After officially announcing its new CarPlay feature for connecting iOS devices to select in-car entertainment systems, Apple followed up with confirmation that we’d also see aftermarket products with support for the feature. Pioneer was one of the first to announce that the feature would arrive on a number of the in-car systems it sells, and today we’re getting our first look at the feature in action on the hardware.
Pioneer gave a few demos of CarPlay this week running on its aftermarket in-car systems, including the video above from MacWorld, and another from DigitalTrends. While both short reviews are fairly positive, there are reportedly a few issues that will hopefully be tweaked by the time CarPlay lands in vehicles later this year:
CarPlay isn’t a final product yet. Both in the prototype I saw at Mercedes-Benz a few weeks ago and in the Pioneer demo this week, ambient noise distracted Siri. Pioneer’s Cardenas said that as the CarPlay technology continues to undergo tweaks, Siri will acclimate to your car’s sounds—the whoosh of the air conditioner, the hum of the engine (the sound of your kids bickering in back?)—and learn to distinguish your voice from everything else.
Pioneer previously announced that it would offer CarPlay support on a number of the 2014 in-car systems it sells starting at around $700. Models available with CarPlay on the way include: The AVIC-8000NEX ($1400 SRP), AVIC-7000NEX ($1200 SRP),AVIC-6000NEX ($900 SRP), AVIC-5000NEX ($750 SRP) and AVH-4000NEX ($700 SRP). Those are the suggested retail prices, but they are actually selling for a lot cheaper on Amazon currently: AVIC-8000NEX ($984), AVIC-7000NEX ($854), AVIC-6000NEX ($713), AVIC-5000NEX ($594) and AVH-4000NEX ($536). The company is expected to release a software update this summer that will enable CarPlay on the above systems and told Macworld it should arrive over the next few weeks.
Volvo, Ferrari, and Mercedes-Benz have already announced vehicles arriving later this year with support for CarPlay and BMW, Chevrolet, Ford, Jaguar, Kia, Land Rover, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Opel, Psa Peugeot Citroen, Subaru, Suzuki, and Toyota are all confirmed as partners.
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Since Toyota is on the list does that mean Lexus as well?
That lag…
seriously. i’ll just stick with my iPhone on a mount for now. this is not worth $700.
KHAAAAAAN!
Sorry, just had to :)
Running on blackberry QNX, right?
QNX is a pretty awesome platform for cars. I currently own a 7000nex head unit and will welcome the added features. Is it worth $700… yes! most states you shouldn’t even be touching your phone while driving and i think with time you will see more regulation restricting device use by hand while driving or in the car.
if you want to be the guy with and suction cupped garmin or phone on your window in a $40k + car fine. this is not your market. for people into car radios this is very cool and welcomed
The screen looks good, but the buttons along the bottom are butt ugly. This shows that car play is going to involve more than inserting apple technology within an ugly interface.
Exactly! Apple should never have bothered to compete with Google in this space anyway, they are way way behind in functionality, aesthetics and dataset. I have a Note 3 and it blows iOS out of the water, and looks good. If Google can embed Android in cars, then unlike this Apple solution, you won’t need to faff around with your phone anyway. Just login when you get in ANY car the system configures itself for you.
Hello paid troll,
You have failed dramatically here. the OP was talking about the hardware buttons being ugly and you went on about Apple vs Google. Irrelevant post is irrelevant.
Sorry I am a UX designer with zero interests in ether Apple or Google and I do not troll. I own a £2800 Macbook Pro, but writing this on a Galaxy Note 3.
yikes. then by your own admission you just have horrible reading comprehension.
I wish I could afford to upgrade my head unit, but I can’t.
I’m mainly interested in being able to listen to music from my iPhone in the car and I found an app that is a pretty good alternative.
The developer states on the App Store page that he designed it with in-car use in mind, so you can quickly start playing an album, and easily control playback without even having to look at the screen, unlike the standard music app which has small buttons that are hard to press accurately when your phone is mounted in a dock at arm’s length. It gets regular updates, and one feature I particularly like is that I can listen to podcasts and music within the one app.
Oh, it’s called Harken For iPhone. http://bit.ly/HarkenForiPhone
He’s also got an iPad version.
Is it just me or does that bar across the bottom of the display look like an ugly throw back to the late 1960’s or early 1970’s? Tasteful design is not a quality that Pioneer has ever achieved. They could read Apple’s App design guide and learn though.