cars nowadays
almost every car has,
00:03:36
not every but almost
every car has a built in connection.
00:03:40
So this used to be for things
like they'd call it telematics.
00:03:42
That would be like, you could look
at your phone and unlock your car.
00:03:46
You could see if the alarm went off.
00:03:49
This is, you know, OnStar.
00:03:50
This is going back to the 90s
that these connections would happen,
00:03:54
you know, so these built in connections
are now being used
00:03:57
to do all kinds of things.
00:03:58
You can fix a recall, it can get beamed
down from the sky and fix the car.
00:04:02
But we have trouble with that
at the track. Right.
00:04:04
Because yeah, some, some of the cars,
whatever carrier they use.
00:04:08
Right. So there's certain carriers,
have dead zones here.
00:04:11
And one of them,
I actually was my own personal
00:04:13
cell phone carrier when I started.
00:04:14
I actually switched carriers,
the one that has the best cover.
00:04:17
And your productivity went,
no, I'm kidding.
00:04:19
I shot one up
because we use our phones for so much.
00:04:21
Yeah, I have my phone.
I have a phone here.
00:04:23
That's one of our car phones
00:04:25
because it is so important and we're
talking about like recalls and updates
00:04:28
and we talk about updates all the time.
00:04:29
These cars just feed updates
and we're in the middle of testing them.
00:04:32
So we need to check with everybody.
00:04:33
So I'm always sending that an email like,
hey can I update this car
00:04:36
or do you still need it,
you know, and how it is.
00:04:38
But I just updated the keyfob
for the lucid gravity off of this phone.
00:04:43
You connect them with Bluetooth phone,
download software, puts it in the keyfob,
00:04:47
and the Keyfob actually works better.
After the update.
00:04:50
It got rid of some of the quirks of it.
00:04:52
Oh, does it
no longer go dead all the time?
00:04:54
I can't say 100%. Yeah.
00:04:56
It's better.
00:04:57
Okay.
00:04:58
It recognizes as you get a little
or from a little more distance,
00:05:01
the actual lock and unlock
button seem to work okay.
00:05:05
Oh, I haven't had to shut the door.
00:05:06
I think it's a week.
00:05:07
And there's still a bunch of updates
to do on that car,
00:05:09
which is why
I'm just sort of living in it.
00:05:11
But it's the first time I've.
00:05:12
We've done software updates off of phones.
00:05:14
BMW and mini had a system
where you download it,
00:05:16
and then you have to pair the phone
and drive around the matter.
00:05:19
Once you put you in a car
for like four days with this red phone.
00:05:22
So a car would do the update.
00:05:24
I don't even remember
because it probably happened a few times.
00:05:26
It was just like,
here, drive it and hold this phone.
00:05:29
Yeah, make sure the phone is connected
to the car.
00:05:30
No. Download
the GM cars update at my house.
00:05:32
They don't update
like anywhere else in my house. They work.
00:05:35
So yeah.
00:05:35
So we've kind of come to the fact of like,
can you take this one home?
00:05:38
So the update will actually happen. Yeah.
00:05:40
So it is a new world, with these phones
and everything like that.
00:05:43
Now, you don't think about key fobs
needing to have a software, right?
00:05:47
Download an update.
00:05:49
And it was very easy.
00:05:50
It took three minutes, like all in.
00:05:53
And I'm sort of adverse
to some technologies
00:05:56
and that would be one of them
but was very easy.
00:05:58
Yeah.
00:05:58
So yeah it's and that's a good thing
I think for, for owners because otherwise
00:06:02
especially a car like this,
gravity is not the easiest in the service.
00:06:05
For us to really going down to New York
or up to Boston, it's a process to do.
00:06:09
But literally just at my desk,
I didn't have to be with a car.
00:06:12
Just put the two of next to each other
and in three minutes it was done.
00:06:15
That's nice.
00:06:16
But then you
00:06:16
also have to take a step back and think,
why do I have to update my car so much?
00:06:20
Well there's that. Yeah.
00:06:21
And that's totally valid.
00:06:23
Yeah.
