Not that it's any surprise, but it's nice to see an emphasis on Siri. Voice control is very well suited to car interfaces: the car is a relatively-quiet, private space where you can be heard by the interface but not bother a stranger, and voice is as hands-and-eyes-free as it gets (not that this is the only challenge with car interfaces – divided attention from the road will only be solved with full autopilot).
What I would love to see going forward is real consideration for the optimal mix of buttons, touch-gestures, and voice control. A promising design [1,2] is the combination of mode-selection buttons and a thumb touch pad on the steering wheel. Left thumb holds down one of several modes, right thumb makes a simple gesture (no visual attention needed) and boom, you've got a lot of options for controlling things without taking your eyes of the road.
[1] graphic representation: http://i.imgur.com/sHhDLKZ.jpg
[2] pilot study: http://pro.sagepub.com/content/57/1/1643.short
If I were an auto manufacturer, I'd be pushing Apple to open up the standard for interfacing this with phones. iOS and iPhones are great, but are still only used by a fraction of potential customers. Why limit your market so Apple can score some lock-in?
Wait, so this works with the iPhone 5, yet you have to plug in your phone to make it work? What is this, 2003? I get in my car, the radio syncs up to my WP8 phone via Bluetooth, and if I get a text message I can have the car read it to me. I can dictate the response, or choose to ignore it, or call back the person, all with my voice. It can play music from my phone, including internet radio. I can call up an address search, and the Maps app will give me voice guided turn by turn directions.
All of this on a Windows Phone device that stays in my pocket, connected to a single-DIN aftermarket stereo without a fancy LCD, in a 2000 model Toyota. Recent cars with advanced navigation head units can do much, much more than mine. I think Apple is a bit behind the curve here.
Apple map is still scarily inaccurate [1,2,3]. Why should I or anyone risk this in the car?
[1] http://bgr.com/2013/09/25/apple-maps-disaster-runway/
[2] http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/new...
[3] http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2013/11/new-clas...
What puzzles me is that there has been extremely little improvement to Siri since the first introduction 2.5 (!) years ago - at least, none that I have noticed. That is a long time for there to not be major updates or to release her from beta.
I would have expected/hoped that it would be possible to simply silently improve the server-side algorithms because of all the data being sent in and analysed. But so far it's been a big disappointment. Google Now is far better and more useful.
I think that making it an extension of an existing phone was a good choice. When I heard that Apple was planning some sort of device for cars, I was imagining how much of a pain it would be to update apps and keep things in sync with a device in the car. Sounds like it's essentially a second-screen for the iPhone (plus some built-in controls).
Ah finally, no more atrocious pressure-sensitive touch screens. I wouldn't be surprised if this feature alone is sufficient to increase demand for supported brands in large enough quantities to make other manufacturers take notice.
Great.
While this feels years overdue the iPad was first released in 2010 and auto companies are terribly slow at change.
And cars take years to cycle through the global economy - mine is 15 years old. So perhaps velcro or a stand, an iPad, and bluetooth or wire to the radio is a cheap alternative. Or perhaps we will se an aftermarket service as with car radios.
The initial launch partners (Ferrari, Hyundai, Honda, Jaguar, Mercedes Benz and Volvo) are all "foreign", which speaks volumes about the adeptness of the US domestic manufacturers.
<edit - and yes, electric self-autonomous cars are the endgame. So will this be the control interface?>
Why do most car manufacturers insist on having a custom software suite for their cars? Every one I have tried is shittier than the last. Wouldn't they be better served installing a custom version of a well-known operating system? Windows 8, iOS, or Android in the car would be great. They could each have their own app store so that developers who do UX/UI for a living could make great apps for cars. It would have to be an improvement over what we have now.
CarPlay is a start, but I want something that doesn't require me to buy an iPhone and plug it in.
Yet another piece of technology locked down.
I can use any iPhone, Android or feature phone with bluetooth with my Mercedes right now. It will sync with the phone using bluetooth standards to display call history, place calls, receive calls, play and list music on the device, display and edit my contact book.
But I recently switched from an iPhone to an android phone - so the next Merc I buy presumably will be a huge step back for me in terms of connectivity with my device.
Just bought a 2013 Ford Taurus. My car does all of this and more. I can ask Siri any question, she will respond and its quite nice. I can command phone calls, sports scores, directions, etc. Yes the overall system is a little buggy, but I get it done.
