Honda has announced that it plans to unveil its latest electrified vehicle next week at the North American International Auto Show. Honda says its all-new 2019 Insight Prototype hybrid will feature an 8-inch display that offers Apple CarPlay integration.
Steve Jobs famously compared tablets and laptops to cars and trucks, saying that cars would suit most people’s needs, but there would still be those who needed more powerful and capable trucks. If your automotive needs fall into the latter category, Honda has you covered with a CarPlay option in the 2018 Ridgeline …
Honda announced today that its new 2018 Odyssey Minivan will go on sale tomorrow in the US, making it the latest vehicle to arrive with Apple’s in-dash CarPlay system.
Following announcements from Mitsubishi and Scania yesterday, Honda today unveiled the latest new vehicles that will come with Apple’s in-dash CarPlay system standard with a reveal of its new 2017 Civic Si Coupe and Sedan models.
Following announcements from Porsche with the 911 GT3 and Honda with the Civic Type R earlier this week, today Honda announced its two latest vehicles that will get Apple’s CarPlay platform standard with the Clarity Plug-in Hybrid and Honda Clarity Electric debuting next month.
Honda was noticeably slow to the CarPlay scene despite being committed from day one to support Apple’s infotainment feature in 2014. The automaker eventually delivered with CarPlay in the 2016 Accord and Civic, and 2017 Ridgeline, and today Honda announced CarPlay will be returning in the 2017 Accord, one of the most popular cars on the road. Honda’s new Accord is hitting showroom floors on Monday and will start at $22,355.
The 2017 Accord carries over the expanded LED exterior lighting and premium features and technologies of the 2016 model, including the available 7-inch Display Audio touchscreen offered with Apple CarPlay™ and Android Auto™, HD Radio®, heated rear seats, and front and rear parking sensors.
With the New York International Auto Show taking place this week, car makers are showing off the latest vehicles featuring Apple’s CarPlay platform including new 2017 models from Hyundai, Honda, Volkswagen, Chevrolet, Subaru, Kia, and others.
When CarPlay was debuted in March of 2014, a variety of automobile manufacturers signed on to support Apple’s in-car offering. One of those launch partners was Honda and despite the manufacturer having promised to support the platform from the beginning, it has yet to release any car model with support for CarPlay. Today, however, Honda announced at an event in Silicon Valley that it will begin shipping cars with support for CarPlay in 2016.
Apple has quietly updated its CarPlay microsite which explains the feature to add CBS News Radio to its growing list of apps it grants CarPlay support to, but a bigger change also appears on the CarPlay site this morning. Apple is no longer promising CarPlay support from any automobile manufacturer this year as it has done since its debut in March. While there has been no shortage of CarPlay demoes and availability announcements, actually getting your hands on a model with CarPlay thus far has proven almost impossible.
The site now says CarPlay “will be available” from listed partners without offering any specific timeframe (and removing the 2014 language for specific brands altogether). This is likely due to delays in CarPlay availability thus far, even in models that have announced support earlier this year with cars that are now on the road.
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Update: A source close to the company tells us the feature is “more than just simple mirroring” and indeed part of Honda’s implementation of iOS in the Car. Collaboration with Apple first started in 2011 and Honda initially announced Siri Eyes Free, but the new 2014 Civic will be the first of its vehicles to expand its collaboration with Apple to the new iOS in the Car features. We’re told Honda plans to announce new iOS integration features the first week of December and that the hardware will enable a full roll out of iOS in the Car for the 14 Civic when Apple is ready with the feature later this year. We’ve reached out to Honda for an official comment and we’ll update if we hear back.
Update 2: It’s official.
After announcing back in January that it would begin supporting the Siri Eyes Free feature as an option in some of its 2013 Accord and Acura models, Honda will become the first major car manufacturer to support iOS mirroring on December 4. That could mean drivers of its new 2014 Civic just unveiled yesterday will be able to control their iOS devices using the 7-inch multitouch display built into the dash of the car. Honda confirmed mirroring technology would be available in the Civic when it goes on sale next month on its Twitter account (pictured below). It also noted that the promised Siri Eyes Free updates will be available at the beginning of December.
Earlier this year Apple unveiled a new strategy to further integrate its mobile platform into vehicles with the introduction of iOS in the Car at WWDC in June. The new features will see Apple working with car manufacturers to allow users to place calls, have more control over Siri, and view maps, but it’s unclear exactly what mirroring technology Honda will be using using in its new Civic Coupe. iOS in the Car is expected to make an appearance in new vehicles in 2014, while Apple is already working with Audi, BMW, Chrysler, General Motors, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, and Toyota to implement Siri Eyes Free.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AtPakZmF_M
GM announced in November 2012 that it would bring the Siri’s Eyes Free feature to the Chevy Sonic and Spark vehicles in 2013, and it officially became the first company last month to offer the enhanced Siri integration in its vehicles. GM has today kicked off a new marketing campaign to highlight the feature that allows drivers to activate Siri through a dedicated button on the steering wheel in its 2013 Sonic.
Apple originally announced a number of automakers that would include support for the feature in future vehicles, including: BMW, Mercedes, Land Rover, Jaguar, Audi, Toyota, Chrysler, and Honda. Honda confirmed earlier this year that Siri Eyes Free would be available in its 2013 Accord, Acura RDX, and ILX models.
Some more videos showing off Siri Eyes Free are below:
The video above came from Senior iOS Architect at Honda R&D Americas Duane Cash, and he is claiming to have come up with a method of controlling Siri through “a brainwave-reading device.” This isn’t the first video that has popped up online claiming to show brainwave activity controlling an iOS device, but many past videos have been faked. Duane’s role as senior iOS architect at Honda R&D in Silicon Valley seems to provide a little more credibility to the project.
Hello, my name is Duane Cash. I am an iOS developer working on the project to produce a mind-controlled virtual assistant on the iPhone. This is a one of my initial tests using a brainwave-reading device to control some custom Siri functions on a iPhone.
We talked to Duane, and he confirmed it isn’t a project that Honda is officially working on. Duane said he is researching various brainwave-reading methods, but he told us he is using a Neurosky MindWave and “the iOS SDK for the software implementation” in the prototype above.
As you’ll see in the video, Duane explained he uses “mental commands from the EEG signals to command the iPhone to open a map, open a menu and close a menu with voice feedback from Siri.”
