“When it comes to actually making cars, there is no reason to assume that Apple, with no experience, will suddenly do a better job than General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen, Toyota, or Hyundai.”
And then:
“If I were a board member of Apple, I’d ask some serious questions about this thing,”
Australian Hyundai fans can look forward to CarPlay support as Hyundai Australia has now rolled out an infotainment upgrade for a handful of models, adding Apple CarPlay connectivity to variants in the i30, Tucson and Santa Fe lines, according to a report by Mike Stevens of Car Advice.
Stevens reports that while international models of the Tucson have had CarPlay since mid-2015, the Australian market had missed out until now.
Apple today released a list of over one hundred cars (105 at the time of writing) and breaks them down by make and model.
It’s assumed that Apple will keep this list up to date. But in the meantime, here’s the cars that support CarPlay as of Jan 11, 2016:
Audi
2017 Q7
2017 A4
Buick
2016 LaCrosse
2016 Regal
Cadillac
2016 ATS
2016 ATS Coupe
2016 ATS-V
2016 ELR
2016 CTS
2016 CTS-V
2016 XTS
2016 Escalade
2016 Escalade ESV
2016 CT6
Chevrolet
2016 Spark
2016 Cruze
2016 Malibu
2016 Camaro
2016 Camaro Convertible
2016 Silverado
2016 Silverado HD
2016 Impala
2016 Volt
2016 Corvette
2016 Corvette Convertible
2016 Colorado
2016 Tahoe
2016 Suburban
Citroën
2016 C3
2016 C4
2016 C5
2016 Berlingo Multispace
DS
2016 DS 3
2016 DS 3 Cabrio
2016 DS 4
2016 DS 5
Ferrari
2016 California T
2016 488 Spider
2016 488 GTB
2016 F12 Berlinetta
2016 F12 tdf
2016 FF
Ford
2017 Ford Escape
GMC
2016 Canyon
2016 Yukon
2016 Yukon XL
2016 Sierra
Honda
2016 Accord
2016 Civic
2017 NSX
Hyundai
2016 Sonata
2017 Elantra
Mercedes
2016 A-Class
2016 B-Class
2016 GLE-Class
2016 CLA-Class
2016 CLS-Class
2016 E-Class Coupe
2016 E-Class Cabriolet
2016 GLA-Class
Mitsubishi
2016 Pajero
2017 Mirage
Opel
2016 Adam
2016 KARL
2016 Corsa
2016 Astra
2016 Insignia
Porsche
2016 911
2017 Macan
Peugeot
2016 208
2016 Partner Teepe
Seat
2016 Ibiza
2016 Leon
2016 Toledo
2016 Alhambra
Škoda
2016 Superb
2016 Fabia
2016 Rapid
2016 Octavia
2016 Yeti
Suzuki
2016 Baleno
2016 Vitara
2016 SX4 S-CROSS
2016 Ciaz
Volkswagen
2016 Jetta
2016 Passat
2016 CC
2016 Beetle
2016 Beetle Cabrio
2016 Golf
2016 GTI
2016 Golf R
2016 e-Golf
2016 Tiguan
2016 Golf SportWagen
2016 Fox
2016 Polo
2016 Scirocco
2016 Sharan
2016 Spacefox
2016 Touran
2016 Lamando
Volvo
2016 XC90
2017 S90
In other CarPlay news today, Apple released information about the forthcoming iOS 9.3 update which adds new CarPlay functionality for finding places when driving using Apple Maps:
…the Nearby feature in Maps lets you find gas, parking, restaurants, coffee, and more with a tap. So you’ll know the best places to stop, whether you’re on your daily commute or an epic road trip.
Lastly, Apple Music comes to CarPlay in iOS 9.3, scheduled for release later this month.
With iOS 9.3, CarPlay adds even more useful features. New and For You from Apple Music — with songs, artists, and albums handpicked by experts, plus selections based on your preferences— are right at hand on your screen.
Apple made news in December 2015 when they registered a range of car-related domains, including apple.car for their car project.
Now Google has registered similar domain names for their own car project. Google on January 7 2016 registered both Google.car and Google.auto, as reported by Zdnet.
In other Google Car related news, Road and Track now reports that the latest prototypes for Google’s self driving car now feature wipers. Not for the windscreen, but for the sensors on the roof.
A piece from 2015 in the New Yorker discusses Jony Ive and his love of cars:
These days, Ive flies around the world in a Gulfstream GV that Jobs once owned. He drives an Aston Martin and a Bentley. For someone whose job involves promoting a form of commodity fetishism, that’s hardly surprising.
This goes on to note that Apple would, and should only release a car if it can charge higher than commodity prices. The quality needs to be there:
Apple’s vast profits—$39.5 billion in 2014—partially disguise the fact that it operates in a manufacturing industry whose products are rapidly commoditized, and in which only market leaders make much of a return on their investments. Apple can charge higher prices than its competitors because it has a reputation, which Ive helped to create, for superior quality and superior design. If that reputation were to be tarnished, Apple’s profit margins would quickly fall.
Industrial Designer Matías Papalini has released mockup designs of how he believes the Apple Car interior could look.
This image shows multiple areas of touchscreen display across the dashboard, and an iPhone tethered around the place of the steering wheel (not a wheel in mockups).
It’s too early to know what these could look like, but this is something to look at in the meantime.
Apple in December 2015 registered three domain names for its upcoming car project, as reported by Joe Rossignol on MacRumors. The domains registered are:
apple.car
apple.cars
apple.auto
There isn’t any content on these sites yet, and are likely being registered simply to prevent others squatting on the domains.
The domain name for applecar.com was registered back in 2004, and is not associated with Apple in any way (at this stage!)