yea i think at this moment its pretty official mazda is done with apple/android. BUT at one moment not too long ago, they did hint at it. Even as recent as just a year ago, when the cx9 was released, media and reps were hinting at apple/android update. But shortly after that it looks like they went in a different direction.
The manufacturers who went against apple/google made the wrong move-- toyota, mazda, etc. bad call. it will leave people having outdated infotainment systems. while those equipped with android auto and apple car play will continue to have the latest. its cheaper and easier to upgrade a phone then a car lol.
You should see in the Honda Pilot forums (the current one), the initial release did not have android auto/apple car play. even though the native OS is Android lol. People assumed a firmware/update would be coming. Guess what it didn't. Honda said it was something in the hardware lol. Man the owners were distraught! It's like their world ended. For 2017 what did they include-----you gussed it.. android auto/apple car play. i think everything else was pretty much the same. I think some people even traded in just to get it HAHA.
it's such a big thing android auto/apple car play. its so useful, esp those who are pretty techy. It's going to be a really big missed feature.
All this talk of Mazda forsaking Android Auto is pure conjecture and I would claim likely false.
The fact that they joined some industry consortium with Toyota and others means exactly nothing. Did they withdrew from the
Open Automotive Alliance? No.
It would not be uncommon for companies to join more than one such consortium. It does not even mean that they are active in either, nor that they will not adopt both (or none).
Mazda reps said in the past AA will come in the form of a firmware update. It is upsetting that it takes such a long time, though they might still make it available.
With the older infotainment, I did get a fix more than a year after purchase, which even involved some hardware changes, just to get the USB playback to resume. They could have left it as is and call it a feature.
However, if I was considering a purchase now, I would have only considered vehicles with Android Auto. It's just to big of a purchase to hope they will make it available. It is definitely possible that they will not.
Do I use Android Auto? Every day, on my phone, on the way to work and the way back.
Why?
It saves me time on my commute, shows me real-time alternatives and expected arrival time, when considering traffic. It allows me to listen to news from the beginning (not from the middle), without or with minimal commercials, skip stories I don't care about, listen to music I like and skip music I don't like.
It works very well with voice commands and is excellent in finding restaurants and stores, even if I don't remember the full name or the address, and it tells me when road closures are in effect.