00:06:24
I mean I think that that's something
00:06:25
that we even kind of are starting
to talk about in our reviews that
00:06:28
if there is kind of these two directions
you can go when you're buying a car,
00:06:31
you can be the sort of there's, you know,
the car is cell phone person,
00:06:35
or you can be the person
who chooses the car
00:06:37
that so that maybe has connectivity
for things like recalls.
00:06:40
Like, I would love that.
00:06:41
If something can give me
a software update,
00:06:43
that means I don't have to go
to the dealership just for someone
00:06:45
to plug a USB drive into the car,
and I have to sit there drinking crappy
00:06:49
K-Cup coffee, you know, from a machine
that hasn't been clean in ten years.
00:06:53
And there's,
00:06:54
you know, The Price Is Right is on TV
and someone's trying to sell me something.
00:06:58
No, I'd rather
just have that happen in my driveway.
00:07:00
But this is where these things are sort
of, sort of diverging.
00:07:03
I want to hear a little more
about what EVs because people
00:07:07
I see, at least on social media,
in talking with people,
00:07:10
people seem to conflate electric vehicle
with too much technology.
00:07:16
That has nothing to do
with electrification.
00:07:18
And I think part of that is Tesla's
fault or not fault.
00:07:21
But part of that is the association with,
you know, part of
00:07:24
that is what EVs can do
because they have so much power on board.
00:07:28
But why? What are these?
00:07:29
Why are we starting to see these systems
00:07:31
more in EV, in EVs
than than in a more basic vehicle?
00:07:36
A lot of it has to do with EV charging
and how you plan
00:07:39
as you are driving or,
planning a trip somewhere.
00:07:43
How do you make sure that you have
enough range to get to the next station?
00:07:47
How long is it going to take
for you to charge there with these?
00:07:51
The integration of the map system,
within the EV.
00:07:55
Now you have the the maps has access
to all of the EV data in your vehicle.
00:08:00
So it's going to be the range and it's
going to be able to use that to calculate
00:08:05
a whole like trip
from the East coast to the West Coast.
00:08:09
And it'll put you at stops along the way
and tell you how long you have.
00:08:12
Well, you can also in some vehicles
you can decide how much range
00:08:15
you want to have by the time
you get to the next charging station.
00:08:18
So if you're like me
and a little bit more conservative, afraid
00:08:21
of running out of battery,
yeah, you can't say, right, okay.
00:08:24
And then you're like,
oh no, there's nothing around. Yeah.
00:08:26
So you can set it to be
00:08:27
I want to be at this charging station
with at least 50 miles of range left.
00:08:31
And that's not something that you see
in every vehicle,
00:08:33
but it is something that I like to see,
and I like to choose
00:08:36
if I'm going to take a road trip in an EV,
because that's just my sense of
00:08:40
peace of mind.
00:08:41
You can also you know,
do you charge scheduling?
00:08:45
So if you live in a state
where charging or electricity costs
00:08:51
increase during the daytime, you can have
your vehicle charge between like 2 a.m.
00:08:55
and 7 a.m..
00:08:56
You can have it heat up in the morning,
so it's nice and warm, things like that.
00:08:59
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So there's a lot that you can do.
00:09:02
Where if you have a vehicle
that's not quite integrated as well,
00:09:05
like I believe, was this whole Terra
wasn't integrated very well.
00:09:11
And so you would just,
you would have a drive to someplace that's
00:09:14
500 miles away, but the range is going
to run out of, like, less than 300.
00:09:20
So that's literally impossible to do.
00:09:22
But the maps are telling you
to just go for it.
00:09:24
Yeah. And I think this is
this is interesting.
00:09:26
I mean, I think this
00:09:28
this is actually and I'm
00:09:28
a bit of a skeptic around certain things
that are related to like AI,
00:09:32
but I think there's there's this world
that I would love
00:09:35
to be able to have a voice assistant
that's built into the car where I can say,
00:09:38
hey, find me a charging station with a
with a decent coffee shop
00:09:41
within walking distance that has an open,
place for me to charge in.
00:09:45
It could take that real time
data, synthesize that, say, all right,
00:09:48
here's a cool coffee shop.
00:09:50
The kind of place that totally over
there would go to.
00:09:52
And I can charge the car now,
I posted that on on blue
00:09:56
Sky the other day, and someone responded,
I can't even get it to open Spotify.
