Vehicle entertainment systems have pretty much been a disaster so far. Vehicle manufacturers have been caught by the explosion of smartphones and tablets and most have been left in the dust of the most recent technology wave. For economic reasons, your vehicle will likely ship with a average head unit that delivers radio, plays a CD and Bluetooth support if you’re really lucky. The biggest problem is the vehicle development lifecycle is counted in years, while the device cycle is counted in days.
Auto manufacturers are just simply not able to keep pace with the speed of technology change. The third party options are just bad with most touchscreen systems cost in excess of $1,000. While the head units in vehicles have to cope with much more severe temperature ranges, these still seem incredibly overpriced for what they are. The software that runs on these devices are almost always slow and there’s still far too many resistive displays being used instead of the much more responsive capacitive displays we’re used to from our devices.
It’s exactly for this reason that auto manufacturers are looking for software providers that can help them with the issue. Apple first announced they were working on integrating iOS services at WWDC in 2013, but it’s finally here with the commercial name of CarPlay replacing the ‘iOS in the car’.
While a number of cars have iPhone connectivity, it typically provides audio access to the car’s systems, but until now hasn’t leveraged the in-dash display. At the Geneva International Motor Show this week, CarPlay was introduced with a very impressive number of Auto Manufacturers signing up.
Ferrari
Mercedes-Benz
Volvo
BMW Group
Ford
General Motors
Honda
Hyundai Motor Company
Jaguar Land Rover
Kia Motors
Mitsubishi Motors
Nissan Motor Company
PSA Peugeot Citroën
Subaru
Suzuki
Toyota Motor Corp
It’s a strange decision for Ford to get into bed with Apple given they had been working on their own Ford Sync platform which was built on top of Microsoft’s Windows Automotive platform. Ford SYNC is just reaching version 2 after years in the market and is already installed in thousands of vehicles. It’ll be very interesting to see what happens with Ford now supporting competing auto platforms.
“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.”
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.
You will need to physically connect your iPhone to the car via a cable. This differs from the wireless visual transfer available via AirPlay. Given this cable will also power the device, any GPS or battery intensive applications won’t be an issue.
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.
Update
Volvo have released a video of how CarPlay will integrate with their vehicles.