Daimler CEO and chairman of the board Dieter Zetsche is returning home from a trip to Silicon Valley where he met directly with several companies, but without naming them specifically. Though he didn’t disclose the companies he met with, Zetsche commented on the car industry effort of some Silicon Valley-based tech firms, namely Apple and Google.
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A memo from Mercedes-Benz USA to its dealer network has revealed the car company’s plans for supporting CarPlay. The memo was leaked to C450 AMG and contains a mix of good news and bad.
The good news is that it will be available for quite a range of models, starting from those produced this month, and will be automatically included at no extra cost for many models equipped with the company’s COMAND Navigation system. The bad news is that it will be an extra cost option for CLA, GLA and B-Class models; the necessary COMAND packages on other models aren’t cheap; and – very disappointingly – it won’t play nicely with COMAND.
The customer will not be able to use the Mercedes-Benz headunit functions at the same time as CarPlay. For example, use of the Spotify app cannot be done simultaneously with COMAND Navigation.
Details of the deals for the full range of supported models can be found below …
Earlier today we got a look at Apple’s just announced CarPlay feature for iOS when Volvo announced it would arrive in its new XC90 SUV, and now Mercedes-Benz has announced its partnership with Apple. As previously reported, the company confirmed today that it will be demoing the new Mercedes-Benz C-Class at the Geneva Motor Show. Like Volvo and many of the other vehicle manufacturers, Mercedes-Benz made it clear that Apple’s CarPlay won’t be the only in-car entertainment system with work continuing on Android and MirrorLink solutions:
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