Who Really Owns the Dashboard? The Battle Between Car Brands and CarPlay.
I’ll be honest, I enjoy driving. Steering feel, throttle response, that connection between you and machine, it’s what made cars special in the first place. But open any new car today and you’ll notice something: the biggest performance figure isn’t horsepower, it’s screen size.
Welcome to the new automotive battleground, not the interface with foot and pedal, but interface dominance. And right now, the two biggest players aren’t Ferrari and Porsche. They’re Apple and Google.
The Power Shift
The most powerful software in your car doesn’t come from your manufacturer, it comes from your phone. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto have quietly taken over dashboards, turning once-distinct interiors into extensions of your mobile ecosystem.
A 2024 Statista survey found that 81% of drivers say smartphone integration directly influences their next car purchase. Even more telling, 90% of in-car screen time is spent in CarPlay or Android Auto, not the manufacturer’s native system.
That’s loyalty money can’t buy, unless you’re Apple or Google.
And carmakers? They hate it.
Why OEMs Are Nervous
Car manufacturers have realised something unsettling: people are no longer loyal to the infotainment badge on their dashboard. They’re loyal to their phone.
GM and Tesla have already taken the nuclear option by phasing out CarPlay altogether to protect their data and subscription models. BMW’s flirtation with “heated seat subscriptions” wasn’t about leather comfort, it was about testing who owns the customer relationship once the car leaves the showroom.
The logic is simple: If Apple controls the screen, Apple controls the experience. If Apple controls the experience, it controls the data. And in 2025, data is gold dust.
The Takeover Is Already Here
Next-generation CarPlay, due to roll out across select models in 2025–26, goes far beyond the infotainment screen. It’ll take over your instrument cluster, climate control, seat adjustment, and vehicle settings.
That’s not “integration.” That’s occupation.
Apple isn’t just borrowing dashboard space anymore, it’s redesigning it. Your next car could look and feel more like an iPhone on wheels than anything born in Stuttgart, Tokyo, or Detroit.
The Soul in the Software
At Auto Culture Society, we see this as more than a tech story. It’s a cultural one. The cockpit used to be sacred ground — where craftsmanship met control. Every switch had a texture, every click meant something. Mercedes with their analogue clock in the dashboard. Now, the physical tactility of driving is being replaced by digital fluidity.
Software is the new leather. UX designers are the new trim specialists.
The question is: can car brands evolve fast enough to retain their identity in this new era of digital dominance?
Why Enthusiasts Should Care
Let’s be honest, CarPlay works. It’s fast, consistent, intuitive, and free of the clunky lag that still plagues many OEM systems. But convenience has a cost: the slow erosion of brand soul.
The more the industry standardises the cockpit experience, the more cars start to feel the same. That’s great for user experience but tragic for character.
CarPlay isn’t killing individuality on purpose. It’s just doing what tech always does by optimising the fun right out of the chaos and soul.
The Future of the Cockpit
This doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game. The future belongs to those who build together. Carmakers, designers, and tech companies collaborating to balance engineering with interface design.
Imagine a cockpit where your personal data doesn’t just play Spotify, it fine-tunes the car’s steering feedback to your preference. Where your digital garage syncs between your real BMW M4 and your Forza Horizon M4. Where you can design your own UI skin, or even drop a limited-edition ACS theme pack into your dash.
That’s where it’s heading. It’s not about taking sides, it’s about building bridges and offering more engaging features.
The Final Word
Car brands spent a century perfecting engines, suspensions, and bodywork and now they need to perfect experiences. Because the next generation won’t judge a car by how it drives. They’ll judge it by how it feels to use.
And as the worlds of software and steel merge, one thing’s for sure — whoever wins the cockpit, wins the driver.
Auto Culture Society™ Cars. Culture. Connected.
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