Parrot's New In-Dash System Gives Any Dumb Car Apple or Android Brains
While Apple CarPlay and Android Auto promise to make your car's in-dash system infinitely more bearable in the not so distant future, you're still stuck in the unfortunate position of having to choose between one or the other.
Context & Ripple Effects
When auto manufacturers were reported slow to adopt either platform, Parrot's announcement filled the gap from below: an aftermarket unit that gives existing cars both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, resolving the either/or choice built into the new-car rollout. It matters because reviews of the era found the platforms genuinely better than OEM software — Android Auto was called a beautiful but beta alternative to awful OEM solutions — yet locked inside cars most buyers don't own yet.
The longer arc is cautionary: months later Parrot dropped the RNB6 aftermarket head unit as too complicated and moved to selling directly to car makers, while 2022 coverage describes car makers ceding control of their operating systems to Apple and Google outright.
First-order effects
- Owners of pre-CarPlay cars get a retrofit path to both platforms without waiting for their automaker's adoption timeline, which related coverage already flagged as lagging.
- Parrot positions itself as the neutral middleman between Apple and Google, monetizing the compatibility problem rather than picking a side.
Second-order effects
- Automakers' slow platform adoption keeps the aftermarket window open, but Parrot's own retreat from retail RNB6 units shows that window narrowing toward factory-installed deals instead.
- Apple and Google gain a distribution argument for their respective platforms: whichever integrates more smoothly in third-party hardware strengthens its case with car makers.
Third-order effects
- If car makers keep ceding the dashboard to Apple and Google, the smartphone OS duopoly extends to cars regardless of whether access comes via retrofit or factory install — leaving companies like Parrot to survive as suppliers to the very platforms they once bridged.
The trend: Car dashboards are being absorbed into the Apple-Google mobile OS duopoly, with aftermarket bridges like Parrot's marking the transitional phase before factory integration takes over.