Roger Fingas
In the first half of 2016, three more vehicles — from Kia, Honda, and Lincoln — are set to expand the range of models supporting Apple's CarPlay platform.
Kia's entry will be the 2017 Forte5, a hatchback equipped with a 7-inch touchscreen. The 2017 Ridgeline will be Honda's first pickup truck in years, and have the option of an 8-inch touchscreen. Lincoln is joining the fray with its latest luxury sedan, the 2017 Continental.
As is now standard on many CarPlay-ready products, all three vehicles will also support Android Auto.
CarPlay support has been slowly gaining momentum since last summer, when more pppular carmakers finally began making concrete announcements and their first rollouts. In the past few weeks, thanks to the Consumer Electronics Show and the North American International Auto Show, that pace has increased. The most notable addition may be Ford, which is bringing the platform to all of its Sync 3-equipped 2017 models.
A challenge to user adoption has been the fact that with very few exceptions, it hasn't been possible to update existing vehicles with CarPlay without paying for an expensive aftermarket dash receiver. Many people may therefore end up waiting years to try the technology.
AppleInsider Staff
Malcolm Owen
Oliver Haslam
Andrew O'Hara
Wesley Hilliard
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
7 Comments
Retrospectively added to this list were their forerunners:
Ford Edsel
Nissan Altima
PT Cruiser
Ok, that's an exaggeration. But it seems the point's obviousness needs to be made clearer than mud.
I remain incredibly disappointed in Honda for not making their '14 and '15 models CarPlay compatible. We have a Civic and Fit and I refuse to spend money on their app, since it's a steaming pile that hasn't worked right in years. Because of these issues, my current Hondas will be my last.
Ask yourself two questions. How often you replace vehicle and is phone connectivity important in your life ? My answer is I replace car more than 10 years apart(my oldest running car is 1992 Toyota Camry) so I will not buy my next/new vehicle unless it has deep phone integration(CarPlay/AndroidAuto) with it's touchscreen dashboard/console/infotainment center..If I buy a new car without good phone connectivity than have to wait another 10+ years to buy a car with such phone features in car. I rather wait a year or so to make sure features are implemented like from Phone's Map/Navigation, text/call,Music,Calendar/Reminder,Door lock/unlock/status,Car location,starting car, etc.to Car Infotainment center.