“In Apple’s CarPlay, Siri, the voice-controlled assistant, guides the system, and the company provided specifications to automakers to ensure that a user’s voice is easily understandable while inside the car,” Aaron M. Kessler and Brian X. Chen report for The New York Times. “If a user’s car has a touch screen or control knobs, CarPlay can be controlled that way as well.”
“Google has taken similar steps to make sure that consumers can speak as they normally do,” Kessler and Chen report. “But despite the momentum building in Silicon Valley, not all automakers are sold on the idea of giving up their dashboards to the tech giants. John Hanson, the national manager of Toyota’s advanced technology communications, said while the company talked frequently with both Google and Apple, it currently had no plans to adopt Android Auto or CarPlay in the United States. ‘We may all eventually wind up there, but right now we prefer to use our in-house proprietary platforms for those kinds of functions,’ Mr. Hanson said.”
Kessler and Chen report, “One of the most widespread adopters will be Ford, which this year will begin offering both Android Auto and CarPlay in conjunction with the revamping of the automaker’s much-criticized Sync system. By the end of 2016, they will be available on all Fords sold in the United States.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Attribution: AppleInsider. Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Brawndo Drinker” for the heads up.]
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Ford drops reputation-scorching Microsoft Sync, enables support for Apple’s sought-after CarPlay – December 12, 2014
Hands on with Apple’s CarPlay in a Ferrari FF; plus how Apple will push new third-party apps to the system – March 4, 2014
Apple’s ‘CarPlay’ set to take automotive industry by storm – March 4, 2014
Apple’s new CarPlay system will turn tens of millions of cars into iPhone accessories – March 3, 2014
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Apple patent application reveals in-vehicle holistic ID for ‘iOS in the Car’ – December 12, 2013
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General Motors adds Apple’s Siri Eyes Free to more vehicles following ‘remarkable’ customer response – October 16, 2013
Hidden contacts revealed within Apple’s iOS in the Car – August 8, 2013
Automakers integrate Apple’s iOS in the Car to minimize driver distraction, increase customer satisfaction – July 30, 2013
Guess I won’t be buying a Toyota then
Yes most if us then are not planning on buying a Toyota anytime soon.
Sounds to me like another industry absolutely RIPE for disruption 😉
I was thinking about buying a Toyota, but maybe not.
While Toyota does well with quality, they are afraid of thinking ahead. Toyota may well be the next Sony. Slowly dying as its left in the past.
Hey Toyota, I like your cars.
But no CarPlay, no Toyota.
Attention all car manufacturers, no CarPlay, no buy.
This may sound bombastic, but most modern cars are pretty similar. Some of the manufactures will endorse CarPlay. I will just pick one of them.
No Toyota car in my future then.
No problem, I’ll just buy from one of their many competitors.
You think I’m going to spend thousands on a car with a substandard in-house proprietary platform, your crazy.
I really like toyota, I have had several toyotas over the year and I have a Prius too. But something I hate about toyota is their crappy sound systems. Even with 10 speaker JBL premium sound in my sequoia, it does not sound even close to a simple aftermarket pioneer radio with just 4 speakers and subwoofer.
With Apple car play, at least it will be functional.
Curious, did you install sound-dampening insulation in the doors, floor, and ceiling to suppress road noise? If yes, did it work?
No, I did not, but my wife’s altima has a Bose sound system and sounds awesome for a factory installed stereo.
I also have a 05 celiac with a pioneer avh-p3300bt with 4 5 1/2 keenwood speakers and 10 inches pioner sub, and it sound a lot better than the altima and the sequoia.
I did not installed insulation in the celiac or the altima.
I noticed the same thing. It sounds OK but I thought it would be nicer. The sensitivity and discrimination of the FM radio is poor also compared to that of much older cars I have.
Toyota seems to be a really conservative company. I think they are having a hard time with this technology intruding on their decision making.
I will be buying a new car this year and I will no longer consider the Toyota models that I have been looking at. My next car WILL have CarPlay. Apple needs to list the exact models of cars with the manufacturers on their website. It’s time to step up car makers if you want business from the best customers in the world. Please start a poll MDN which will give this situation more attention.
The automakers would be derelict in their duties if they gave away their internal computing controls to an outside company. What of the outside company (Apple, Google, Whoever) became ensconced and expected by consumers and then the outside company began to leverage that central position to force finances, design or more control? It’s too easy to imagine.
