Volvo shows off Apple CarPlay integration set for 2014 vehicles
With the wraps officially taken off of CarPlay on Monday, Volvo has showcased how it will implement Apple's in-car infotainment system in its coming generation of vehicles, including the all-new XC90 SUV set to debut this year, and has also promised that Wi-Fi support for CarPlay integration is coming in the future.
A video released by Volvo on Monday shows how Apple's iOS-based CarPlay will be integrated into Volvo's own in-car user interface. The demonstration includes a total of seven applications: Phone, Music, Maps, Messages, Now Playing, Podcasts and Spotify.
Volvo's solution is a touchscreen-based interface that also allows users to control features of the vehicle such as temperature. The video boasts that CarPlay will provide iOS users with a familiar environment without being distracting to drivers.
Apple CarPlay will be available in forthcoming Volvo models based on the company's new Scalable Product Architecture, starting with the XC90.
"iPhone users will feel completely at home in a new Volvo. We have created a wholly-integrated user experience in our large portrait-oriented touch screen that takes the in-car mobile device experience to a new level," said says H?kan Samuelsson, president and CEO of the Volvo Car Group. "That, coupled with the obvious driver safety benefits of an advanced voice control system like Siri, made Apple a perfect match for Volvo."
CarPlay was officially announced by Apple earlier Monday, rebranding the company's "iOS in the Car" initiative unveiled with iOS 7 last year. The system will integrate both the touch and voice controls of iOS with a car's infotainment system.
Volvo will be one of the first companies to release vehicles with CarPlay, along with Mercedes-Benz and Ferrari. Other announced partners include BMW, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar, Land Rover, Kia, Mitsubishi, Nissan, PSA Peugeot Citroen, Subaru, Suzuki, and Toyota have also pledged support.
A video released by Volvo on Monday shows how Apple's iOS-based CarPlay will be integrated into Volvo's own in-car user interface. The demonstration includes a total of seven applications: Phone, Music, Maps, Messages, Now Playing, Podcasts and Spotify.
Volvo's solution is a touchscreen-based interface that also allows users to control features of the vehicle such as temperature. The video boasts that CarPlay will provide iOS users with a familiar environment without being distracting to drivers.
Apple CarPlay will be available in forthcoming Volvo models based on the company's new Scalable Product Architecture, starting with the XC90.
Volvo is among the first companies to support Apple's CarPlay, joining Mercedes-Benz and Ferrari.CarPlay integration will initially require a Lightning cable, though Volvo revealed that Wi-Fi support is "coming in the near future." The connection is based on a streaming H.264 video feed that returns user input from the touchscreen.
"iPhone users will feel completely at home in a new Volvo. We have created a wholly-integrated user experience in our large portrait-oriented touch screen that takes the in-car mobile device experience to a new level," said says H?kan Samuelsson, president and CEO of the Volvo Car Group. "That, coupled with the obvious driver safety benefits of an advanced voice control system like Siri, made Apple a perfect match for Volvo."
CarPlay was officially announced by Apple earlier Monday, rebranding the company's "iOS in the Car" initiative unveiled with iOS 7 last year. The system will integrate both the touch and voice controls of iOS with a car's infotainment system.
Volvo will be one of the first companies to release vehicles with CarPlay, along with Mercedes-Benz and Ferrari. Other announced partners include BMW, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar, Land Rover, Kia, Mitsubishi, Nissan, PSA Peugeot Citroen, Subaru, Suzuki, and Toyota have also pledged support.
Comments
If it does that I could see similar things cropping up, basically phone dummy terminals tailored to their respective use (at restaurants, airports etc)
I wonder how Apple will fit into this environment? Surely Apple has plans evolving for AI systems and won't allow Google to own this market.
good thing is it looks like it's a touch screen pass through to the iphone, so the car manufacturers can't screw it up too badly.
To me this all sounds like: let's add all the distractions we can find but let's make them the most non distracting as possible. I just don't know.
Spelling corrected
Is it Paul or Ringo?
You're right, these don't help with the actual driving and could take away from it, but they do allow the driver to listen to music, use an interactive mapping, get verbals directions, allow you to ask for places along a route (like a gas station), take a call without having to pick up a cellphone, change the music and volume without removing your hands from the steering wheel, etc. These are benefits over that old AM/FM radio in a 1981 Bug and can help the driver, too.
I honestly would be willing to throw down some good cash for Apple to somehow create a software update for my '09 BMW that I could install via USB so that I could have this functionality. It sucks that I'll more than likely have to wait a few more years until I buy a new car though.
Agreed though it might not be as simple as that. A lot of cars implement their own voice recognition outside of the infotainment system and then pass the command through to the phone rather than passing what was said to the phone. Because of this Siri is basically unusable when it's connected to the car
Google’s working on one: a self-driving car.
Google: For stupid people.™
There needs to be two parts to controlling a vehicle. One is the OS that actually controls the vehicle. That could be QNX, for example, with a simplified UI for changing temperature, and other basic auto mobile functions such as engine control, brakes, etc.
The other, and layered on top, or completely separate, is what Apple is doing. They control the nav system, entertainment and communications with the outside world. The two systems aren't mutually exclusive, unless Blackberry, for example, has an acceptable UI of their own, with the same services, and can sell that UI to the vehicle makers.
This is what Microsoft has been doing with sync, their not as well received vehicle OS.
I really wonder about that. Apple seems to be lagging there. While Google buys robot manufacturers, and has a lot of publicity witheir driverless cars, Apple does noting public, and we don't see any purchases that would show them leaning in that direction. As we know from other articles point out that Apple has made purchases that we don't know about, except for the number.
And Cook just recently said that their saphirre plant was, at least partly, going to be used for a secret project, though that may be the watch.
But any purchases they may have made that we don't know about are likely very small companies that as a result of their size, and apparent invisibility, we won't know about unless Apple decides to have a product that they announce uses their technology.
I imagine that Apple must be working on better AI than Siri, which isn't much more today than it was when it first came out, and languished for two years as a beta product. I keep hoping that they've got something that they're working on that is a killer AI. But with no evidence to support that hope, I'm stymied as to what they may be doing, and my contacts there haven't said anything at all to me about anything in that area, for some time now.
AI is the future of computer control, whether it's voice control, gestures, some combo of the two, or something else altogether, possibly including eye control. If Apple want to lead, they have little choice but to investigate this at a high level. I hope they are.
We'll all be better off with self driving cars. I can't wait.
I think it's reasonable to assume all of the major car makers will offer automatic driver functions in ten years, with the high-end cars having this feature within five years.
I wonder how Apple will fit into this environment? Surely Apple has plans evolving for AI systems and won't allow Google to own this market.
Do you actually think car companies will allow third party automatic driver functions to take over their cars? Hell no!
Who will be responsible when the system fails and causes an accident?
Looks nice, simple and clear, as it should be to avoid distraction.
We'll all be better off with self driving cars. I can't wait.
Yes, more security, less congestion on the roads. Less pollution and maybe even less traffic, if usage of shuttle cars is democratized.