Cars: Apple takes iOS on the road

Apple’s mobile operating system wants to merge with your car, said Molly Wood in NYTimes.com. The iPhone- and iPad-maker last week unveiled Apple CarPlay, which lets you “bring your own phone into your car’s dashboard for mapping, messaging, voice controls, and more.” The system introduces “a new set of car-specific controls that use Siri,” Apple’s voice-activated assistant. Volvo, Hyundai, Honda, Jaguar, Ferrari, and Mercedes-Benz have already agreed to integrate CarPlay into their upcoming models, while partnerships with BMW, Subaru, Toyota, and Ford are in the works. Apple’s offering is part of “a growing trend toward using your own device in your in-car dash.” This is a good move, but better done in a far more platform-neutral way. I would “be wary of buying a car with a hardwired, proprietary phone integration solution, unless you plan to keep both the car and the phone for a very long time.” And in case you haven’t noticed, “Apple does not really encourage you to hang on to phones for very long.”

There have been other attempts at integrating cars and smartphones, said Damon Lavrinc in Wired.com. But CarPlay outdoes the competition, including GM’s MyLink, which works with both iOS and Android phones. “By ceding control to Apple, automakers don’t have to hassle with updating their aging and perpetually outdated infotainment systems to bring you the core features and apps you use every day.” And by tethering CarPlay to your iPhone, “the functionality is bound to grow” with each iOS update.

Not everyone is onboard, though, said James O’Toole in CNN.com. Some safety experts worry that CarPlay will simply introduce a new set of distractions for drivers who are already multitasking. “We’re very, very concerned about it,” said David Teater, senior director at the nonprofit National Safety Council. “The auto industry and the consumer electronics industry are really in an arms race to see how we can enable drivers to do stuff other than driving.” For their part, the tech companies—including Google, which said in January that it would partner with Audi, GM, Honda, and Hyundai to integrate its Android operating system into cars starting this year—claim their software will make driving safer “by allowing drivers to keep their eyes on the road.” That may be true, but studies have shown that “talking in hands-free mode while driving is just as unsafe as driving while holding a phone.” Even motorists who keep their eyes focused on the traffic around them may find their “minds focused elsewhere.”

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