Hands on with Apple’s CarPlay in the Chevy Corvette

When GM GM demonstrates another company’s connected car technology, it does everything it can to make sure the infotainment system doesn’t overshadow its ride. That’s why it demoed Apple’s CarPlay in Chicago alongside two 2016 Chevy Corvettes.

GM’s top-line sports car wasn’t on hand solely for flash though. The Corvette was one of the first 4G cars GM debuted this year, and among the first vehicles to get the upgrade allowing it to support both CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto. I was one of the few to get a hands-on demo of CarPlay in the Corvette and even test out the system with my own iPhone.

Though I didn’t spend enough time with CarPlay to formulate a full opinion, my initial impressions were positive, although I did experience a glitch with Apple Music. There’s nothing mind-blowing about CarPlay’s interface or design, but its simplicity is what’s most compelling about it. The last thing you want to do when driving in rush-hour traffic is deal with complex or unfamiliar dashboard controls. Anyone accustomed to using iOS will have no problem simply plugging their phone in and hitting the road.

And why do you need this much excessive stuff in your car? What news is your phone going to give your car that you can;t already get on talk radio or, if you have satellite, a news station?

Talk radio has about a minute and a half of news once an hour. I prefer a little more depth than that, and can get it streaming or with podcasts.

Traffic info is usually on 24/7 on a certain station as well.

Not where I live, and I've never heard such a thing.

Or, you just open Google maps on your phone and it shows you all the traffic.

Isn't that part of the "all that crap"?

And for music, there are plenty of radio stations playing music that you can tune into.

No. There aren't. There are plenty of radio stations playing commercials with occasional breaks for bad music. None of them plays podcasts, audiobooks, or lectures, all of which are plentiful for free online.

Or, if you must listen to your own stuff, just about every radio has an 1/8" input that you can plug your phone into and play music off of it.

So I can plug one cable into the headphone jack and another cable into the charger, instead of one cable for both, and control the phone from its small screen rather than a larger screen on the dash. Yup. Much simpler.

Why does your car have to be completely connected and have all this extra stuff that costs more?

It doesn't have to. It also doesn't have to have air conditioning, power windows, a stereo, or remote door locks. I didn't realize that we were under some sort of monastic oath of poverty here.

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