Toyota, listed by Apple as an official CarPlay partner, has told the NY Times that it “currently has no plans” to offer the system in the USA.
John Hanson, the national manager of Toyota’s advanced technology communications, said while the company talked frequently with both Google and Apple, it currently had no plans to adopt Android Auto or CarPlay in the United States.
“We may all eventually wind up there, but right now we prefer to use our in-house proprietary platforms for those kinds of functions,” Mr. Hanson said.
Toyota’s backtracking began last year, when the company posted a statement on its UK blog that CarPlay would be coming to 2015 models before hastily deleting the post. A brief replacement statement said that “no announcements have been made about if and when Apple CarPlay will arrive in Toyota cars.”
Toyota remains listed as a “committed partner” on Apple’s own website.
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I wonder if the Apple Car rumors are going to spike CarPlay adoption by the major automakers – why give a competitor dashboard real estate in your vehicle? It would be sad to see it relegated to aftermarket units … but not surprising.
Well… I guess I will wait a few more years for a Toyota with CarPlay…
I’ve had Toyotas for many years, but still several of the cars don’t have push-button start, and now there will be no CarPlay?
Let’s see what other manufacturer can swoon me with cars that don’t break, but have CarPlay and push-button start… (Sorry US Car makers)
Their loss. Apple clearly sees the issues with CarPlay and its adoption. That’s why their getting ready to do their own thing.
As a long time Toyota owner I will strongly consider a new brand if this is the case when my lease runs out in 18 months. They are good at making cars not so good at software let Apple and Google handle this please.
Is it possible that Apple wanted platform exclusivity on the dashboard, and Toyota wants to leave their dashboard as an “open” hardware platform for a selection of operating systems? In other words, Toyota wants to build a universal “screen” and allow their customers to choose either CarPlay, Android Auto, or a fallback to their in-house UI for music and navigation? Toyota doesn’t want to alienate any non-Apple customers by offering the option of only CarPlay if it can’t be switched to another platform either at the factory, or upon resale. It could hurt the resale value of your car if you could only use the dashboard with Apple devices.
In short, no. That’s not how CarPlay works.
My Tundra’s Infotainment system is entirely braindead. There was obviously not a single User Experience person or UI designer involved in the entire project. So of course Toyota would want to keep it. They suck at it so bad they don’t even know they suck at it.