GM Confirms Siri 'Eyes Free' Integration Coming to New Models Within 12 Months

[mms13]

Originally Posted by SimonTheSoundMa

Chevrolet, possibly the worst cars to grace the British roads.

Do people actually buy these in America?

GM also makes Cadillacs...

[kyjaotkb]

Originally Posted by mms13

GM also makes Cadillacs...

GM in the UK = mostly Vauxhall

[WeirdBal]

I just want to know if Toyota will update recent models with Entune to include support for Siri. I have a new Prius v that already has a button on the wheel to push for voice control, but it uses the car's voice command software for basic options. I would imagine it would not be hard to issue a software update that allows this button to activate Siri instead when an iPhone is connected.

[oldMac]

Originally Posted by SimonTheSoundMa

Chevrolet, possibly the worst cars to grace the British roads.

Do people actually buy these in America?

In Great Britain, GM's main brand is Vauxhall, so I doubt the Chevy's get much attention.

My guess is that you mostly get the cheap-o Chevy's over there. GM has historically struggled to make good small cars. Instead, they have a tendency to make small, "cheap" cars and cut a lot of corners. (Their more expensive cars - Cadillacs, Buicks, GMC's are often surprisingly good.)

The Chevy Cruze has been getting very good reviews and selling very well. Time will tell if this continues with the Sonic, Spark and future Cruze models. It will be interesting to see if GM falls-back to their old habits of cost cutting inexpensive models into rubbish.

[frunkis54]

why are car manufacturers adding a button for a service that is still in Beta

jk btw i look foward to it in my new Camaro

[PracticalMac]

Yay!!!


Licensing out iOS and Siri will cement Apples future!

[ristlin]

lol @ owning a car. Biggest waste of money since the invention of matrimony.


I kid, I kid. Not about the car though, don't ever plan to drive -- love living in cities with great public transportation.

[jmthigpen]

Originally Posted by NewAnger

I bet it will work in OnStar equipped vehicles. Of course GM wants this because SIRI requires internet to work and OnStar works by accessing cell towers just as it does to make phone calls. To use SIRI, they will require OnStar making money for GM.

The 2008 Chevy I used to have Verizon cell service.

This doesn't make any sense, Siri uses your iPhone's internet connection.

[Ciclismo]

Originally Posted by PoissMi

Apple announced that Audi, BMW, GM, Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover, Jaguar, Chrysler, Toyota and Honda will be getting Siri.

What, no VW? Poos. Well, one more reason to sign up for BMW's DriveNow car sharing.

[yg17]

The cars should also be equipped with a big "I'm a dumbass using a phone while driving!" sign that lights up when they hit the button so I know who to avoid on the road.

This is only making a dangerous activity slightly less dangerous. It would be like drinking less alcohol than you usually do before driving. Okay, your BAC is only .10 instead of .15, but you're still a blithering idiot who is a danger on the roads and is eventually going to kill someone.

Does anyone honestly think that this is a good idea? Hell, it might make people even more of an unsafe driver. Someone who might not normally text and drive is now going to, because thanks to this button and Siri, they can do it hands free and they think it's safe. But their concentration is not on the road, it's diverted to their conversation.

[Ciclismo]

Originally Posted by oldMac

In Great Britain, GM's main brand is Vauxhall, so I doubt the Chevy's get much attention.

My guess is that you mostly get the cheap-o Chevy's over there. GM has historically struggled to make good small cars. Instead, they have a tendency to make small, "cheap" cars and cut a lot of corners. (Their more expensive cars - Cadillacs, Buicks, GMC's are often surprisingly good.)

The Chevy Cruze has been getting very good reviews and selling very well. Time will tell if this continues with the Sonic, Spark and future Cruze models. It will be interesting to see if GM falls-back to their old habits of cost cutting inexpensive models into rubbish.

Yes and no - some of the Vauxhauls are rebadged Opel cars, and Opel have really been stepping up their game as of late.

[Gemütlichkeit]

I hope you can somehow retro fit this into older cars. I have an 8th gen civic and would love to install some sort of box into the wire harness.

[BornAgainMac]

I want to Jailbreak my Toyota to do this. It has a button on the steering wheel for bluetooth talking. Not necessary (except for branding) to have to buy a brand new car with a Siri button to have that functionality.

[budselectjr]

Originally Posted by Ciclismo

What, no VW? Poos. Well, one more reason to sign up for BMW's DriveNow car sharing.

would have to think all the Volkswagen Group divisions would be getting this.

[awer25]

Originally Posted by SimonTheSoundMa

Chevrolet, possibly the worst cars to grace the British roads.

