Ferrari ditches native navigation because smartphones are better

• Ferrari will stop offering built-in navigation systems in its vehicles
• The automaker sees smartphone navigation apps as the future
• Ferrari will offer smartphone mirroring (like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto) to its vehicle’s screens

Ferrari is phasing out built-in navigation systems from its cars, leaving owners to rely on phone navigation or other portable navigation devices for finding their way around.

While it was standard for years, Ferrari’s Purosangue SUV and the upcoming 12Cilindri supercar skip an in-built navigation system, and future models will, too.

The information was revealed last week to Australian media, including Drive, by Emanuele Carando, Ferrari’s head of product marketing.

“We did this because we think the phone, and the fantastic mirroring of the phone, is the most user-friendly possibility, and [the] most updated system,” he said.

Carando’s comments mirror those made by Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna during the Financial Times’ 2023 Future of the Car summit, where he said most owners already use their phone for navigation. Mirroring systems like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto have been a standard feature on Ferraris since the start of the decade.

While Ferrari is doubling down on smartphone mirroring systems, other automakers are backing away from them. General Motors has skipped the technology on its latest electric vehicles which come with their own Android-based operating system featuring Google Maps. Other companies like Rivian and Tesla have also shunned the technology in favor of their own operating systems and navigation systems.

At the same time, more and more automakers are continuing to adopt Andorid-based operating systems for the their respective infotainment systems, similar to GM, while Apple is looking to take over the whole dash, including the digital gauge cluster, with the next-generation version of CarPlay. Apple last week previewed the system which will enable automakers to use their own designs when CarPlay is activated, for example for the gauge cluster, infotainment system, and digital controls for various functions, like climate settings.