Nearly all of today’s cars today support Apple’s CarPlay or Google’s Android Auto, which connect a smartphone to the vehicle’s system. That dynamic led car manufacturers to outsource the dashboard’s entertainment functions to smartphones, he said, enabling customers to use their favored phone technology while driving. The technology in a new car today is already years out of date when it arrives at the dealer’s lot, said James Hodgson, an autonomous vehicles analyst with ABI Research, while the pace of connectivity - and consumers’ desires for favorite devices - moves much faster. … Apple and Google and others want to be at the epicenter of that.” A search for the cutting edgeĪutomakers design cars three to five years before the vehicles ever hit the road, lagging well behind the pace of tech innovation. “The ride is no longer the point,” said Jim Heffner, a vice president at Cox Automotive Mobility who specializes in autonomous and connected vehicles.

The data coming off those vehicles also could automatically update maps, notify city workers about potholes and tell brick-and-mortar retailers where customers travel from. Tech companies and the automakers envision a future where riders can seamlessly blend work, play and chores, easily ordering groceries, scheduling work meetings or watching TV from the comfort of their cars. If a consumer is going to be locked into services with a certain company because they bought a car that they are going to use for five to 10 years, that can make competition more difficult.” “For many consumers, buying a car is a long-term decision. “It’s really hard to remedy anticompetitive conduct five or 10 years down the line,” said Charlotte Slaiman, competition policy director for Public Knowledge. Meanwhile, in Europe, the EU’s competition authority has opened a probe into Google’s contracts related to connected cars. State attorneys general who sued Google in 2020 for monopolizing online search highlighted concerns about the company’s move into autonomous cars in their federal antitrust complaint. Now, having missed the boat as the tech giants cornered the market on smartphones, some policymakers and regulators believe the battle over connected cars represents a chance to block potential monopolies before they form. And automakers, after years of floundering to incorporate cutting-edge technologies into cars on their own, are increasingly eager for Silicon Valley’s help - hoping to adopt both its tech and its lucrative business models where consumers pay monthly for ongoing services instead of shelling out for a product just once. All three see autos as the next great opportunity to reach American consumers, who spend more time in the driver’s seat than anywhere outside their home or workplace. Now they - and Amazon - are battling to control how you operate within your car. Indeed, the smartphone wars are over, and Google and Apple won.

Monopoly meme wings of fire