GM’s redesigned interface on the centre display, shown in a pre-production vehicle. Credit: General Motors GM is overhauling its infotainment interface on the 2027 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, giving Apple CarPlay and Android Auto their own window alongside native apps rather than the whole screen, after saying phone mirroring would be removed from its cars. Euro NCAP’s 2026 protocol asks for separate physical controls on five functions, which a redesigned touchscreen does not address. GM is rebuilding the interface in its trucks and giving Apple CarPlay and Android Auto a window of their own beside its native apps, InsideEVs reported.
It arrives on the 2027 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra. The layout is split by default, so more than one app is visible at once. The blue background and pale icons give way to jet black and higher contrast, the quick access menu becomes customisable, and the gauge cluster has been reworked. “What we heard was that people were hunting for controls, navigating through too many steps,” said Sebastian Bauer, GM’s executive director of human interface. The team went after fewer taps and clearer visual, auditory and haptic feedback.
The phone half is a reversal. GM stripped mirroring out of its electric cars and Mary Barra said petrol models would follow as models were refreshed, calling the switch between systems clunky. Cars already sold keep it. Now projection holds the right-hand side rather than swallowing the display.
Customers want that simplicity while keeping quick access to the car, said Michael Wahlstrom, who runs software product management. Europe changed the test in January. Euro NCAP’s 2026 protocol asks for separate physical controls on five functions, being indicators, hazard lights, the horn, the wipers and the emergency call. A car without them cannot take five stars.
The point is to cut the time a driver spends looking away from the road. Fewer taps is not the same thing. Those five have to leave the screen, not move up a menu. China went considerably further.
Its new standard names 19 functions needing physical controls, each at least 10mm square and working when the power does not, from July 2027. GM’s announcement mentions physical buttons for the headlights, which survive in the quick menu. Headlights are not among the five. The trucks are not sold in Europe.
Cadillac is. GM sells the Optiq, Lyriq and Vistiq across the continent, the Optiq from about EUR 65,000, and has been opening the brand in the UK. It says the new interface will spread across its lineup over time. Whether that includes the European cars, and whether phone projection travels with it, GM would not say.
Rivian went the other way and still offers no projection at all.
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