Apple has launched Apple CarPlay, which will bring iOS 7 into your car in the very near future.
The Cupertino company has partnered with leading auto manufacturers to roll out CarPlay as a “smarter, safer” way to use your iPhone in the car.
To begin with, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo will premiere CarPlay equipped vehicles at the Geneva International Motor Show, with other manufactures to introduce the service at a later point.
“CarPlay has been designed from the ground up to provide drivers with an incredible experience using their iPhone in the car,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s VP of iPhone and iOS Product Marketing. “iPhone users always want their content at their fingertips and CarPlay lets driver use their iPhone in the car with minimised distraction.”
CarPlay uses Siri to give you an “eyes-free” experience when driving using voice commands. You’ll be able to instruct Siri to read out your messages, dictate responses, make calls or listen to voicemails without you having to move your hands from the steering wheel.
The new iOS in the car features will also integrate Apple Maps to anticipate destinations based on your recently made trips, contacts, emails, texts or appointments. CarPlay will user Maps to give you the route, traffic conditions and ETA.
Spoken turn-by-turn directions will be given, while the Maps display itself will be fed into your car’s built-in display.
Along with the music stored on your phone, CarPlay will let you listen to music from third-party apps like Spotify.
Apple has partnered with other auto manufacturers including BMW, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Peugeot Citroen, Subaru, Suzuki and Toyota for CarPlay, so expect to see the feature including in a range of models.
According to the official Apple statement, CarPlay will be integrated in “select cars shipping in 2014” and will be available as an update for iOS 7 devices soon. The iOS in the car functionality will only work with Lightning charger iPhones like the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C.
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