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Comment by gambiting | Hacker News Reader

I think we'll have to have regulators step in at some point in another area - nowadays more and more cars are shipping with Android Automotive where Google Maps are the main(and only) map provider for the satnav. So no matter how you feel about Google - you have to use their product to operate the car fully.

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> Google Maps are the main(and only) map provider for the satnav

Source? I've never heard of this. Maps has no relationship to the car's built-in navigation anyway.

Every car I've used with Google Maps has both, but you have to pay a fee to use the built-in navigation app.

As an example- new Volvos come with Android Automotive as the main OS, and the satnav is just Google Maps. There is no alternative built in. If you don't want google services then you have no satnav at all. Since the main instrument cluster also shows Google Maps if you disable it it just stays completely empty(only displaying basic information like speed and gear you're in).

Source: I drove one.

Second source: https://youtu.be/d8RJsXePE2M?t=28

That's a car with "Android OS" -- it's not just some random car.

Complaining about Google Maps on that car is like complaining about Google Maps on your Google Home screen. If you buy a car that is advertised as having Google software, you're going to get Google software.

Yes, but my point is that more and more cars are scheduled to have this as default. So going forward it will be harder and harder to escape the total and complete domination of Google Maps everywhere. That's why I said regulators will have to get involved at some point.

Except that's also an issue with Volvo and Polestar being late at implementing CarPlay.

Renault & GM, both of which demoed their AAOS version, enabled both CarPlay and Android Auto, so you could use another nav "app" with Android Automotive via projection.

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