This is why car makers will gladly talk to these companies (tell us everything you’ve figured out) and will drag their feet forever about actually implementing it. Because rhymes won’t actually implement it. They are developing their own systems, as they should to protect their business.
This is why Apple needs to make the car. This is why the goal of the car will be eventual 85% dominance.
It has to succeed for Apple. Therefore it eventually will. They’ll go it alone first. If they can’t get it right they’ll buy Tesla to fit into their existing plans, which I expect will happen within 7 years. But it must happen.
And suddenly it makes sense why Google has been working on self-driving cars. This where the puck is going. One where.
I pretty much agree that the big car companies are reluctant to lose control of in-car communication systems, just as the mobile phone service providers were reluctant to relinquish control of cell phone operating systems to Apple. I expect the same outcome, however. Once Car Play is available in one or more car models there will be no going back.
The one point on which I disagree is the self-driving car. That seems to be everybody’s assumption of where car technology is headed, but to me it’s the equivalent of 3D TV. It sounds like a great idea until you try to put it into practice. I think self-driving cars are a journalistic fantasy that sounds good, and at first glance seems to be obvious. I/ don’t think it will ever come to fruition.
A self driving Porsche Carrera GT3, or Cayman GT4 makes no sense. Apple may do something but it won’t be self driving.
Exactly. I buy cars because I *LIKE* to drive them. Among the cars I’ve loved have been a ’55 Austin Healy 100, a ’65 Mustang fastback, a ’75 Corvette, a ’95 Z28 LT1 Camaro, and I’m currently driving a Mercedes GL450. All of my cars carry radar detectors and I seldom poke along at the speed limit. Before I used a self-driving car I’d take the train.
My next two (2) cars WILL NOT BE TOYOTA. Bad move Toyota. I hope that all of you iOS device users will also not buy Toyotas either.
Insane, a car audio system has to be either incredibly simple (basic) with knobs/buttons you can control purely through feel. Or if primarily GUI drive, it has to be well designed. If Toyota think theirs are well designed they’re fucking idiots. Are they making a lot of extra money by doing it themselves? You’d think they’d want to offload it and concentrate on the mechanics.
The CEOs of Rite Aid and CVS must have played golf with the CEO of Toyota?
That takes Toyota off my list…..Jeep is getting near too! I was looking at the Renegade and its not fully compatible with the iPhone because the iPhone doesn’t support MAP and thats Apple’s fault. But it coming to market maybe next month one would think it would have CarPlay and it does not to my knowledge nor does any Jeep, Dodge or Chrysler that I am aware of. Hopefully 2016 models will start to turn this around?
If Chrysler runs true to form, being the cheapskate alternative of American car manufacturers, it will be one of two or three brands that end up with Android systems. They’ve never been on my list of possible new cars for my family anyway.
As a Toyota owner I can tell you the Toyota Entune system stinks. Totally useless. Despite reports to the contrary they must be considering CarPlay as I just completed an owners survey pertaining to my feelings/preference about CarPlay, Android and their own system.
Thanks for doing what you can to help them see the future, a future that ISN’T their own proprietary console tech.
Well… Their loss!
Next car i buy will have carplay !
I love my Toyota Prius and my wife’s Lexus 450 h, but I still cringe every time I interact with their map/GPS systems. Just awful. Cost a lot of money, too.
What evidence do we have that CarPlay is better or less expensive? Apple Maps sucks, and I’m not going to subscribe to Beats or MLB. CP just doesn’t seem like a game changer to me. I use cars for transportation, not entertainment.
All the car companies have to do is make their proprietary systems and use QNX as the OS. Then CarPlay can go on top of that.
I love my almost 21 year old Toyota Camry. Runs like a champ. Engine turns over on the first try. I’ve only had to replace the normal wear and tear parts. Same original engine, transmission, etc.
I expect to own Toyotas for the rest of my life. Great cars. Yes Toyota is a conservative company. Heck, Toyota helped create, “The Machine That Changed the World” starting in the 1950’s. I have more respect for Toyota than any other car manufacturer.
I feel bad, actually bad, for the people who will determine what car to buy solely on which entertainment system is built into the car. Maybe they are all rich, but I can not afford to spend money on such a decision. Well, at least the entertainment system will keep them occupyied while they wait for the tow truck.
