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Apple Looking to Boost In-Car Integration of Maps and Siri in iOS 7

This is just ugly.
No tasteful person wants to see a 500 bucks phone sitting in the middle of a 50 000+ dollars car !
Morevoer the option for GPS and Media Device is over 5000$ in this car, don't need a cheap gizmodo to improve it !
 
Last edited:
ArtOfWarfare said:
Who's vantage point is that picture taken from? It looks like the guy has a second head on his right shoulder and that's whose perspective we're looking from, rather than anyone in the back or the driver's perspective.
Click to expand...

The vantage point of someone with arms and a camera.
 
I like the idea of course, but... car companies would rather sell you a $2500 1990s-style GPS than let you mount the phone you already own. (A problem I remedied quickly with a steering-column mount for my iPhone and a USB cord.)
 
Nimrad said:
I would definitely trust apples apps vs BMWs own maps. Most car maps are waay worse if you haven't noticed.
Click to expand...

My car (Mercedes) uses Navteq maps. There are plenty of Navteq vs Teleatlas comparisons out there and generally, Navteq wins. Apple maps uses Teleatlas which was purchased by TomTom.
 
BMW's telematics is horrible... always has been. It typically lags 4 years behind current technology and voice control is a joke. A big unfunny frustrating joke kind of like an Andrew Dice Clay or Howie Mandel show.

But I'm not sure Siri or Maps (it's current iteration) will be an improvement. Tough one. But BMW using Apple is a step in the better direction.
 
Fishticks said:
This is just ugly.
No tasteful person wants to see a 500 bucks phone sitting in the middle of a 50 000+ dollars car !
Morevoer the option for GPS and Media Device is over 5000$ in this car, don't need a cheap gizmodo to improve it !
Click to expand...

Totally disagree. Modern smartphones are way more advanced than on-board car nav and sync systems. And far cheaper. I hope this kind of integration replaces on-board systems.
 
The photo is more likely a mockup than a real-world implementation.

Do you people not have brains?
 
ziggyonice said:
I think car integration is very overrated.

The fact of the matter is that not everyone can afford a new car to use these features. I'm still driving a 1999 POS. Not because I want to but because a new car is completely out of my budget for any time remotely in the future.

And these features will only exist on NEW vehicles. It's not like they can go back and add them to used cars, which is what a lot (if not most) Americans buy.

That being said, I'm afraid most people wouldn't get to use these features until these new vehicles are on the used market. And even then, the question would be if people could even afford the cars that are getting this integration.
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So, because you won't get to take advantage of this, they shouldn't do it? Clearly someone has to be the person that buys the new car before you and many other people can buy it used. I don't see why it is a bad idea to design features for those people. In fact, I would wager that iPhone 5 is the phone of choice for the vast majority of people who buy cars new.
 
LimeiBook86 said:
I have a 2006 Toyota with Bluetooth, it would be nice if there was some functionality (or even a hack) that would convert the phone pickup or phone hangup buttons to activate Siri.
Click to expand...

My 2011 Nissan has the same issue - the phone button on the steering wheel simply activates a menu on the in-dash display, rather than activating Siri. I've read that certain other cars (I believe a Prius was mentioned) will activate Siri if you hold down the steering wheel button. Sadly, mine still doesn't. :(

Tiger8 said:
My car came with Bluetooth phone and audio integration, and I think that's sufficent for most of the functionality of fancy 'eye free' cars.
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Agreed. It doesn't make any sense to me why this "eyes free" mode requires any integration with the vehicle. When I hold down the home button, Siri automatically utilizes the bluetooth audio system in my car. Works fine (though the steering wheel button as mentioned above would be better).

One of my biggest gripes with Siri in general is the fact that it often displays answers on screen without reading them back to you aloud. Totally defeats the purpose of any "eyes-free" mode while driving. Example: I say "where's my wife" and Siri uses Find My Friends to locate her, displaying a map on the screen. FMF already knows the address and/or place name, so just read that aloud to me! :mad: Again, correcting this deficiency requires no integration with the car.

The other issue is that there's no way to unlock the phone via voice. If I'm alone in the car, I should be able to choose to use an "insecure" method of unlocking by speaking a passphrase aloud. Having Siri refuse to read new messages because the phone is locked while I'm hurtling down the highway defeats the purpose of eyes (and hands) free.


On the other hand, mirroring the phone display on the car's in-dash display would be awesome. Hopefully Apple can work out an open standard to do this so that any car manufacturer can add the capability without having to collaborate directly with Apple. Otherwise we'll only see it on a few select models.
 
I think Apple will make a big deal of this, but I doubt it will go anywhere. Car manufactures LOVE nav systems. They get to take a system that anyone could buy standalone at Best Buy for $100, throw it inside a car and then charge $1000 or more. And they install it in such a way that only the dealer can actually update the maps, giving them a chance to charge another $300-$500 a few years down the road (when lifetime updates are usually included with that GPS from Best Buy). Does Apple really think they're going to convince any manufacturer to give up that kind of money so the consumer can essentially BYON (Bring Your Own Nav)?
 
They need to work on Car integration...

I get a lot of use from my iPhone integrating with my in Car audio.

I think its funny how sometimes (rarely and not so much with the lightning connector) you see a message.
"This accessory is not compatible with your iPhone".

You just need to unplug and plug in again.

I know its a generic message but it makes you laugh how egocentric the iPhone programmers were. This car that costs $ x 1000s is an Accessory?!...:)
 
Stella said:
Its about being taken to the wrong destination.. which, the chances are much higher in Apple Maps than other mapping solutions - and I'm not just talking about Google Maps either.
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So the price of the car doesn't matter. Thanks for clearing up your silly comment.
 
snebes said:
I think they mean 2013-14 cars. I have a 2012 Accord--see what comes standard in the 2013 (but not navigation and all bells/whistles).

http://automobiles.honda.com/accord-sedan/i-mid.aspx and it will get Siri soon.

Keep in mind, on a 2012 Accord, I would have needed the highest trim with 6 cd changer and, I believe, navigation just to get BLUETOOTH connectivity.
Click to expand...

Also, unless this has changed, all 2014 cars must have a backup camera in the US.
 
Fishticks said:
This is just ugly.
No tasteful person wants to see a 500 bucks phone sitting in the middle of a 50 000+ dollars car !
Morevoer the option for GPS and Media Device is over 5000$ in this car, don't need a cheap gizmodo to improve it !
Click to expand...

You know and understand what a mockup is?
 
Fishticks said:
This is just ugly.
No tasteful person wants to see a 500 bucks phone sitting in the middle of a 50 000+ dollars car !
Morevoer the option for GPS and Media Device is over 5000$ in this car, don't need a cheap gizmodo to improve it !
Click to expand...

Seriously? All you got out of this story is that this (looks photoshopped) picture has a phone put in the wrong place in the car?
 
I like the idea in general. We've bought a Ford 2012 Explorer and have a Ford Sync MyTouch system, which is quite ok (the audio player section is pretty poor though, not sure what Microsoft were thinking there...), but given the fact that the smartphones and tablets are just as capable of doing many of the systems tasks, why not use them for it, if they can be integrated in a smart way.
 
I would welcome this. The more iOS takes over my car's entertainment/navigation features, the better.
 
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