Industry News: Apple Unveils CarPlay Integration

[William Maley]

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Apple has formally shown its CarPlay integration system before the start the Geneva Motor Show today. The system, formally known as 'iOS in the Car' allows owners of a iPhone 5s, 5c, or 5 to control certain aspects of the phone through the car's infotainment system.

According to Apple, owners will be able to plug in their iPhones to their vehicles via the USB port and control a number of functions such as making and answering phone calls, text messaging, navigation via Apple Maps, and playing music from your phone. CarPlay also allows certain third-party apps such as Spotify and iHeartRadio to be controlled as well. Now if your vehicle doesn't include a touchscreen, CarPlay utilizes voice controls.

"CarPlay has been designed from the ground up to provide drivers with an incredible experience using their iPhone in the car. iPhone users always want their content at their fingertips and CarPlay lets drivers use their iPhone in the car with minimized distraction. We have an amazing lineup of auto partners rolling out CarPlay, and we're thrilled it will make its debut this week in Geneva," said Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of iPhone and iOS Product Marketing.

Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo will announce their implementations of CarPlay this week at the Geneva Motor Show. Other automakers such as BMW, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, and Toyota will announce their implementations down the road.

Source: Apple

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected]or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

Press Release is on Page 2

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Apple Rolls Out CarPlay Giving Drivers a Smarter, Safer & More Fun Way to Use iPhone in the Car

• CarPlay Premieres with Leading Auto Manufacturers at the Geneva International Motor Show
  

GENEVA ― March 3, 2014 ― Apple® today announced that leading auto manufacturers are rolling out CarPlay, the smarter, safer and more fun way to use iPhone® in the car. CarPlay gives iPhone users an incredibly intuitive way to make calls, use Maps, listen to music and access messages with just a word or a touch. Users can easily control CarPlay from the car's native interface or just push-and-hold the voice control button on the steering wheel to activate Siri® without distraction. Vehicles from Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo will premiere CarPlay to their drivers this week, while additional auto manufacturers bringing CarPlay to their drivers down the road include BMW Group, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai Motor Company, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia Motors, Mitsubishi Motors, Nissan Motor Company, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Subaru, Suzuki and Toyota Motor Corp.

"CarPlay has been designed from the ground up to provide drivers with an incredible experience using their iPhone in the car," said Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of iPhone and iOS Product Marketing. "iPhone users always want their content at their fingertips and CarPlay lets drivers use their iPhone in the car with minimized distraction. We have an amazing lineup of auto partners rolling out CarPlay, and we're thrilled it will make its debut this week in Geneva."

Apple has led consumer technology integration in the car for more than a decade. CarPlay brings your car and iPhone together for a thoughtful experience that lets drivers focus on driving, while also tapping into everything they want to do with their iPhone.

Once iPhone is connected to a vehicle with CarPlay integration, Siri helps you easily access your contacts, make calls, return missed calls or listen to voicemails. When incoming messages or notifications arrive, Siri provides an eyes-free experience by responding to requests through voice commands, by reading drivers' messages and letting them dictate responses or simply make a call.

CarPlay makes driving directions more intuitive by working with Maps to anticipate destinations based on recent trips via contacts, emails or texts, and provides routing instructions, traffic conditions and ETA. You can also simply ask Siri and receive spoken turn-by-turn directions, along with Maps, which will appear on your car's built-in display.

CarPlay gives drivers access to all of their music, podcasts, audiobooks and iTunes Radio℠ with easy navigation through listening choices from the car's built-in controls or simply by asking Siri to pull up what you'd like to hear. CarPlay also supports select third-party audio apps including Spotify and iHeartRadio, so you can listen to your favorite radio services or sports broadcast apps while driving.

Pricing & Availability

Apple CarPlay is available as an update to iOS 7 and works with Lightning-enabled iPhones, including iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c and iPhone 5. CarPlay will be available in select cars shipping in 2014.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.

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[Drew Dowdell]

Android has a bigger market share these days..why aren't we getting android specific links in our car info-tainment systems

[William Maley]

Android has a bigger market share these days..why aren't we getting android specific links in our car info-tainment systems

I think that's due to Android being a part of the Open Automotive Alliance as the operating system. Would not be surprised if we see something similar for Android in the coming months.

[Drew Dowdell]

I didn't mean why aren't they in Carplay... I under stand that one.... but there doesn't seem to be anything from the manufacturers so far with regards to better android integration.

[FAPTurbo]

I didn't mean why aren't they in Carplay... I under stand that one.... but there doesn't seem to be anything from the manufacturers so far with regards to better android integration.

I think it's a mix of different issues.

Unlike iDevices, Android phones are a mixed bag in terms of compatibility. There are so many Android devices still on Gingerbread (2.3), not to mention the others that are running 4.0/4.1/4.1.2/4.2/4.2.2/4.3 and this has posed issues with a number of audio head-units in terms of file-management permissions. Also, certain brands like Samsung seem to have their own additional incompatibilities.

[Drew Dowdell]

So pick a version and set that as the minimum version level required to run the MyAndroidUplinkWhatever app...

They don't need to go back to Gingerbread.... someone buying a brand new car can also get a new(er) phone if that functionality is important to them.

[FAPTurbo]

That'd be desirable but it doesn't appear anyone is too interested in developing for Android. For example, I'm looking for head units and the major brands do have 'Android compatible' apps but many are broken or simply don't work with the 4.0+ versions. This is despite the head units being fairly new.

When I last went to a store and asked to see a fully Android compatible head unit, the sales guy just shrugged and referred me to a unit with Bluetooth. It's lame.

[G. David Felt]

I thought GM with the 2015 models was moving to the Android based Navigation / Entertainment systems in Auto's dumping their own system.

[Drew Dowdell]

That'd be desirable but it doesn't appear anyone is too interested in developing for Android. For example, I'm looking for head units and the major brands do have 'Android compatible' apps but many are broken or simply don't work with the 4.0+ versions. This is despite the head units being fairly new.

When I last went to a store and asked to see a fully Android compatible head unit, the sales guy just shrugged and referred me to a unit with Bluetooth. It's lame.

The aftermarket stereo system seems pretty dead to me

[G. David Felt]

That'd be desirable but it doesn't appear anyone is too interested in developing for Android. For example, I'm looking for head units and the major brands do have 'Android compatible' apps but many are broken or simply don't work with the 4.0+ versions. This is despite the head units being fairly new.

When I last went to a store and asked to see a fully Android compatible head unit, the sales guy just shrugged and referred me to a unit with Bluetooth. It's lame.

The aftermarket stereo system seems pretty dead to me

Right now, I stopped by Car Toys who is a reseller for auto audio and cell phones and while a huge selection of system, I will say most of them are really dated compared to what current computers and smartphones are doing.

I think this segment would be wise to move to smart stereo's now allowing people to get an Android Nav stereo system that could use local wifi or satellite uplink to stay current.