During their Q4 2013 earnings call, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook said that they were working on introducing new product categories in the coming year. That year has come, and with it comes the first new product category: car/computing integration. The first product, CarPlay (referred to as “iOS in the Car” in earlier marketing materials), brings better integration between your iOS and the built-in dashboard displays on your car. It lets you access iOS functionality on your iPhone 5-series devices from your dashboard controls or with voice, and giving your dashboard display the iOS look and feel.
Here’s the phone interface:
Here’s the text-messaging interface:
Here’s Maps:
And here’s music:
CarPlay connects to your car’s dashboard system via a Lightning cable, so it’s compatible only with the iPhone 5 series of devices: the original iPhone 5, as well as the iPhone 5C and 5S. It will be available in certain models from these car manufacturers in 2014:
and these “committed partners” will make it available in “future models”:
Volvo posted the first promotional video for their cars featuring CarPlay…
…the Engadget folks managed to get a hands-on demo of CarPlay in a Ferrari at the Geneva Motor Show:
…and here’s what appears to be uncut footage for a Mercedes Benz CarPlay demo video:
Further Reading
- Apple’s CarPlay page
- New York Times: Apple’s CarPlay Captivates the Auto Industry
- BGR: Apple’s new hobby: CarPlay finally brings iOS to the car
- Engadget: Hands-on with Apple’s CarPlay: when Siri met Ferrari
- TechCrunch: How CarPlay Works In A Ferrari FF, And How Apple Will Push New Third-Party Apps To The System