It’s not just the entertainment system. It’s navigation and communications too. The navigation system in my Mercedes GL450 is primitive compared to Maps and Siri, and it costs $1200 to upgrade the data every couple of years. It does work with my iPhone 6, but the UI is clunky. Even Mercedes can’t seem to understand the importance of intuitive usability.
Time to open your brain Tim. I see Toyota products along the highway waiting for a tow in the same frequency as their market share. The quality difference between the top 10 manufacturers isn’t statistically relevant. You are stuck in the 80’s / 90’s.
People really do make purchases based on the attributes of the products they buy. That’s why android phone makers advertise all of their products spec’s, cause that’s what a lot of buyers are interested in and based their purchase decisions on.
Pretty pathetic when people base their decisions on whether or not a certain feature is included or not. After all, the point of transportation is to get you from point a to b, keep entertainment at home already.
Isn’t it possible that the daily interaction with navigation and entertainment *are* just as important to these commenters as they make them out to be? If you have a daily commute through noisy industrial side of your city, the audio quality probably is pretty important. If your job or lifestyle has you going to different locations every day, a lackluster user interface on your nav system is going to wear you down. If you have long commutes how you interact with your audio sources is going to be a pretty important aspect of your car-buying decision.
Since, as you point out, the point of transportation is to get you from point a to point b — and all automobiles sold today do that — you need other aspects to consider to help you decide on which vehicle to buy.
Nothing pathetic about that at all.
Don’t get out much, do you? Many people spend several hours a day in their cars just commuting, many, many others will be in their cars for the entire day as part of their job.
Both groups will probably spend significantly more time using the vehicle entertainment system than they will their home system, so the system has to perform to a high level otherwise it’ll just become frustrating and annoying; your comment is clearly based on total ignorance.
Or you’re just stupid.
Were I in the market for a new car, it would be vitally important that the infotainment system played well with my devices, either my old Classic or my iP6; if not, the manufacturer would be given a choice, replace the system or I walk out the door. Having sold car audio back in the 80’s, I know that it’s not uncommon for the makers to install pretty basic systems with mediocre speakers, and charge premium price for it.
If I’m dropping significant sums on a car, I don’t want a second-rate system in it; I’ve noticed Bentley install an audio system without CarPlay, if I was in the market for a car at that level, the dealer would get the same ultimatum, install something that plays well with my phone or I get my own installation done and they get the invoice.
Or order the car without any system installed and find an after-market installer.
I don’t have any interest in putting more integrated electronic gadgets on the dashboard. All I want is a built-in dock for an iPhone or iPad that charges it and digitally connects the audio output only to the car’s stereo system. That’s it.
No automaker is going to offer CarPlay if it cannot be used with other mobile electronics, especially if Apple’s licensing fees are out of line. Boycott away, Toyota isn’t going to ignore Android users. There are simply too many of them for any automaker to overlook.
Who here has even used CarPlay to know how well it actually works?
Can someone identify a single function that CarPlay offers that they can’t already do with your iPhone not hooked up to an overpriced screen mounted in the dashboard?
You boycotters seem so convinced that you need to pay the premium for an automaker’s big screen, but overintegration of electronics on the dashboard has been the #1 complaint of modern car owners. iDrive, Sync, you name it — they are all harder to use and more cumbersome than non-integrated devices. I don’t care if Apple does claim to have the best auto infotainment system in the world, if it merely replicates the device i have in my pocket while taking another $1500+ out of my bank account plus recurring monthly fees, then forget it.
It’s not like you can’t do a lot to integrate your iOS device with your car already. With industry standard wire connections and bluetooth, and an army of aftermarket accessory makers to support iOS devices, I don’t even understand the call for boycotts, especially from people who haven’t even tested CarPlay with their own fingers. There’s nothing stopping you from replacing Toyota’s big screen if you don’t like it.
One more point: i CarPlay forces the user to endure Apple Maps, then I for one will not pay a dime for CarPlay. Apple Maps remains to this day significantly slower, less accurate, and harder to use, with less information shown, than Mapquest or Google Maps or others.
Might I suggest you objectively test the important functions of your next vehicle candidates before declaring a boycott based on rumors of an infotainment system that you haven’t even used yet?
Alpine iLX-007, $800 MSRP.