AppleInsider Staff
German auto giant Volkswagen on Monday unveiled plans to incorporate Apple's CarPlay in next-generation infotainment systems, saying the iOS-derived feature will come included with select models this year.
For VW, the CarPlay initiative will see introduction alongside MirrorLink, the company's in-house solution for integrating smartphone apps and layouts offered by various handset makers, and Android Auto. All three systems are to run on VW's second generation modular infotainment platform (MIB II) when it launches in late 2015.
Volkswagen has yet to disclose system pricing or an exact release date for MIB II and CarPlay, but the auto maker plans to make the technology available in both Europe and the U.S.
When Apple introduced CarPlay last March as a rebranding of the "iOS in the Car" project, Volkswagen was noticeably absent from an initial list of supporting car manufacturers that included Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, BMW, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai Motor Company, Jaguar, Land Rover, Kia, Mitsubishi, Nissan, PSA Peugeot Citron, Subaru, Suzuki and Toyota.
Apple's much-anticipated in-car iOS solution grants users access to iPhone functions like music, navigation, messages, phone and more via specialized physical and onscreen car controls. Looking to minimize distractions, CarPlay features a steering wheel-mounted Siri button for voice control, large iOS-styled icons and app integration.
As CarPlay-enabled vehicles are just now rolling off assembly lines, aftermarket solutions like Pioneer's AppRadio 4 and Alpine's iLX-007 head units have gained in popularity, though the system has yet to gain significant traction with car buyers and owners.
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
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Christine McKee
20 Comments
Great news!! I hope I'll be able to update my 2013's Golf R system. I've flirted with aftermarket systems, like Alpine, but didn't like their cheap look.
I rented a brand new BMW 320D over Christmas in the UK and for 10 days I used its built-in sat nav, blue tooth connectivity features for phone calls and also USB connection for iPhone to play music. It worked flawlessly on all counts and the jog dial was very intuitive. Album art from both iTunes and Spotify both came up on the display including title tracks whilst volume and play back was controlled via steering wheel buttons. How does CarPlay add additional functionality to current systems other than the Apple experience?
eh, i'd prefer actual buttons and knobs over touch when driving. don't want to look at a screen.
[quote name="bloggerblog" url="/t/184172/apples-carplay-coming-to-volkswagen-models-later-this-year#post_2657884"]Great news!! I hope I'll be able to update my 2013's Golf R system. I've flirted with aftermarket systems, like Alpine, but didn't like their cheap look.[/quote] I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. There are several good looking aftermarket head units that look great, unfortunately it is the adapter kits that make them fit into the vehicle openings that look cheap to me. I have used several in different vehicles and have never been happy with the look and feel of them. It also seems that the auto manufacturers keep making it more and more difficult to fit aftermarket units. Too bad there isn't a aftermarket software solution available for the factory units.
What irritates me is that the apple experience for itunes is still broken... There are so many errors in the way the ipod sorts your music library from itunes. Lack of multiartist and multigenre tagging is so a nuisance. They should fix all that crap and then the in car experience will fix itself. Apple maps is still only moderately functional and still has massive numbers of errors. Siri works sometimes but misses anything you say in any other language except english (such as restaurant names in other languages). You can go on and on and on... Compared to the in car experience in my Jeep, the audi system is vastly inferior junk interface (both top of the line 2015 cars) My brother bought a 2010 audi R8 and the "bang and olofson" sound system in it is catastrophically poor quality... What the hell. Car manufacters put out such a terrible user experience its laughable, but apple can still do a lot better than they are doing.