Radios don't need a touch screen. Old button radios are pretty intuitive. The display/touch aspect is because people want navigation, apps like deezer/itunes/Spotify, etc. Then you have to think about updates/real time data. How does that work? Does the car need its own data plan? Or do we do everything via usb and just do everything offline?

And then people still expect to connect their phones to the car, for calls/reading texts etc, so you still have to support that in some way... and people will expect that to play nice with the audio playback features (calls pause/unpause music, etc)

Since we're already supporting a phone connection, then it just makes life easier to bring your own experience. The auto maker supplies the interface, you bring your own apps, data plan, etc via carplay/android auto.

Personally, I find it's a huge step forward to whatever OEMs make in house which aren't updated/obsolete in a few years.

In theory you could use a smartphone as data provider for updates etc

That problem isn't limited to "radios." Have you ever used a smart thermostat? A touchscreen fridge? A smart TV? Horrible, horrible UX.

> CarPlay is a thing because carmakers just can't seem to make a decent "radio" with a touchscreen no matter how they try

But CarPlay is 100x worse than Android Auto, even though Apple is supposed to excel at UI and UX, this was the point I was trying to make, not that car makers such at UI/UX.

Having used both, I disagree. What do you prefer with AA?

Well, for starters, if I'm using a map app on the CarPlay/Android Auto dashboard, then I expect phone calls to not cover the entire screen automatically, as I'm probably using the map for navigation.

Anything on top of that would just be extras, but something basic like that should work at least. Which it does on Android Auto, but not on CarPlay.

The biggest shock for me moving from Android Auto to Carplay was the complete lack of multi touch support in Apple's offering. Worked perfectly on Android.

I am happy CarPlay and Android Auto are a thing because I do not want to give any other entity access to my phone.

You can't feel the controls on a touchscreen. You always have to look at it.