Do people actually buy these in America?

It's funny, because in America, British cars are the worst. Nothing requires more time at the mechanic's shop than Land Rovers and Jaguars.

[bedifferent]

Originally Posted by ArtOfWarfare

The idea is that the people who use this will be the ones who otherwise would drive around while staring at their phone. I expect I will be a less distracted driver with eye's free... I can see numerous other drivers I know also being less distracted.

I have been using Siri in my 2011 Infiniti G37xS through the bluetooth A2DP, I've been able to dictate texts and emails, read them, play music and select tracks through Siri by simply hitting the "Talk" button on the steering wheel.

I don't mean to state this in any way to "show off" as some remarked, so I hope no one takes it as such. My question is how will this differ from full integration? Will there be a dedicated button for Siri on the vehicle? I can't think of another way to implement more with the car, as the iPhone does most of the work you're just using a builtin mic and the car speaker(s) for communication. No?

Originally Posted by awer25

It's funny, because in America, British cars are the worst. Nothing requires more time at the mechanic's shop than Land Rovers and Jaguars.

I would agree with you, except BMW owned Land Rover/Jaguar, then sold it to Ford but still manufactured the parts and assembly was in the U.S. About two years ago Ford sold it to an Indian business for huge bucks, and the latest Land Rover's have been astonishing. Quality and style have greatly improved, who would have thunk? (and having lived in L.A., I would gather 50%+ of Los Angolan's drive a Land Rover Range Rover Sport or HSE, it's quite obnoxious and yet amusing as due to the economy it was common to see 1 or 2 being repo'ed on Santa Monica a day).

[AustinIllini]

Originally Posted by kyjaotkb

Hopefully Siri will come to Opel, the real face of GM in Europe !

Opel is probably GM's best marque. It's one of the fastest selling in America. Except here they call it Buick.

[SockRolid]

"Siri - Find me a good parking spot and park there. Preferably with time still left on the meter."

[SockRolid]

I read recently this on another site:

Ford cars dropped from 5th to 23rd in JD Power’s customer satisfaction survey primarily due to a complex and hard to use in-car digital UI.

And also this, posted yesterday on Reuters.com:

Owner complaints about technology continued to hurt Ford Motor Co's standing in the influential annual survey of new-vehicle buyers. Ford fell to 27th from 23rd a year ago.

Thanks, in part, to Microsoft. (Wouldn't you know it?) Because Ford SYNC runs on Windows Embedded Automotive, though the UIs were apparently designed by Ford and third-party developers.

Mercedes-Benz' COMAND system and BMW's iDrive system have both been sources of customer confusion as well. (Too many buttons and too few buttons, respectively, being the gist of the criticisms.)

[Swift]

Ford took Microsoft, and one of their problems is that people find the interface hard to deal with. Heh heh.

[kiljoy616]

MS must be fuming at this.

----------

Originally Posted by frunkis54

why are car manufacturers adding a button for a service that is still in Beta

jk btw i look foward to it in my new Camaro

Because Apple rules!

[Bheleu]

Now everyone on your FB account will know about the guy/gal in the Mustang that cut you off at the turnpike - may even have time to rattle off their license plate number.

Other useful scenarios...
"Siri, what song is playing on the radio?"
...
"Siri, traffic is backed up is there another route?"
...
"Siri, how far is the next petrol station?"
...
"Siri, what is the number for the ...fire department, ...animal rescue, ...non-emergency police, ...place of my next appointment so I can let them know I am running late?"

This will be a very cool feature, even if your car is not Kit - verbal info has great potential. When will we have Siri able to access information about your car's operating conditions - doing away with code reader's?

[Glideslope]

Originally Posted by SimonTheSoundMa

The noise cancelling DSP Apple use are off the shelf parts. The methods and hardware Apple use are quite outdated now.

Microsoft have been to one of the biggest contributors to the industry.

Siri on these cars is just a button, and can also link in with your installed mic and loudspeakers.

What is it about Apple and the UK? Don't you need to be concentrating on keeping people alive at the Summer Olympics?

----------

Originally Posted by Swift

Ford took Microsoft, and one of their problems is that people find the interface hard to deal with. Heh heh.

In all fairness, there have been major software fixes in the past 6 months. I test drove the new 2013 Escape last weekend and found Ford's Sync System to function much better than version 1.0.

[AustinIllini]

Originally Posted by Ciclismo

What, no VW? Poos. Well, one more reason to sign up for BMW's DriveNow car sharing.

I'm sure if Audi gets it, their parent company won't be far behind.

[twoodcc]

this is nice. hopefully others follow their lead