00:10:00
So I think some of these promises
aren't quite quite there yet.
00:10:05
I think they're really dry,
and there's a lot of
00:10:06
like systems that are using,
looms, large language models
00:10:10
and they're getting there
to be a lot more conversational.
00:10:15
I think it's going to take a while before
it gets to the point where it's like,
00:10:18
I want this view and I want it
to be right here and blah, blah, blah.
00:10:22
It is going to take a while.
00:10:23
But yeah,
if you can't even log into your Spotify,
00:10:25
how are you going to trust it
to take you to the right EV station?
00:10:29
I was just in the Lexus ES, EV
and was trying to find
00:10:34
a place, to charge for the fast charger,
and it would not show me.
00:10:38
It would not narrow it down over
voice control.
00:10:40
I had to go in there and
and but I mean, the system,
00:10:43
if I had set it up,
it would have figured it out for me.
00:10:46
But on the fly, it couldn't figure it out.
00:10:49
Something I want because you're the one
who everyone comes to
00:10:52
when we have problems with our system,
we bring you all our problems.
00:10:55
Yes, which is why you have such a,
a look on your face of you doing
00:11:01
all of the things that we don't
necessarily want to exaggerate hard.
00:11:04
By the way, I need to talk to you
afterwards, but, anyhow, no.
00:11:08
So you hear all the things that go wrong,
whether it's
00:11:12
plugging in a phone
or whether it's a system.
00:11:15
A native system,
whether it's a bring your own device or
00:11:17
this sort of walled garden,
what are the things we're starting to see?
00:11:20
Because I feel like
things are getting worse.
00:11:23
Am I dreaming?
I don't think they're better.
00:11:26
Okay.
I don't know if they're actually worse.
00:11:27
They're different.
I think first we should talk about.
00:11:30
I mean, there's basically two phones.
00:11:31
You have an Apple product or a non-Apple
product, some type of an Android phone.
00:11:35
And I happen to currently have an iPhone.
00:11:38
This company phone is also an iPhone.
00:11:39
So I'm living with two iPhones.
00:11:41
So iPhone, Android, Android.
00:11:43
So we got the whole
everything represented here.
00:11:45
And I always also I always think it's me
that I'm the problem.
00:11:48
So you get in the car and my phone
all connects.
00:11:51
We're always the priority.
00:11:52
Now I just assume it's me. Yeah.
00:11:54
So I take my phone out of the car.
00:11:56
I take the car out of my phone,
I drive on,
00:11:59
I go through this whole process
outside the gate.
00:12:01
I just assume
I don't know how to do something.
00:12:03
It's funny
when you see people pulling out of here
00:12:05
outside the gate there that they do this
like dance.
00:12:07
Like the car stops, the door opens,
they get out, the door goes on and off.
00:12:11
They get on the car there.
00:12:12
Yeah.
00:12:13
Now, I will concede
00:12:14
that we have an unusual circumstance
because we're in so many cars, and I know
00:12:18
people here have different modes
in which they operate.
00:12:21
The only cars that are on my own
personal phones
00:12:23
Bluetooth list
are the cars that are actively in test,
00:12:26
because those are the cars
I spend most of my time in.
00:12:28
Once a car goes out in the fleet,
I delete those.
00:12:31
So I only have six to maybe nine cars
sort of set up for Bluetooth
00:12:35
at any given time.
00:12:36
But I know
00:12:37
there's people that have like 50 car cars
that are you can just scroll on.
00:12:41
I still got a Fisker Ocean on mine.
00:12:43
So yeah, that's not me.
00:12:44
That maybe all the time,
but maybe that's wrong.
00:12:48
Because I do have connectivity trouble
in certain cars, particularly Toyota.
00:12:52
But if you have trouble and I have trouble
and I have trouble, trouble
00:12:56
and everyone who writes about it in
our law books have trouble,
00:12:59
I don't think we are the problem.
No. Correct.
00:13:01
But in the moment, I always think it's me.
00:13:03
And I also feel like
00:13:05
if it was my own personal vehicle,
I would use a wired connection.
00:13:08
Yeah, I would have the cable.
00:13:09
It's the right cable,
but some cars have usb-C, some have a
00:13:13
I just never have the right cable,
or I leave it in the car.
