Here’s What Apple Thinks Your Future Car Will Look Like
Siri is ready for a ride and she’s calling shotgun. Today, Apple unveiled CarPlay, a new display that will work like a built-in dashboard iPhone, letting you use your smartphone on the road way safer than you are now.
We don’t mean to be all backseat driver, but we see you up there, texting in your lap, looking down at directions and fumbling to find the perfect playlist on Spotify. Hey, there’s precious cargo back here! With CarPlay, you plug in your iPhone (with a cable that charges it too) and your phone and important apps are easy to access. Now you can keep your eyes on the road while Siri steers your smartphone. Everyone wins!
Summon Siri with a special button on the wheel or use voice control, the touchscreen and your car’s own knobs and controls. Now let her play car concierge: bringing up Apple Maps directions, helping you place calls or listen to voicemails. She’ll even read you your texts and send out dictated responses. Stay tuned for a CarPlay app in an upcoming iOS 7 update.
And like any good dashboard should do, you’ll be able to use CarPlay as DJ with all of your music, podcasts and apps like Beats Radio and Spotify at the ready. Siri, let the Driving Dance Party playlist commence!
This feature will be available in a bunch of different cars this year — from the fancy and rapped-about (Ferrari, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz) to the family wheels (Honda, Hyundai, Volvo). Future partnerships with Ford, Chevy, Kia and just about every car out there hint toward total CarPlay domination in the next couple years.
UPDATE: In the first major updates since the September release of iOS 7, the iOS 7.1 update is here. Besides an improved fingerprint scanner and a couple tweaks to your pal Siri, CarPlay is officially available to download for iPhone 5ers. It helps if you have a vehicle with CarPlay hooked up in it too!
Would you use CarPlay in your car? What do you usually use your phone for while in the car? Share below!