I had a rental Mercedes made in 2023 this January. The whole UI is a terrible mess, especially the music player interface, and the navigation experience is totally useless - nonexistent roads and existing roads not recorded, doesn't know POIs, doesn't understand local addresses, wrong layouts of intersections, highway on/off ramps totally wrong, and the whole system is slow, full of lags and bugs. Had to buy a phone holder at the first gas station.
Otherwise a great car but I'm not going to use Mercedes again if CarPlay is not an option. I had a rental Volkswagen a month before that and the whole experience with CarPlay was smooth - I just wanted to charge the phone so I connected it to the USB-C port and everything has set up itself instantly, it played my Spotify through the car and displayed my running Waze on the main display.
This is 1) about the new CarPlay and 2) about the new models. The classic CarPlay will still be supported, and the new models come with MB.OS, which is an entirely new software that manages the entire vehicle architecture holistically, with an entirely new UI.
Why would they willing give the interior UX to Apple?
CarPlay started with the center console screen, and its now clear Apple wants to take over the dash and any auxiliary screens.
Lots of comments seem to say no CarPlay = no purchase. But I would be weary of Apple as they tend to lock features away.
For example, MB Command NTG 4.5 from 2006ish could show text messages on the in-vehicle display. This was accomplished with a Bluetooth standard. Today the same thing would require CarPlay/Android Auto.
It feels like insanity watching car OEMs recognize that CarPlay/AA is popular, then deliberately choose not to act on why it became popular.
The adecdata largely tells the same story every time the topic comes up on HN: built-in infotainment sucks. It's slow, out of date, and buggy, and doesn't sync the info people care about. Rentals throw the problem in your face because you are forced to go through the setup process anew every time because it's a shared vehicle. Not to mention that since it's shared I wouldn't feel comfortable signing into anything on the car's computer.
Apple had that product announcement a while back for their highly integrated CarPlay but it's been radio silence since then. Now more than ever is the time to put it on the market, if they have any intention of pressuring car OEMs out of their own boneheadedness.
Otherwise a great car but I'm not going to use Mercedes again if CarPlay is not an option. I had a rental Volkswagen a month before that and the whole experience with CarPlay was smooth - I just wanted to charge the phone so I connected it to the USB-C port and everything has set up itself instantly, it played my Spotify through the car and displayed my running Waze on the main display.