00:13:15
Or you have to think about the fact
that if you plug in your phone now,
00:13:17
it's going to be charging.
00:13:19
And if you're like me
00:13:20
and you don't want your phone to charge
you 100% because it's bad for the battery
00:13:24
or it's just going to get it hot, yeah,
then I don't want to actually plug it in,
00:13:28
but I want the stable connection
for that cord.
00:13:31
You're pulling it in and out of the thing.
00:13:33
You're twisting it.
00:13:34
It's sitting in the hot car, it's
sitting in the cold car,
00:13:37
and all of a sudden one day
it just stops working
00:13:39
because modern phones
have so much more data that they they
00:13:43
you I mean, I'm on the always be charging
camp the same here,
00:13:46
but but that's just sort of how that goes,
I guess, at least for me.
00:13:50
But yeah, you know,
we have wireless charging
00:13:51
that gets the phone hot
in a lot of cars as well.
00:13:53
Never any cars
have a good wireless charger. Yeah.
00:13:56
So it slides off.
00:13:57
And again it depends on the case
and things like that.
00:14:00
So it's I don't think
things are necessarily worse.
00:14:02
I just think we're relying on it more.
00:14:04
Used to be more frequently like connecting
your phone
00:14:06
was almost a chore and like, well,
I'm just taking this car home and back.
00:14:09
Like I'm not going to connect my phone.
I'll listen to the radio.
00:14:12
But now it's
because we use it for so many things.
00:14:15
And, you know, I get a lot of calls.
00:14:17
Someone's like, hey, I have a problem
with my car, that kind of thing.
00:14:20
So on my commute, like I want to be,
will answer the phone
00:14:22
and not have to actually pick up my phone
and do things like that.
00:14:24
So I think we all rely on it more.
00:14:27
So it seems like
we're having more problems
00:14:29
because we're really utilizing
that, you know,
00:14:31
like taking a Google Meet from the car,
that kind of a thing.
00:14:33
Just it just comes up to the system
and you can mute and unmute.
00:14:36
And it's the same as talking on the phone,
which on one hand is really great.
00:14:39
It is neat that we can do that,
but it does complicate things.
00:14:42
They're also putting
so much into the systems now.
00:14:45
It's not just phone media and navigation.
00:14:49
Now you can have games which typically you
you can't do while you're driving.
00:14:54
Yes, but there's that capability
and there's
00:14:58
a bunch of different navigation
apps, kind of thing.
00:15:01
There's just so, so much going
on, you know, Spotify.
00:15:04
Yeah. Any music streaming thing.
00:15:06
And so one of the things I really like
about CarPlay or Android
00:15:09
Auto, it didn't get it depends on whatever
phone I have is that it's very simple.
00:15:13
I can't have the three tiles or four tiles
on the side of just the stuff I want,
00:15:16
which is I want to be able to have the car
read me a text or speak a text back,
00:15:20
want some sort of music streaming
and I want some sort of navigation.
00:15:24
Yeah.
00:15:24
Even if I'm not following the directions,
00:15:26
I'm a Waze person,
so I run Waze just for the alerts, right?
00:15:29
If I don't put a destination, says
00:15:31
there's debris on the road,
I kind of want to know that.
00:15:33
Yeah,
I don't love Waze directions, though.
00:15:36
I actually prefer Google Maps, and I know
Google now owns Waze, but I run them
00:15:39
side by side and I still prefer Google,
but you can run that in the background.
00:15:43
You put your destination on Google,
but you have Waze up on the screen.
00:15:46
I do the opposite anyways on the screen.
00:15:48
And then I have, so yeah, and then I have
Google Maps in the background.
00:15:52
That's right. That's how I run. Yeah.
00:15:53
So I run my, my directions on Google,
but I have Waze on the screen.
00:15:56
My oh wait, my stop.
00:15:57
Okay. So but either way. But it's clear.
00:16:01
Yeah.
00:16:01
So running two different navigations
I mean I can see what that's overwhelming.
00:16:04
And you could get confused
and all that kind of stuff.
00:16:06
I just happen to like it
00:16:08
because a lot of times
I've searched my destination
00:16:10
on Google ahead of time, like,
this is where I'm going. Yeah.
00:16:12
And it's there.
