Why are cars dropping Android Auto?

Because Android Auto sucks. What is the purpose of it ? Playing music ? The entertainment system can do this. Navigation ? The entertainment system can do this and Google allows only "selected" apps.

What I do miss is the carefree feeling that I can drive somewhere without my car telling GM and Google about it. It is extraordinarily creepy that they know when I’ve had a bad morning and need a McMuffin or whatever. I use a burner Google account but given that the GM account must be associated with my actual identity I don’t think it does much.

Is it a big deal? Not at all because I hang my phone close to my wheel and it's much better than the screen of my car.

A friend of mine connected his iPhone to my car and it worked but the result is underwhelming: the screen of the phone is still much better. There is no reason for me to go through my car to do stuff on my phone.

By the way, phone calls and media work on the Bluetooth of the car and that's all I need from it.