30 March 2024
Unlicensed Chinese Carplays have been disrupting the market of motorcycle GPS navigators for the past two years. A quick search on Aliexpress easily reveals motorcycle Carplays available for as low as 60€.
The surprisingly low price tag is clear proof that these devices are unlicensed, yet they seem to work pretty well.
I started testing these devices around two and a half years ago, I was probably one of the first Spanish motovloggers to talk about them. Initially, I was pleasantly surprised. My expectations were pretty low, but the device worked quite well. The confusing labelling of the box and a UI that avoided the word “Carplay” made pretty obvious the pirate smell of the device.
My first impression was that these Carplays were based on publicly-available open source libraries for emulating Carplay. There have been many DIY projects to create Raspberry PI-based Carplays. However, the fact that there are now hundreds of self-proclaimed “Carplay manufacturers” and all of their products are basically the same, leads me to believe that maybe there is one company that really paid for the MFi Apple program and used all the documentation to create a “side project” to sell unlicensed devices.
I’m often asked to recommend the best price-quality device and unfortunately, I often disappoint people by recommending not to invest in it.
In my opinion, most of these devices are just toys. They are made up of cheap hardware with basic quality control which probably will last for a riding season, maybe a weekend if you like off-road. Additionally, the software of these devices has failed to evolve over time. Users continue to complain about poor Bluetooth connection with nearly unusable delay during calls and a wide variety of setup problems.
However, the popularity of these devices makes it clear that there is a huge market for them. A market that neither motorcycle manufacturers nor GPS navigator brands are satisfying.
In my view, the reason why we are not seeing a “Garmin Motorcycle Carplay” is because the motorcycle market is too niche to embark on such a big development. On the other hand, some motorcycle manufacturers like Honda and Harley have started to include Carplay on their top-end models. But Carplay licenses are not cheap and the motorcycles market is not known for being a high-margin market. So, in my opinion, it is pretty unlikely that we will find a CBR 650 or a Trazer 7 with Carplay any time soon.
Ultimately, it seems we will continue choosing between Chinese unlicensed Carplays or using our mobile phones (or tablets) directly on a smartphone holder.
However, Apple and Google might change the rules of the game.
At present, a motorcycle Carplay or Android Auto that reaches the market in 2024 in a legit way will probably be out of the market even before arrival.
According to CE Outlook, different electronic suppliers are beginning to formally complain to Apple and Google about the unfair competition. As one of them told the media:
“I have reached out to the Mobile Electronics Association (MEA) to help me get the industry to write a letter to Apple and Google to enforce all of the illegal CarPlay/Android Auto product coming into merica. I pay huge certification fees on every product. So, I can’t even be close to competitive on rice. They have no fees or oversight. It’s got to stop.”
It is unclear if it is technically possible for Apple and Google to restrict smartphones to use only certified devices. But the real question is, do they really want to do it?
These cheap Carplays are used not only on motorcycles but also in cars and trucks. If Apple and Google were to restrict Carplay and Android Auto to only certified devices, there would be a really big group of angry users.
However, they could also take the opposite approach: cheapen and ease the licensing of new devices.
This could open the door for western brands to create their own legit devices competitively. In this case, users could choose between an unlicensed device with questionable quality control or a certified device that is only slightly more expensive.
In my opinion, the market is big enough for both to coexist. And I have definitely seen a great interest in finding the best Carplay. Devices like the Chigee AIO 5, with a price tag of 500€, have garnered a lot of attention… And many doubts. While the device makes a Garmin Zumo look like a vintage gadget, it is difficult to bet 500 euros on a device that is probably uncertified and could be disabled at any moment.
https://www.ceoutlook.com/2024/03/05/unlicensed-carplay-is-rampant/