00:16:13
It's in the history,
but I still prefer Waze on the screen.
00:16:15
So I realize,
00:16:16
maybe a little different, but clearly not
because you're also running to
00:16:20
it sounds like, you know, there's just not
one thing that works for everyone.
00:16:24
Correct? Right.
00:16:25
But I think these the native systems,
they're busy.
00:16:28
You have all the other settings and stuff
that are in there.
00:16:31
You're looking for things
where an Android Auto or CarPlay,
00:16:34
you just have like the 3
or 4 tiles on the side. Yeah.
00:16:36
And you can just bounce back and forth
very easily to the things
00:16:38
you use the most. Yeah,
that's what I like about it.
00:16:40
I think that maybe the designers
of these systems aren't
00:16:47
so I don't know, they're
00:16:49
there's not given the same resources
perhaps as other areas of the vehicle.
00:16:53
Certainly. Yeah.
00:16:54
Maybe they're I don't know because
they are they can be like so confusing.
00:17:00
And they very different settings.
00:17:02
Like if you just want to mute
00:17:03
sometimes you have to go into
like a completely different settings menu
00:17:07
or if you just want
00:17:08
if you accidentally like cancel your out
and you want to restart it,
00:17:11
you have to search
for the whole thing over again.
00:17:13
North up is the one that always gets me
when somehow it gets it.
00:17:16
Somehow someone's put the car.
00:17:17
There's some psychopath in this building
who sets the maps to North up,
00:17:22
and I'm going to find that you.
They're an engineer.
00:17:24
Oh. It's nuts.
00:17:25
I don't even know how your brain
could even work that way.
00:17:27
You should be studied if you use north up.
00:17:29
Anyhow, I get in the car and it's north
up, and and I don't know where I'm going.
00:17:33
It's showing me driving this way,
but I'm driving this way and I'm not.
00:17:36
I'm not smart enough
to be able to comprehend that.
00:17:38
And I tried to do an IQ test for that.
00:17:41
But really, no, I know, I mean, I could be
I can live with it.
00:17:44
It doesn't bother me as much,
but I get what you're saying. Yeah.
00:17:47
So trying to figure out things like that
and you're already on the road.
00:17:50
You're already on route to,
what are you going to do?
00:17:52
Get off the highway and sit and rest.
00:17:54
You know, it's these sort of.
00:17:55
Yeah, yeah.
00:17:56
And like, theoretically
you would know how to use this, but
00:18:00
bad design doesn't
eventually become good design.
00:18:04
Yeah. It's always going to
00:18:05
take a few steps to do that
when it should just be one step.
00:18:09
And this is your world.
This is what you study.
00:18:11
This is what you evaluate.
00:18:13
What what makes a what
what are some of the things
00:18:16
if someone's like buying a car,
what are the things that they should look
00:18:18
for in that system, whether it's native,
whether it's bring your own,
00:18:22
what should they be looking for?
00:18:23
Well, I would think about
what's important to you.
00:18:26
So it's going to be
I mean, aside from all the safety features
00:18:30
and, driving related features
like turn signals and headlights,
00:18:34
if you are someone who has,
you always use, the native system,
00:18:38
then you're going to want to make sure
that it's easily accessible,
00:18:41
that it has large buttons,
00:18:43
that the process of searching for
something is simple for you.
00:18:47
And if that involves being able to create
a lot of favorites, that's great.
00:18:51
If you like to use voice,
maybe you get a system
00:18:54
that has more natural language processing.
00:18:57
But at the end of the day,
you want to be able to be able
00:19:00
to, tap on large buttons with large icons
00:19:04
with, text or labels.
00:19:07
That makes sense.
00:19:08
And that'll make it way easier.
00:19:11
And anything that you do all the time
should be on like the surface level.
00:19:14
So even being able to customize
what features are there
00:19:17
or maybe pull out like drive home
as a favorites onto your main page.
00:19:22
That could be really helpful too.
00:19:24
So it's just what's important to you.
00:19:26
And then big buttons, large text,
large icons, and easy to understand.
00:19:32
One thing I noticed that I really like
that I've seen in more modern cars.
00:19:34
It used to be really hard
to switch between the radio
00:19:38
and CarPlay, Android Auto
and now they're starting.
