After months of teasing and rumours, Apple has finally launched their “˜iOS in the Car‘ initiative. And contrary to what was previously thought, the initiative isn‘t called “˜iOS in the Car‘, but rather CarPlay.
CarPlay has been the subject of much discussion over the past couple of months, ever since it was first mentioned in October of last year. No official launch date was ever provided, so the launch of CarPlay today at the Geneva Motor Show, comes as a bit of a surprise.
Not that we‘re complaining – CarPlay‘s premise looks to be quite wonderful, and, as Apple said themselves, a “œsmarter, safer and more fun way“ to use your iPhone in your car.
Just as was originally thought, CarPlay uses iPhone‘s voice command system, Siri, to make your driving experience “˜smarter‘. Simply by pushing and holding the voice control button on their steering wheel, drivers will activate Siri – who of course will tend to your (almost) every need.
Drivers can also control CarPlay from their car‘s native interface.
With your iPhone connected to CarPlay, you can basically control almost all your functions via voice control. CarPlay will help you to access your contacts, listen to voice messages, make calls and even return missed calls, all by giving Siri a voice command. Of course this is a much safer option than actually handling your phone while driving.
CarPlay also informs you of any notifications you receive and the gives you the option to respond to them. This means that CarPlay, or in essence Siri, will be able to read your messages for you and even dictate your responses.
One of the most important features of CarPlay is of course it‘s integration with Apple Maps. With this functionality, CarPlay will assist you in getting updates on traffic conditions and (obviously) directions, as well as determining your estimated time of arrival.
CarPlay also offers it‘s drivers the opportunity to control their music in the car. Drivers can listen to both music from their iPhone as well as connect to iTunes Radio. Third party apps, such as Pandora or Spotify, will also be able to work with CarPlay. Sports broadcasting apps are also compatible with CarPlay.
Apple has partnered with luxury car brands Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo, which will debut CarPlay in their vehicles next week. However, other brands will follow suit at a later stage. These include Ford, BMW, Honda, Hyundai, General Motors, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mitsubishi, Kia, Nissan, Peugeot, Citroën, Subaru, Suzuki and Toyota.
According to Apple, CarPlay is available as an iOs 7 update. This, of course, means that it will be attached to iOS 7.1 as there are no updates for iOS 7 available as of yet. However, all signs indicate that iOS 7.1 will be launched in middle March, so not too long to go now.
Just as we‘ve said before, the integration of smart devices into cars is slowly picking up speed. Now we wait and see what Google and Android bring us next.
Source: The Next Web