This is really just a makeover for a problem thats already been solved. I can't help to think that some of the decisions Apple has been making lately (different colored backs on the iphones) were concepts that Jobs was totally against, and then now that he is gone those that were for it are in charge. Apple is going rotten in my opinion.
The big winners are insurance companies and reinsurance syndicates. When a car wrecks, there will be digital records of where the drivers were and what distractions they had leading up to the incident. Likewise when product liability is alleged against automakers.
This is the black box with access to your contacts and browsing history plus the ability to push Taco Bell ads directly to drivers. How much are your iMessage history and watering hole checkins and groundspeed worth to your insurer? Did you consider your insurer passing the cost of their access back to you with markup?
FYI: CarPlay only works in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Spain, Switzerland, UK and USA. http://www.apple.com/ios/feature-availability/#applecarplay-...
Of the countries supported by Dictation/Siri for most functions, that leaves out China and Hong Kong. Traffic in Maps, however, is supported in additional countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand (wait, why don't they get Dictation/Siri?), Norway, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Sweden. Strangely enough, this means Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, and Korea all have CarPlay but no Traffic information. Huh. Funny way to sell a car navigation system, I'm sure they'll add it soon. :)
As for me, a Canadian, I'm surprised to note that Siri is actually that global now. Even restaurant reservations works in Canada and Mexico now (but not outside North America yet). I shouldn't complain, though. I didn't realise movie reviews and showtimes were limited to basically Canada, UK and USA. (Australia gets reviews, but no showtimes.)
Notably absent from the Facebook and Twitter integration with Siri (say what?) is China, of course.
But when do I get to see the video with Jony Ive describing "Carplay as the most revolutionary product Apple has made. Ever."
I was hoping for some kind of airplay for the car. The main use case would be a third-party navigation or music app seamlessly integrating with this, with some kind of two-way communication with the phone to send back use input.
This feels strange and needlessly wall-garden, exactly like the apple TV before airplay.
I hope they make this available for aftermarket manufacturers. No way I'm going to spend $80k to replace my '97 Landcruiser with a 2014. Maybe in 15 years, but by then I'd probably need to be running a 15 year old iPhone.
Tesla and Audi are missing :(
It looks as though this is running your your iPhone, virtualized in your cars built-in display.
I'm happily surprised to see Apple go this route, as I suspect/hope I don't have to have an iPhone in order to make use of the cars built-in display.
Also, if auto manufacturers are going the virtualized route, their is very little preventing Android/WP/Ubuntu/Firefox/etc. to work just as easily.
I can't wait for the WWDC where Apple will allow all developers to submit their app following of course meaningful guidelines that fit a car user interface.
Then Apple can act as a gateway and the automakers cannot put a veto on which app goes to the car dashboard or not.
I think we can learn from the fiasco of Renault trying to create a plateform with their R-link system. In this case the car manufacturer does the filtering of the apps but the rewards are low for the developers :
- antique system : android already 3-4 years old!
- no access to the car data : it's like making a smartphone app without being able to use the camera in your app. So as the user experience designer you're loosing very important data about the context of the user.
- low number of users : not many cars are sold with this system. (Carplay do not have many users yet but has much more potential of growth than R-link).
The marketing page of r-link : http://www.renault.co.uk/innovations/r-link/
I think people already showed many time they do want control, variety and choice.
Ultimately what I want is an in-car media system that is as up to date as your phone is.
I want to swap out my phone for a better in-car experiences, not switch out my entire car (as is the current way of doing it).
If this enables that and makes it possible across brands, that's fantastic. In a way it would be an unprecedented level of tech standardization in the car world.
The problem I see while this is great for consumers is IOS isn't a real-time OS. So it won't be able to manage car sensor data.
This means it'll be a hard sell to auto-makers in the US since most want only 1 computer in the car (to do infotainment AND sensor control). This is the holy grail currently in infotainment systems.
The only automaker moving in this direction currently is Ford by using blackberry's platform which is Realtime. The problem then being your downgrading from a 600MHz PPC chip to a dual core ARM. Your heat generation decreases significantly, but so does your computational muscle.
Honestly I'll be surprised if this catches on with US automakers.
Source: Close friends who could possibly lose their jobs if I give names. Or suppliers, some of the outfits who know about this are small.