00:19:41
Or even, you know,
you'd have to go to like, an icon
00:19:44
that had the name of the automaker,
00:19:46
and then it would pull up
this totally different screen,
00:19:48
and now they're starting to integrate
those.
00:19:50
Porsche
was kind of the first to do it now.
00:19:52
So I saw it in the Lexus.
00:19:53
Car manufacturers
are starting to do this little better.
00:19:56
And that's something
that's gotten better over the years.
00:19:58
Yeah.
00:19:58
It's interesting with some vehicles you
can choose Android Auto as a media source
00:20:03
so it doesn't switch you to Android Auto,
but it plays that music through it.
00:20:07
So you're still in your home,
your native system, home screen,
00:20:11
but you have easy access to Android Auto
so that if you want to have Waze
00:20:15
going on in the background,
you still can't do that.
00:20:17
Your phone is still connected
to the vehicle.
00:20:19
It's a lot of players
who have to play nice with each other.
00:20:22
Yeah, which is why I think there is that.
00:20:25
I think, you know, I see why
GM would want you in their walled garden.
00:20:29
It also means that there's
more information they can take from you
00:20:33
and we know we've seen
there's been some investigations about,
00:20:36
you know, settings
that might look innocuous privacy
00:20:40
wise, that if you leave it on, suddenly
your insurance rates go up suddenly,
00:20:44
someone knows, you know,
the automakers might say,
00:20:47
hey, I had a transmission from the car.
00:20:49
We don't sell your data, but some of
our partners may have access to it.
00:20:54
And if you turn some of those features
off, you,
00:20:56
if you turn some of the sharing off,
you'll lose access to features.
00:21:00
Yeah,
you can lose access to your level, too.
00:21:03
Like lane
centering and adaptive cruise control.
00:21:05
If you turn off some privacy settings
in a certain vehicle.
00:21:08
And that's just like sensors.
00:21:11
Yeah, there's nothing there
00:21:12
that needs to have some connection
and shared information.
00:21:16
I mean, you're supposed to have be using
like HD mapping data,
00:21:20
but that's something
that is like downloaded into the vehicle.
00:21:24
And so there's no reason apart from
I think just being able to,
00:21:29
analyze when people are using
what at the OEM, level.
00:21:34
Yeah, yeah.
00:21:35
You shouldn't have to
00:21:36
transmit your data out of the vehicle
in order to use those systems.
00:21:39
I get a little.
00:21:41
So a lot of cars
now have a native Google based system,
00:21:45
and they can connect to if you're in the
Google versus if you have a Gmail account,
00:21:49
it can you can log in
with your Gmail account in the car.
00:21:53
Will will when you get into it,
it'll prime you and say, oh,
00:21:57
there's a doctor's appointment at 430,
and here's how long it'll take.
00:22:01
And when I first look at that,
I think, oh, that's cool.
00:22:04
And then then I think about it
for about 10s and I say, I don't want like
00:22:08
Volvo or GM or, you know, or like knowing
I don't know why, but I don't want that.
00:22:14
Yeah. I mean, I totally get it.
00:22:16
It's for private information that you're
already giving to Google or whatever.
00:22:20
Yeah, you're giving it to Google.
00:22:22
And now it's like, well,
am I forced to give Volvo
00:22:25
this information
about my medical health in order to just
00:22:30
drive my car?
00:22:31
You haven't had your teeth cleaned
in a while. Teeth.
00:22:32
I see it's time for, Yeah.
00:22:35
So, I mean, I know again,
you lose some features,
00:22:39
but I know something we've done here.
00:22:40
We make separate accounts.
00:22:42
Yeah, your car gets its own email.
00:22:44
Yeah, we have, a couple
of different accounts that we manage,
00:22:47
and it's purely
just so from a functionality standpoint,
00:22:51
if I need to log in and
00:22:52
and Keith, you need to log in
to the mountains logging, we want to know
00:22:55
that we're using the same account,
the same password.
00:22:57
If someone does have to update a password,
we have a place that we update that.
00:23:00
So everyone still has access.
00:23:02
And you know, so when we get in the car,
most of them say like a cr welcome.
00:23:07
CR some of them, you know,
you can't do like the company name.
