Porsche Wants To Use Google Automotive Services Software In Its Production Car

Porsche is considering fully integrating Google software into its car cockpit. (photo: twitter @Porsche)

JAKARTA Porsche's automotive company is considering fully integrating Google software into its car cockpit. According to a source on Thursday, January 12, this marks a change in strategy for newly registered automakers.

The deal, which is only considered for Porsche brands and not Volkswagen Groups more broadly, will allow Porsche customers to access Google apps such as Google Maps and Google Assistants without the need to connect the car to Android phones.

Meanwhile a Porsche and Google spokesperson was not immediately available for comment by Reuters. A spokesman for Volkswagen's software unit, Cariad, declined to comment.

Porsche's Chief Financial Officer, Lutz Meschke, said at a press conference last October that the company is currently in close contact with Google and Apple as well as Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba in China following the end of cooperation with Volkswagen's Cariad unit on research and software development.

Porsche was previously reluctant to use Google software because Google asked for too much data to share. This was revealed by Magazin's Manager, who first reported the conversation.

Tech companies from Google to Apple and Amazon are racing to control automaker dashboards because software is now an integral part of car design.

Automotive companies such as General Motors, Renault, Nissan, and Ford have used Google technology embedded in their vehicles via the Google Automotive Services (GAS) package, which offers features such as Google Maps, Google Assistant, and other apps.

But some automakers are very careful to allow the tech giant to access data generated by connected cars, or allow them to replace automakers with their own dashboard views.

BMW, for example, "clearly didn't take the way" to integrate GAS into its car. "It's important for companies to keep customer interfaces," a spokesperson said last Thursday.

Porsche, which took over its former parent company as Europe's most valuable automaker after being listed on the stock exchange last September, reported earlier last Thursday a 3% increase in sales in 2022.