Nine new car manufacturers sign up for Apple CarPlay
More big manufacturers, including Audio and Mazda, will produce CarPlay cars
Nine new car manufacturers have signed up to use Apple Carplay, providing a way to fully integrate the iPhone into their cars’ navigation and entertainment systems. The new manufacturers are Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Audi, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Mazda and Ram, adding to the likes of Ferrari, BMW, Fiat and Ford who have already expressed their intentions to use the technology.
CarPlay is a feature of iOS, which lets you operate and use your phone via the car’s dashboard and built-in display. It will let you make and receive calls, send and receive messages, listen to music and even use Apple Maps navigation. Siri voice control is also integrated, using the car’s internal microphones and speakers to completely voice-control the system. On top of Apple apps, third-party apps can be enabled for CarPlay, with Spotify the current stand-out.
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With the nine new manufacturers on board, Apple now has the majority of the car industry ready to produce cars an integrate them with the iPhone. So, when can you actually buy one? Well, the car industry is notoriously slow integrating new technologies, but from this year some new cars from Ferrari, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo will be released. Audi has annouced that CarPlay will begin to show up in 2015 in its European models. So far, we don’t have details on when the other manufacturers will follow suit.
For existing cars, both Apline and Pioneer have annouced new CarPlay compatible after-market systems, which you’ll be able to have professionally fitted soon. We’re due to go and take a look at Pioneer’s system, too, so will keep you updated with information as we have it.