Once-Popular Car Technologies at the End of the Road

The history of in-car technology is littered with obsolete artifacts — including eight-track players and briefcase-size cellphones. What is next to be left behind?

With technology inside the automobile becoming ever more sophisticated, Ronald Montoya of the auto research site Edmunds.com shared his predictions for which products are destined for the trash heap.

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NAVIGATION SYSTEMS GPS devices by Garmin and TomTom were all the rage seemingly just a few years ago. Now, most consumers are more likely to put their map-equipped smartphone in the cup holder, Mr. Montoya said. Google’s Android Autodashboard system means Google Maps will now be on a car’s main screen, making a separate GPS device unnecessary. Automakers’ efforts to build proprietary navigation systems will also be obsolete. Many tend to be clunky, and the maps they contain are often outdated. They will seem even more so when compared with the continually updated mapping and traffic reports from Android Auto or CarPlay.

AUTOMAKER APP SYSTEMS In recent years, car companies have tried to capitalize on the app craze, with mixed results. That experimentation is likely to stop, Mr. Montoya said. Who needs a version of Pandora just for a Chevrolet or a Ford, when consumers will already have that app on their phone-powered screen? Instead, car companies are likely to work within the architecture of Google or Apple to offer vehicle-specific features.

MUSIC PLAYERS Android Auto and CarPlay feature streaming music from their extensive libraries, and services like Pandora and iHeartRadio will offer apps on the platforms as well. So is it time to say goodbye to the MP3 music player, or even songs stored on your phone? Not so fast, Mr. Montoya said. “It costs you under data plans to stream music. So if you’re going to be streaming every single day and you’ve got an hour commute, that adds up fast,” he said. Of course, if data becomes cheap, that could change.

CD PLAYERS These still come included in many new cars. Why? “They’re super cheap to produce and for car companies to install, so they’re still in a lot of vehicles even as consumers’ actual use of CDs is on a steep decline,” Mr. Montoya said. Most consumers buying a new car these days already want to see connectivity for their smartphone-based music, whether via Bluetooth or a cord. With Android Auto and CarPlay, the CD player’s days may finally be numbered. But it may not die out as quickly as some think. After all, until 2010, Lexus still offered a sedan with a cassette player.