Eyes free without new car?

[Rogzilla]

One of the things I really liked about the Keynote from WWDC this year was the Eyes Free thing. My iPhone sits on my dashboard and is just a little awkward to reach up to it to activate Siri to be hands free. The idea that there could be a button on my steering wheel I could tap would be great! I've wanted some way to contract the iPod functions from the steering wheel too, so this inclusion would be great!

However, so far, the Eyes Free thing seems to be something that car companies are adding to new cars. I'm curious if there are other solutions for easy Siri use (control of iPod would be nice to) for those of us who, say, recently got a new car and won't be in the market for another for years?

I'm not familiar if I can just upgrade my steering wheel with one with controls or if there is something I can just strap on to it.

Thoughts?

NOTE: I've got a bluetooth speaker phone that I'm using for Siri (along with talking) but it is still awkward to use.

 

[Ljohnson72]

Does your car have voice control? They aren't adding a "siri button" to any car, what they're doing is changing existing voice control buttons to have the ability to add Siri. So if your car has one, they might add this functionality via software update.

 

[Rogzilla]

Does your car have voice control? They aren't adding a "siri button" to any car, what they're doing is changing existing voice control buttons to have the ability to add Siri. So if your car has one, they might add this functionality via software update.

I must have really misunderstood the annoucement then. I thought Eyes Free was an onboard way to control Siri directly, not through existing voice control.


If my car doesn't, can I add it? Is it something that I can take out my current control panel and put in a new one?

 

[Ljohnson72]

I must have really misunderstood the annoucement then. I thought Eyes Free was an onboard way to control Siri directly, not through existing voice control.


If my car doesn't, can I add it? Is it something that I can take out my current control panel and put in a new one?

It controls Siri directly, but you use an existing voice control button. So an update would allow the car to recognize an iPhone with Siri, then by pressing the voice control button that's already on your steering wheel, it would activate Siri, rather than your car's built in voice control.

No idea if you can add it or not yourself.