Interesting.. should be quite interesting for app developers. Will apple work with partners or is it open for the app developer community? In the case of the latter, any news on a CarPlay SDK?
On another note, I was actually expecting Android to do this first. Interesting times ahead!
It looks definitely better than most proprietary car manufacturer software out there, but now that we're talking about extending smartphones' screens and features inside cars, something more interoperable would have been appreciated. It'll probably come later, just not from Apple.
Also, putting the emphasis on voice control is great, but I'm really not sure Siri is up to the task.
If I had to express my first opinion on Carplay, it'd be "new and shiny but probably not functional enough for it to *really* work as advertised".I'm actually happy to see this. I own a new Chevy vehicle and the integration between my phone and their proprietary system is awful. It seems like the two systems struggle for control. For example, if I am playing music over bluetooth and plug my phone into the USB to charge, it automatically switches to play over USB.
The other day I loaded a youtube video on my phone and played it over bluetooth. The in car system didn't understand play and pause and thought I was trying to control my music playlist. It kept switching between YT video and iphone playlist. It was awful.
Looks like they don't have any aftermarket plans... I have a belkin hands free unit, and a home made bracket for my phone. Works pretty well. Is quite versatile. And I still have use of my regular old radio, which will play NPR or various music at the touch of a button, without using my data or having to tell anyone what I am listening to. My daughters can hook their phones and other devices up by aux cable or the belkin, and they each have a favorite station on the radio. Sure, this system looks pretty slick, but I have a more functional setup for free.
Am I alone in thinking Apple should be worrying more about fixing iOS 7 rather than porting it to a lot of new devices? It is easily the buggiest version of iOS I've used (4 through 7.)
What's the deal with third-party apps? I see music apps mentioned, but it looks like there isn't general support. I bet a lot of people will be interested in Google Maps in particular...
I was not aware that there is also standard that is aiming to do the same thing, called MirrorLink. The concortium seems to have quite many members and this has existed for several years. Apparently it was demonstrated some years ago but I could not find any cars actually supporting it.
On mobile phone side it is supported by number of Nokia Symbian phones and quite many Sony Ericsson smartphones.
Product Lifecycle of the big brands are between 6 and 10 years, at least for Daimler and BMW. I do not expect this to appear before 2018. This is nothing you can put in a MOPF.
I'd like to see this available in a double-DIN sized unit that could be fitted in any car. Instead of it only being available in 2014+ cars.
I really like the sound of this feature, but until it becomes more widely available I'll continue using "Harken For iPhone" in the car. It's much easier to use than Apple's music player (bigger text, large buttons/touch areas). There's also "Harken" on the iPad but I need a new cradle for my iPad so I can't use it at the moment.
>> (the views in this post are a bit on the extreme side- but that's how interesting conversations get started :-)
says it all. No it doesn't make this conversation interesting. It makes it divisive. It makes people fight each other for no reason. It confuses and disillusions. YOU ARE THE PROBLEM, not greedy old white men, you racist.
Hopefully it works with mapping apps other than Apple's. Not only are the directions often questionable, the app has a terrible user experience. I don't need to be told five times that I should be turning left while I'm waiting at a long stoplight. It's also a pain to see what's coming up in the route.
I was looking for a 2DIN car unit running android the other day and could only find some generic Chinese models. I m wondering why it takes so long for car computers to catch up with the world, it looks like a largely unexploited market. Glad to see Apple stirring the waters, although they ll probably keep their platform closed.
Oh God! Please no. For someone, who lost his dad in an accident due to a distracted scumbag, this is heart breaking.
Just say no to phones (in any form) while you drive.
Multitasking is a myth. Try driving on a new road while chitchatting to someone siting next to you; or, even try walking fast while thinking something hard or even recollecting something.
The thing which excites me the most about this is the little LTE symbol in the corner. Why? So your navigation app can update itself. We had a Range Rover a few years ago which had some crazy proprietary satnav in which was stuck with five year old maps and a buggy interface. Software Update, mmm.
Anyone here things that combining siri and apple maps to get advices while driving is a recipe for disaster ?
CarPlay is compatible with these iPhone models
CD drive on the marketing photo, very retro for a company that reinvented the mp3 player with iPod. USB-port is very common, but will CarPlay support it?
As a consumer, that is an expensive way to find yourself locked in to increasing Apple device prices.
