So here’s an honest question: why do cars even have infotainment systems?
It’s easy to understand where the modern car’s infotainment came from. We used to have radios, then there were tape decks and cassette players, then CD players, and then simple LCD screens that let you connect an MP3 player to belt out your tunes. Now, most cars have a screen reminiscent of a small tablet and are capable of connecting to the internet through their own internal wifi connections, able to stream music, podcasts, and provide you with accurate, up-to-the-minute traffic reports on local roads.
You know what else can do that? Your phone. And on top of that, your phone can connect to your car to take over those duties thanks to Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. And even if your car doesn’t support either of those, all you really need is a Bluetooth connection for your phone to essentially accomplish 90% of what a modern vehicle infotainment system can anyway.
So why do car infotainment systems still exist? Why don’t we just replace the entire thing with a big cell phone holder?
Think about it. Nobody who can afford a car doesn’t already have a cell phone anyway. And there’s a ton of benefits to getting rid of infotainment systems in cars.
For starters, cars would get a bit cheaper since there’s no longer any expensive pseudo-tablet sitting in the center console. There’s no risk of someone trying to jack your stereo since your car doesn’t have one. Suddenly your dashboard is all smooth and clean since you don’t need an 11-inch screen taking up most of it. Instead, you can just have a built-in cell phone holder that automatically takes over the car’s entertainment upon connecting.
So far, the only car manufacturer to realize that in-car infotainment is superfluous is Lotus on their new Evija hypercar. But that car still costs millions of dollars and it still doesn’t have a built-in holder.
Carmakers have realized for some time that infotainment systems are redundant thanks to cell phones, and on top of that, people have literally figured out how to replace infotainments with old cell phones. Sure, you can still give a car a modem for over-the-air updates, but all the necessary car info can be displayed on the instrument cluster. Music, navigation, and everything else should be controlled by your phone--just like we’re already doing.