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Apple Launches CarPlay At Geneva Show
An anonymous reader writes "Apple announced today a system called CarPlay, which integrates your iPhone with your car, with Siri voice control. CarPlay will be offered in Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo vehicles this year, and others 'down the road.' From the press release: 'CarPlay makes driving directions more intuitive by working with Maps to anticipate destinations based on recent trips via contacts, emails or texts, and provides routing instructions, traffic conditions and ETA. You can also simply ask Siri and receive spoken turn-by-turn directions, along with Maps, which will appear on your car’s built-in display.'
Apple seems to have invented what a lot of people have been using for years - a head unit with MirrorLink capability. How come it is suddenly wonderful?
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
I'm just waiting for Clippy to pop up and say "I see you're having an accident. Would you like me to play a Funeral Dirge?"
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Perhaps in the past Apple Maps was bad.
In the last couple of months I have been using Apple Maps and there haven't been any major problems I have noticed.
It is nice to be able to use Siri to find things while I am whizzing along in places I am unfamiliar with.
Turn by turn has been accurate in my area at least.
To reduce the number of accidental touches on a part of the car that is touched a lot? My bluetooth controls requires a small hold.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
I wouldn't buy a car that has this unless it also works with other phones.
If by "once more" you mean every 12 years or so, then yes. How many different USB ports have we seen in that time? Second, you are aware that there are these things called "adapters" which means that you don't have to throw away your car but rather get a new cable. Oh, the humanity.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
The 3 auto makers offering it first are all high-end luxury brands.
Volvo cars aren't exactly priced in the stratosphere. Even their expensive offerings are still FAR cheaper than those from Mercedes and Ferrari. Volvo makes nice cars but they are mostly at the lower end of the luxury segment if you consider them a luxury vehicle at all.
Personally, if I had they money to be driving around a Ferrari, I would already have a really nice custom stereo system in it, which would surely have a dedicated GPS system in it.
A reasonable thing to do but why not have the option of layering on Siri or similar Android services in addition? I'd rather have the consumer electronics stuff handled by a consumer electronics company whenever possible. I have a GPS in my truck but it is woefully out of date, expensive and the graphics pretty much suck. Car companies are REALLY bad at updating firmware and they don't do enough product volume to get costs down to reasonable levels. When possible it makes a lot more sense to use something like a smartphone to handle many of these tasks.
(Again, the wealthy have the means to pay for "concierge" services by phone where they can make requests of a live operator who answers. Why settle for an automated system like Siri?)
Just because you have a bit more cash doesn't mean you want to spend it needlessly. Concierge services are expensive and most people who can afford a nice luxury vehicle didn't get their money by being frivolous with their cash. It's not an either/or proposition either. Personally I'd be more likely to use Siri (even with its deficiencies) than some high priced live service even if I had the money just because it would probably be an occasional use thing with me.
If you have this you better hope you have nothing to hide from the other people who might be in your car.
Siri: "I see that you have received a text from Ms. Longlegs with the address for the Super 8 motel, would you like directions?"
Siri: "I noticed that your most frequent destination is: Woody's Rub and Tug, would you like directions? Shall I make a reservation?"
First off all, most of the people who hate Apple are right here on your favorite website. Not exactly Ferrari / Volvo / Mercedes big customers.
Second of all, lots of people like (or at least tolerate) the Apple brand. Makes more sense than Ford attaching themselves to Microsoft.....
I think it's a dumb idea (and I have a lot of Apple hardware and software). I like my cars like I like my women - simple, easy to fix and not associated with a lot of proprietary add on junk that will out date in a couple of years. Upgrades are hell.
But that's just me.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
I keep saying apple doesn't so much innovate as they take things that are already there, make them more appealing to consumers, and rake in profits.
I don't know why everyone says Apple needs to innovate they are doing fine without innovation really. Have been since Jobs went to Xerox-Parc and "innovated" the GUI and mouse for the first Mac.
Seeing how to re-package things that will make big time Money has become what Apple is really good at.
Which Apple phone uses a standard USB connector? Or are thinking to use a cable? An iPhone dock with a dangling cable? Just purrfect for a Ferrari, eh?
Oh the humanity. Having to hold a button for a second with your thumb. Without having to take it off the wheel. At all.
.
You might be surprised as to how much "road attention" you lose performing such a simple maneuver. Anecdotally, I once totaled a Buick because I took my eyes off the road for .5 seconds to check the clock. Long story (chock full of statistics and more anecdotes) short, while your brain is on pause waiting for Siri to respond to that button hold, it's not paying full attention to the task at hand, namely operating a ton-and-a-half of steel and glass at high rates of speed.
