GM is bringing Apple CarPlay and Android Auto back to its trucks, three years after pulling phone projection from its EVs entirely. The catch: the new software only ships on the redesigned 2027 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra. Existing truck owners keep the current infotainment system.
GM’s 2023 decision to drop CarPlay and Android Auto from its electric vehicles drew sustained pushback from customers. CEO Mary Barra even suggested on the Decoder podcast that the ban could extend to gas-powered trucks and SUVs too. She walked that back days later. The 2027 Silverado and Sierra mark the company’s actual answer. It’s not a full reversal, but a redesigned interface built to let native GM software and phone projection coexist.
Picture-in-picture, not full takeover
CarPlay and Android Auto no longer take over the entire screen the way they traditionally have. GM’s new system runs them inside a large contextual card on a split-screen home view. Google Maps stays visible by default, with a smaller editable card alongside it for audio, vehicle status, or trailering data. Connect a phone through CarPlay, and the home screen’s phone icon switches to a CarPlay icon. Tapping it opens CarPlay inside that same card, and the truck’s native home button returns you to the split view.
Colin McCormick, GM’s group product manager for Google built-in, projection, and profiles, framed the change as a response to a specific complaint. Phone projection was forcing drivers to choose between their apps and the truck’s own controls, he said. “I think we’re landing in a spot where… we don’t have a customer that has to decide, ‘Oh, I’m going to use projection, or, oh, I want to use the native system,'” McCormick said. “That’s our sweet spot.”
The redesign also leans into bigger touch targets generally, a change McCormick tied to a very specific complaint about road conditions. “The buttons can be larger and make it easier to do,” he said. “Living in Michigan, the roads are terrible, so I’m trying to tap on a very small tap zone while hitting a bunch of potholes. These larger displays give you better functionality in that standpoint.”
What’s new beyond phone projection
The 2027 Silverado and Sierra add a passenger-side screen (11.5 inches diagonal) alongside a standard 12.2-inch instrument cluster and 16.3-inch center touchscreen. GM built in trailer-aware navigation. Once a trailer is connected, the truck identifies it, and Google Maps can route around its dimensions. Those dimensions carry over between vehicles tied to the same GM account. A swipe-down notification shade, borrowed from smartphone design conventions, gives quick access to functions like switching connected devices or disabling the microphone. Most physical buttons for core functions like HVAC remain physical. A few, like the oil dipstick, are now purely digital readouts on the status screen.
GM sells close to 900,000 Silverados and Sierras a year. The company chose to debut the new software on its highest-volume trucks rather than a lower-volume model first. It’s a bet that fast, large-scale feedback beats a cautious rollout. Existing Silverado and Sierra owners won’t get this interface through an update; it arrives only with the redesigned 2027 model year truck itself.
Source: The Verge