00:23:10
So actually my boss John,
his name is on a lot of the cars.
00:23:13
Yeah. So we get in the car that says,
you know, welcome, John.
00:23:15
That kind of a thing.
00:23:16
And, my parents recently got a Kia, and,
00:23:21
I did most the deal, but then I finally
sent them to go do the paperwork,
00:23:25
and I said to them, and I wasn't totally
clear, I'm like, don't set up the app
00:23:28
because in my mind, don't set up.
00:23:29
I'll set it up
when you bring the car home,
00:23:31
which is what we do always
when we buy a car.
00:23:33
I want to be in control of setting this up
because I'm going to make a specific
00:23:36
email address.
00:23:37
This can be like Mike's parents Kia ads.
00:23:39
You know the.
Com I this not it to use their own name.
00:23:41
So w you know someone may have that
00:23:43
but I wanted to set up just an email
that was dedicated for the car.
00:23:48
That way my email is not getting spammed.
00:23:50
Their email doesn't get spammed
and we are in control of it.
00:23:53
And they took it
as we're not going to set it up.
00:23:55
And salespeople want you to set this up
because they get this
00:23:59
gets counted at the dealer level.
00:24:00
They need their ten do this. Yeah.
00:24:02
So the salesperson was like,
well, that's okay, I'll set it up for you.
00:24:06
I have an email address.
00:24:07
So now there's some random email address
associated with my parents. Kia.
00:24:11
But because I don't have actually access
to the email address,
00:24:13
it's difficult to make that change.
00:24:17
There's a way to do it.
It just takes time.
00:24:19
So, you know, we set these cars up.
It takes time.
00:24:21
And then when you sell the car,
you need to get the car out of the account
00:24:24
and there's all this kind of stuff to do.
00:24:26
You don't want to sell a car then.
00:24:28
Now Keith is driving and all of his places
are now like associated
00:24:32
with this kind of a thing. Yeah.
00:24:33
So there's a lot of layers and steps this
and a lot of doing to make this happen.
00:24:36
Never mind
that we're doing it with like 75 cars
00:24:39
at any given point,
but just on an individual basis.
00:24:41
I mean, I'm an expert in this stuff,
and I just didn't communicate it
00:24:44
well enough to my parents.
00:24:45
Now there's some random sales guys
email in there. Kia.
00:24:48
We we've had some interesting stuff
happen here.
00:24:52
You know, occasionally
bad things happen to cars in our fleet.
00:24:54
And there was one a few years ago
that that, through
00:24:57
no fault of ours was damaged enough
that it went away.
00:25:00
And that car, the parts went away
to a different country.
00:25:06
This happened several times.
00:25:07
And cargos. Yeah.
00:25:08
The whole car went
and it was a total vehicle.
00:25:12
And all of a sudden one day on that car
phone, a ping came up that said, you know,
00:25:16
I think I think one of them was it was,
you know, registered it was getting an oil
00:25:20
change in Bratislava.
00:25:21
And, and the car was I for whatever
00:25:24
reason, it was able to
it was able to it's still in the app.
00:25:27
You sell. Whoever has,
00:25:29
you know, that has connectivity
to what you can lock and unlock. Yeah.
00:25:31
I have a story.
00:25:32
So I mean I've seen this
and it's it's a scary thing.
00:25:35
Yeah.
00:25:36
So we sold a vehicle
probably at least over a year ago.
00:25:40
And I didn't realize it,
but I still had it connected.
00:25:43
I still had it on my Bluetooth list,
00:25:45
and I went to, like, the store
the other day,
00:25:48
and I look at my phone
because my music stopped playing,
00:25:51
and it had connected to the car
that we had sold.
00:25:54
So really? Yes. Yeah.
00:25:56
So it got sold locally? Yep.
00:25:58
And someone is hearing your.
00:26:00
Wow. Yeah.
00:26:02
So I immediately deleted it.
00:26:03
But I was also very curious.
00:26:04
I'm like who bought the car.
00:26:06
You could you could call them you.
00:26:08
You can just if you can hear this you're
driving my old.
00:26:12
Yeah. My old whatever. Yeah.
00:26:13
And that goes with when you do sell a car.
00:26:15
There's certain precautions to take. Yeah.