As opposed to every other navigation system...
Nonsense hyperbole, and smacks loudly of fanboy-ism.
My wife's VW has a single button on the steering wheel that activates the voice command system, and it's the same system VW has been using for half a decade. Oh, and BTW, you only have to press the button, not hold it. Works as well as one would expect a voice command system to. And I know VW can't be the only one with such a simple interface - Ford's Sync immediately comes to mind.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Of all things that matter, Apple (I grudgingly admit) probably has the best chance to solve
Actually after sitting in a Model S, I'd say Tesla is probably furthest along the right track. They seem to be the only car company that has figured out how to update firmware and the 17" screen they use makes a LOT more sense than most of the other systems I've seen. A little 6" screen seems a bit out of date and certainly can't display much. Not saying Tesla has everything perfect but its the most innovative system I've seen. Certainly more interesting than tighter iPhone integration.
Did I say adequate?
Seems to be the same as Google Maps roughly so perhaps not the same as everyone else 5 years ago. Basically the same as other options currently would be more accurate. unless all options are basically technologically backward by 5 years.
Did I say I was using Maps where I normally go?
I haven't had problems with Maps being wonky in places I don't normally go. Haven't missed a step and that is all anyone can hope unless I expect Maps to teleport me to where I want to go. That would be a nice new feature.
Perhaps your experiential anecdote varies.
1. Apple maps is a joke and completely useless
Based on what? Yeah they flubbed the roll out but I've used it since and it mostly works fine. I'm guessing you are one of those people who read all the bad press and presumed that Apple would never fix the problem. Guess what? Over over 30 million people use Apple Maps mostly without problems. Apple Maps is certainly not a joke and anything but "completely useless". Your assertion is mostly without any basis to support it.
2. considering how many people hate Apple, they're losing prospective customers for a $60,000 car for example because of one tiny feature.
Apple sells millions of devices a year and you think people "hate Apple"? Have you actually been to an Apple store lately? They are packed. Nobody buys Apple products because they have to. They are all discretionary purchases and people buy Apple's gear because they... gasp, LIKE the products. Who knew?
Maybe YOU don't like Apple but out here in the real world Apple is wildly popular.
Race cars (and Ferraris) shouldn't have anything in/on them that doesn't make them go faster. No stereo, no passenger seat, no carpet.
Anybody who owns a Ferrari and gives any thought to the stereo is a pretentious wanker.
If I had the funds to buy a new Ferrari, I'd buy a top alcohol car instead.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
How can you tell? every lexus I see is driving 3 inches from my bumper while I am driving in the SLOW LANE.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
I hate to break it to you, but Google has shitty maps in areas too. Apple may be worse, but its mostly outlier cases (like yours). And by outlier I mean every rural area in the country and a bunch of populated areas. If I had a dime for every time Google routed me in a shitty, misdirected, or simply impossible way I would be the one paying for dinner when Sergey and I went out. I use Waze, which is somewhere between Google and Apple, but I can at least edit the map when I find a f*ed up area, and when it tells me what time I can expect to arrive, it's usually very, very accurate.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
The alternative alternative would be people using Google Maps and/or Navigation, tying into the cars existing Bluetooth/aux in port, and not driving down private driveways insisting "this is the best route to Roundtop Mountain!!!"
There has never been a sat-nav product ever that didn't have examples of routes that are impossible in the real world. None. And certainly not Google Maps. Heck Garmin has been doing this longer than most, and you still get impossible routes on their sat-navs.
It took a lot less time for Apple to go from 'pretty crap' to 'usably good'.
I tend to use Apple's maps and, from the statistics, so do most people. Google Maps hasn't been downloaded on that many iOS devices compared to the number that are running a version with Apple's maps. The usage data is fairly clear.
But in any case, it wasn't a play for dominance. Apple needs a built-in solution that is full-featured with turn-by-turn instructions and the like, and Google wouldn't give them that, so they made their own. Now Apple can say that they have a map application on their phone and it does the things that you would expect.
You might be surprised as to how much "road attention" you lose performing such a simple maneuver.
Yes I would be surprised. And I wouldn't take your word for it. Especially as you example is of taking your eyes off the road, not a long press of a button that is already at your fingertip.
Yea, too bad there's not a plethora of existing studies that show how non-visual distractions are just as bad (if not worse, in some cases) as vision-based ones, huh?
http://www.scientificamerican....
http://www.businessinsider.com...
http://mentalhealth.about.com/...
http://www.motherjones.com/kev...
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese