“Hands-free is so last year. For 2013, Apple’s Eyes Free voice commands have started to trickle into new cars. On Tuesday, Honda announced it would be the latest automaker to bring Siri into your daily commute,” David Undercoffler reports for The Los Angeles Times.
“The 2013 and 2014 Honda Accord and the 2013 Acura ILX and RDX will all be available with this voice-activated system as a dealer-installed accessory, Honda said,” Undercoffler reports. “These Hondas and Acuras join the 2014 Mercedes CLA and eight Chevrolet models as some of the first in the U.S. to offer the Siri Eyes Free system. Other automakers like Ferrari, BMW and Toyota are expected to integrate the system into their vehicles in the near future.”
Undercoffler reports, “Honda said it would debut additional Eyes Free features for its vehicles on Dec. 3.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: And Ford, which idiotically shackled itself to Microsoft, continues to fall further and further behind. Smart decision, Mulally. You’d be perfect to pilot the S.S. Microsoft the rest of the way to the bottom.
Related articles:
General Motors adds Apple’s Siri Eyes Free to more vehicles following ‘remarkable’ customer response – October 16, 2013
Apple working with vehicle makers to deeply embed iOS 7 Maps and Siri services, sources say – April 30, 2013
Apple expands its automotive push, seeks to grow its iOS vehicle integration team – March 6, 2013
General Motors’ Chevrolet Sonic, Spark first to offer iPhone, iPad, iPod touch users Siri Eyes Free integration – February 14, 2013
Honda and Acura to deliver Apple’s Siri Eyes Free on select 2013 vehicles – January 30, 2013
Hyundai becomes 10th vehicle maker to integrate Apple’s Siri ‘Eyes Free’ tech – January 7, 2013
GM to integrate Apple’s ‘Eyes Free’ Siri technology starting with Chevy Sonic, Spark – June 19, 2012
Harman CEO on Apple for Automotive: ‘Apple is a partner, not an adversary’ – June 13, 2012
Nine auto makers partner with Apple for ‘Eyes Free’ Siri integration – June 12, 2012
Mercedes-Benz integrates Apple’s Siri personal assistant into its vehicles – February 28, 2012
Ford plummets to 27th in J.D. Power vehicle quality rankings on Microsoft-developed ‘MyFord Touch’ woes – June 20, 2012
Microsoft’s confusing, buggy Sync sinks Ford’s J.D. Power quality ratings – June 23, 2011
All forms of device interaction in a moving vehicle is a dangerous distraction. Not just smartphones.
I agree. While I can’t speak for Eyes Free I know that when I drive I won’t even speak to the person sitting next to me because I find it distracting.
It only takes a second for something to send things pear-shaped.
For instance, I was driving – a rental – when I looked away for just a moment. The next time I looked up there was a deer in the road. I hit the brakes, and stopped before hitting it.
It taught me pretty quickly that anything that distract me from driving is potentially a hazard. At this point, I barely even talky to front seat passengers.
It makes me a less-interesting travel companion in some ways, but we safely get to where we’re going, so there’s that.
I’ve driven for 35 years and over 500k miles, and I have to say, you aren’t driving properly if you are getting distracted that easily. One should be able to talk to someone in the passenger seat, and use their eyes to concentrate on the road. Pause mid sentence, if you feel the need to concentrate, but it should be possible to hold a casual conversation. And, you are supposed to glance away from the road to look at your mirrors and dash, every 15 secs or so.
As for the deer, if a deer dashes across the road, no amount of staring at the road will stop you from hitting it. If, the deer was standing in the road, and you almost hit it after looking away for just a second, then you aren’t looking far enough down the road.
2 people here died when a deer ran into the road ahead, they seldom stand still in that scenario. These young girls saw it and slammed on the breaks but still hit it. Sadly it was the lorry behind running into them causing the car to ignite that got them.
Any distraction will effect judgement and some people are better at dealing with it than others but it’s how much not if it’s a distraction. That’s a judgement we have to make I guess.
I would say that potentially Siri can be less of a distraction than many alternatives but one could argue that if its used more then that advantage is lost by that same amount over type of distraction formula.
@spyintheskyuk – that’s one of the reasons why you shouldn’t try to avoid animals on the road. Unless the animal is very big, like a horse, you are better to just hit the animal, sad as this sounds. Many avoidable (human) deaths happen when people attempt to swerve or suddenly brake because of an animal on the road. It’s a natural reaction but not one recommended by most road safety authorities. SUV’s in particular are prone to rolling over in sudden swerves at intercity speeds, although stability control in more recent vehicles has improved this somewhat.
That’s pretty judgmental of you. Now, let me return the same. There’s no way that you can dictate how other people drive, nor what they should or shouldn’t do, no matter how long you have driven (or how many miles).
And if you have driven as nearly as long as you claim, you would understand that it only takes seconds for something – like a deer – to appear in the road.
Though, I avoided such an incident. For some reason I don’t think that you could say the same.
So…
Never drive with a spouse in the car.
Never drive with parents or in-laws in the car.
Never drive with children in the car.
Never drive with a pet in the car.
Never listen to the radio in the car.
Never notice the neighborhood (Halloween, Christmas, etc. ornamentation) while in the car.
Making a blanket statement that “All forms of device interaction in a moving vehicle is a dangerous distraction. Not just smartphones.” is truly asinine.
I have not tried any variant of the Siri based “Eyes Free” system, but I won’t condemn it as a dangerous distraction until I have personally tried it.
No matter how the implementation works, it HAS to be better than all the people I see driving around texting. AT LEAST twice a week I see someone driving down the road staring at their lap rather than the road.
I talk to myself when driving
But, do you LOOK at yourself while driving?
i even banished mirrors from my life to avoid distraction…
helps with self esteem and self reflection as a bonus
except for rear view in the car.. sometimes i get a glance at myself by accident and have to look away, since like narcissus i would be permanently captivated….
How much $$$ to install?
I surely hope Acura adds Siri, the infotainment system they have now is junk. I bought a 2014 MDX Advance model a month ago. Nearly $60k out the door. The GPS cannot be accessed when in motion except by voice. And that does not work. The voice thing is terrible, just terrible. I downloaded my iPhone contacts to the car. Now if I say anything like “air conditioning on” it makes a random phone call. I have to hurry to hit the hang up button. When I try to make a phone call it is deaf. Otherwise a fantastic car, radar cruise control. steers itself between the white lines, blind spot, all sorts of safety features. But had I known what a frustration the GPS and other voice features were, I would not have bought it. Look elsewhere my friends.
I’d look high and low for a Microsoft logo.
Your experience sounds like a Redmond Ringer to me.
I leased a 2013 Ford Focus in late 2012…love the car…absolutely have grown to hate the Microsoft programmed “sync” sound system. Dysfunctional would be a major understatement. And I’m not even talking about the more error plagued “advanced” Sync version. If Ford doesn’t shift to another sound system (hopefully Siri) by the time the lease is up, they will have lost a customer.
I often need to rent a car when away on business and it’s striking just how perfectly most rental cars will play with my iPhone, yet my ’09 and ’13 model Fords will only partially work with that same iPhone.
My Ford dealer makes all sorts of pathetic excuses – principally that Apple’s phones don’t work like other phones, but I point out that the reality is that Ford Sync doesn’t work like other car’s sync systems, which have no problem syncing to an iPhone.
Now looking at Toyota for my next car ( after well over 30 years of buying nothing but Fords and it’s entirely down to Microsoft’s Ford Sync, which has been unfit for purpose for many years and shows no sign of improvement.
this is good services for Software designApple Siri is so good.