Apple reinvents the vehicle owner’s manual

“At the top of the month Apple introduced CarPlay at the International Motor Show in Geneva,” Jack Purcher reports for Patently Apple. “Today, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals a possible future advanced interactive vehicle manual.”

“The patent titled ‘Identifying and Presenting Information based on Unique Vehicle Identifier,’ will in effect reinvent the in-vehicle owner’s manual,” Purcher reports. “It will be able to provide users with the exact part numbers needed for their vehicle and via GPS tell them what dealers or auto shops nearby carry them. The system could provide users with video instructions about problems occurring in the vehicle and may even use Siri to converse with the manual.”

Purcher reports, “While at the time of this patent filing Apple focused on the manual being run on portable devices like the iPhone and iPad, the patent hints of it being used in an auto’s radio which will likely now translate into being accessible via CarPlay.”

Read more, and see Apple’s patent application illustrations, in the full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Arline M.” for the heads up.]

12 Comments

    1. The Wall Street talking heads take taxi cabs to work and the subway. First, Apple will have to explain to them the need for a car owner’s manual and what happens when you, the manual and the car (using the car’s I/O feed back to the Apple CarePlay device) are all on the same page working on the same problem.

      Very clueless on Wall Street.

  1. Huh – that’s funny. Apple own help system for the Mac really sucks. It’s probably the worst aspect of Mac OSX and only provide general help. I usually only find solutions online and these are more detailed and address the specific.

    1. I do seem to remember it was great until OSX came along. Thought it was just a temporary thing but you are right it has never really improved and I rarely use it now. Im sure I actually complained about it 2 computers back when Apple asked me how I was getting on with my new Mac. I note they don’t seem to bother asking any more certainly didn’t with my last one.

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