00:26:17
And oh same with
if you're renting a car too.
00:26:20
If you're using a rental car
00:26:21
and you plug in and like, I mean I found
I use native everything in the rental car.
00:26:25
Yeah. I try not to plug my phone in.
00:26:26
Oh, I was going to say
00:26:27
I would immediately
plug my phone in like wired connectivity.
00:26:31
Yeah. Yeah,
that that would just be my preference.
00:26:34
I just try to use everything in the car.
00:26:35
Don't even connect my phone at all.
00:26:37
Just live with FM for the week.
It's really annoying.
00:26:39
Like with vehicles that do have Google
and if you don't log in
00:26:43
then you can't save your work, your home,
any sort of favorites,
00:26:47
but you're used to be able to do at least.
00:26:50
Like if you go to like Google Maps,
but in your car it's not going to let you.
00:26:54
So every single time
00:26:55
you have to go to your recent destinations
or just type it in again.
00:26:58
Yeah.
00:26:58
And I think that's so important
when you do sell the car
00:27:00
because you have these favorites
saved. Yeah.
00:27:02
You don't want this person who now bought
the car knows where you live,
00:27:05
where you work. All those kind of things.
00:27:07
I always
I never even put in my home address.
00:27:09
There's a restaurant,
like, a mile from my house
00:27:12
that I literally
just put the restaurant in.
00:27:14
And because when I'm that close,
I can get home.
00:27:16
I can make it a mile without now.
00:27:18
But, you know,
so we actually have a process
00:27:20
now of how we deal
with all these accounts in the cars.
00:27:22
We do a factory reset on the cars
before they go,
00:27:25
the way we get them out of the account,
sometimes it's very easy.
00:27:28
Toyota is like two clicks in the app
and the car is gone.
00:27:31
Reset
the car. It's done some. You have to call?
00:27:34
Yeah, some.
00:27:34
When you call,
00:27:35
you actually end up talking to Sirius
XM is the company that's administering
00:27:40
this for the for its Stellantis
products? Yep.
00:27:42
I'll just say it.
00:27:43
Speaking of talking to Sirius XM to
00:27:46
just tell them that you've sold your Jeep
or whatever it is.
00:27:49
We just did it with the Jeep,
actually. Wow.
00:27:51
I had to call them. So you.
00:27:52
That car must have sort of been before.
00:27:54
You know, we sort of put
some of these processes in place
00:27:56
because we started to realize that, yes,
you know, we need to do these things.
00:28:00
This can happen. Yeah.
00:28:02
I opened an app once
and I was able to see a car.
00:28:04
One was up in Boston
00:28:05
and there was another one
in another country,
00:28:07
and so I could see
how much fuel was in it.
00:28:08
You know, all these things I could lock
unlock it, and it's kind of scary.
00:28:11
So, yeah, delete those cars out.
00:28:14
You know, and, and so it when people sell
cars, you know, delete them,
00:28:17
we don't have to sell out the,
the ways that could be a problem.
00:28:21
Yeah. Yeah.
00:28:22
So it's an interesting world
that we are in.
00:28:24
If you have any questions about this,
because this is something that we,
00:28:29
you know, we live with and we experience
this on different cars all the time.
00:28:34
Send it to talking cars at Icloud.com.
00:28:37
If you have a question about your car,
about setting something up,
00:28:39
about why dealers do that the way they do
about about any of any stuff like that,
00:28:43
and we've got some real user
interface telematics, you know,
00:28:47
the Adas experts here that, that,
that can answer those questions for you.
00:28:52
So although although I will say
there is one thing you can multitask
00:28:56
and that is
00:28:56
if you're watching us on YouTube,
there is a way that you can donate to us.
00:29:00
So you'll notice that we haven't talked
about like mattresses
00:29:04
or like different like, supplements
or anything like that.
00:29:08
Exactly.
00:29:08
We I don't have like a can here
of, of something
00:29:11
that I'm trying to tell you
that you should buy and we buy it to you.
00:29:14
In fact,
if you pick up the print magazine,
00:29:16
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00:29:19
If you go to Coorg,
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You'll see ads for us because we like us
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00:29:50
So, we thank you to everyone
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00:29:54
you know,
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00:29:56
Thanks for talking cars
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