This feels like a use case to get rid of any of the iPad mini screens so they can come in with a bigger iPhone. The UI looks really boring and how would this connect with different versions of the iPhone?
Definitely not onboard with providing drivers another distraction in the car.
Couldn't help noticing this is a significant foray into responsive screen layout for Apple.
A good responsive/adaptive layout will give Apple options for more diverse screen sizes and proportions from cars to watches to other phone and tablet aspect ratios.
Can't wait.
I am not against the CarPlay itself, which I think would make a great fit in the car dashboard, I am just unconvinced about the phone and message apps? As both are the Number 1 reason for car crashes., so why would they want it in a car dashboard?
Why can't these touch screens work like the Razer Blade mouse pad? i.e. it's a touch screen, but you couldn't tell because it has metal plates/buttons on top of it. Essentially, it's just a programmable mousepad + keys.
This is a truly killer move by apple. No longer will you be bound by the 24 month term of your carrier to an apple handset, but you will be tied to using an apple device for the duration of your vehicle ownership.
Not that I'm complaining but how did this get through the dupe filter?
Let your iPhone show you the way? The road is calling? All your music. Beautifully arranged?
Who writes this crap? Do they even read the copy back to themselves? Jesus. Lose the taglines!
Why aren't they announcing this at an event? I can't recall Apple releasing something like this without some type of fanfare and subsequent media push.
Seems strange to me that you still have to plug in your iPhone. Nowhere does it say that you can connect via Bluetooth.
Hmm. Ford is signed on for future models. Does that mean they're abandoning the much-maligned MyFord Touch?
This website is horrible: image replacement for most of the text. It's 2014. Seriously, Apple?
If Jobs did this, he would have insisted on killing the in-car CD-player while he was at it.
Is it just me, or is anyone else suspicious about Pandora missing from the supported apps?
Now we wait for appradio 4 with carplay integration and you can put this in any car.
Hopefully it will stand the heat in the summer or in tropical countries. >.<
I wonder if Ford will upgrade existing microsoft sync systems to work with this?
Tbh this just is a signal to me of what cars to not buy in the future.
Why are they showing an iPhone 4/4s with a lightning connector?
What kind of display is it so that the finger casts a shadow on it?
Is this what Tesla and Apple have been talking about?
this would have been cool if it didn't require you to have an iOS device. like the car should just have it built in. the entire iPhone.
This is what they met Musk about? What a let down.
I'd like to see Android's response.
Too bad I'm 100% cycling/walking.
No US car manufacturers in 2014? Why?
Missing from the lineup: Tesla
I keep waiting to see a car that comes with a tables built into the dash. There are many modders who have accomplished this already, it just seems like the next big thing. Voice control, apps, awesome.
apple maps? nah i'll use google maps with my phone
Great.. more assholes social networking instead of watching the bloody road.
Yay, more touch screen in cars. More ways to distract, frustrate and confuse users who are operating a big box of steel weighing 3 tons and going at speeds the human brain has never evolved to appropriately deal with.
1) Not only are touch screens a very poor interactor in the first place [0], but why do you think planes and other complex machinery have stuck with physical controls? For operating complex vehicles/apparatus, you just cannot do better than tangible controls. Knobs, switches, sliders can be operated without looking at them while giving rich tactile feedback, they have no modes = 0 risk for confusion, you know where they're going to be located on your dashboard regardless of what you're doing, etc.
2) Self-driving cars cannot come fast enough, and every single innovation in the car industry that does not go towards electric self driving cars is just useless fluff at this point. Seriously- then you'll be able to fiddle all you want with your phone, drink, travel while sleepy, arguing your spouse, whatever you want- we'll be saving tens of thousands of lives every year [1], and the secondary social benefits will be fantastic (less cars produced since they don't have to sit on a parking lot 99% of the time, people won't have to spend a year's worth of wages just to buy a car (and then a significant chunk to maintain it), etc.). If society were a game of Civilization, I'd be putting all of my resource points towards the "Self driving cars" achievement.
Of course the insurance companies, car manufacturers, oil companies, etc. don't want that to happen- but seriously, fuck those guys. The benefits on human society at large here are so significant that there is no room for caring about the feelings of greedy old white men.
[0] http://worrydream.com/ABriefRantOnTheFutureOfInteractionDesi...
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_in...
(the views in this post are a bit on the extreme side- but that's how interesting conversations get started :-)