Ford, Toyota herald new members on board with Apple CarPlay-opposing industry group

Auto manufacturers Ford and Toyota are welcoming new members to its SmartDeviceLink Consortium, in an effort to stop Apple's CarPlay and Google Auto from gaining any more traction in the market.

In a joint announcement, Ford and Toyota announced that Fuji Heavy Industries, Mazda Motor Group, Suzuki Motors, and the PSA Group have joined the SmartDeviceLink Consortium. In addition, telecommunications company Elektrobit Automotive, software developer Luxoft Holding, and scooter manufacturer Xevo have all signed on as well.

The PSA Group manufacturers Peugot, Citroen, and DS automobiles, and is the second largest car manufacturer in Europe. Fuji Heavy Industries produces the Subaru line of automobiles.

The group, and related protocol, isn't new. Ford and Toyota first agreed to collaborate in 2011 on the protocol, fearing the intrusion of smartphone technologies into the car.

SmartDeviceLink is an open platform based on the AppLink framework developed for Ford's own vehicles. It fills essentially the same role as CarPlay or Android Auto, but allows the vehicle manufacturer to retain control over the look and feel of the user interface.

SmartDeviceLink consists of two main components. The in-car aspect contains most of the user interface with a dashboard LCD and most communication protocols with the car's electronics, with the mobile proxy connecting to a smartphone.

The SmartDeviceLink model is somewhat different than CarPlay, with the vehicle providing most of the data and connectivity, and the user's phone being more of a terminal. Apple's CarPlay is the other way around, with the user's iPhone doing more of the work involving user communication and services.

Ford has continued to push SmartDeviceLink as an industry standard even while it includes CarPlay and Google's rival Android Auto in recent vehicles. Major automotive software supplier QNX has previously announced support for SmartDeviceLink.

Toyota announced during the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show that it would not be offering CarPlay-equipped vehicles.

50 Comments

macxpress 5910 comments · 16 Years

About 7 years ago

Kinda late to the party...its already taken off on both sides (Android Auto and CarPlay). What will they offer to make others switch and stop supporting this? I think in the end all they're going to do is piss off customers (like Toyota already has) and people just won't buy their products.

AlexanderHC 6 comments · 8 Years

I'm baffled... What would they gain by shutting Apple and Google out? I'm looking to buy a factory new vehicle hopefully within a year, and Carplay is a must have for me! I'm even trying to hold out in hope of wireless carplay. They better not remove the option completely!

StrangeDays 12959 comments · 8 Years

The value add for me as a consumer is not yet clear to me, whereas the value of having an Apple-designed car system running off my phone is clear to me.

paxman 4729 comments · 17 Years

macxpress said:

Kinda late to the party...its already taken off on both sides (Android Auto and CarPlay). What will they offer to make others switch and stop supporting this? I think in the end all they're going to do is piss off customers (like Toyota already has) and people just won't buy their products.

If Smart Device Link is the default set-up, and 'it just works', and works well, I'd think most people will just go with it. If you step into your car the first time and it informs you that it has detected your phone and asks if you'd like to set it up it would be tempting to say 'yes'. I wouldn't be surprised if most people think they have CarPlay working. If in order to get CapPlay working you have to go into a convoluted settings menu structure in order to enable it it will further discourage.

Just being a devils advocate here.

paxman said:

macxpress said:

Kinda late to the party...its already taken off on both sides (Android Auto and CarPlay). What will they offer to make others switch and stop supporting this? I think in the end all they're going to do is piss off customers (like Toyota already has) and people just won't buy their products.

If Smart Device Link is the default set-up, and 'it just works', and works well, I'd think most people will just go with it. If you step into your car the first time and it informs you that it has detected your phone and asks if you'd like to set it up it would be tempting to say 'yes'. I wouldn't be surprised if most people think they have CarPlay working. If in order to get CapPlay working you have to go into a convoluted settings menu structure in order to enable it it will further discourage.

Just being a devils advocate here.

I believe to enable CarPlay all you have to do is plug it in and it comes up. There are no special settings to setup or go through. Its pretty much plug n pray. If SmartLink is supposed to work with your phone and stuff I don't see it as it "just working". There are way too many different kinds of phones it will have to support vs Android Auto and CarPlay are just built into the phone's OS. Maybe I'm missing something?