Carolina Milanesi, writing for Tech.pinions, on buying a new vehicle with CarPlay installed:
Having CarPlay made me rediscover Maps and features like where I parked my car, the suggested travel time to home or school or the office, suggestions based on routine or calendar information — all pleasant surprises that showed me what I had been missing out. It also showed me how, by fully embracing the ecosystem, you receive greater benefits. Having the direction clearly displayed on the large car screen was better and, while there is still a little bit of uneasiness about not using Google Maps, I have now switched over. Maps on Apple Watch just completes the car experience as the device gently taps you as you need to make the turn. It is probably the best example I have seen thus far of devices working together to deliver an enhanced experience vs. one device taking over the other.
I have heard this same opinion from a number of people. I’ve long used Apple Maps combined with my Apple Watch for directions and it works well for me. But it is obvious to me that having the turn-by-turn directions on my vehicle’s built in screen would be a significant step up from my current setup.
I also find that Bluetooth is a bit finicky in certain situations. Built in CarPlay would eliminate those times when Siri can’t seem to hear me, or when turn-by-turn directions sometimes turn on my music when Siri calls out a turn.
I get the sense that CarPlay has very quietly become one of the Apple ecosystem’s shining lights. I know one thing. CarPlay has become a must-have feature in the next car I buy.
You’ll probably have to prioritize CarPlay over the car if you want it.
I just wish my car didn’t have the climate controls built into the entertainment system. There’s no way I can change out my entertainment system without loosing access to heat and ac.. :/
Tip for those that do want to change out your factory radio, and have climate controls builtin to your radio, there is an option for some vehicles called the Maestro by iDatalink. http://maestro.idatalink.com/
Just wish they had one for my car.
When I bought a car last year, I specifically looked for models with a removable stereo in order to (eventually) get a CarPlay stereo. Still waiting on something that doesn’t cost $700+ though.
Alas, Subaru does not support CarPlay! Rats!
I’ve had CarPlay in my Jeep for 2 years. Absolutely love it. I use it mostly for Music, Podcasts and Siri. Now I’m in a Jeep so Siri is not too great when going 70mph. Kinda loses stuff in translation and I’m shouting at my dashboard. Which I bet looks really weird with people passing me. Anyhow I love it and with typical car noise environments or when I’m just cruising in town it’s perfect.
I’m not so sure about that anymore; I think that by the 2018 model year (so less than a year from now), the majority of cars will support CarPlay (and probably Android Auto too). It’s not that hard to find CarPlay now; most Fords and most VWs support CarPlay now, for example. I’ve had it for about six months now and really like it – and I really like the changes to Maps in iOS 10.
But I still have annoying bugs too, especially that Maps will regularly switch from course-pointing-up to north-pointing-up mode without my input. And there are still needed improvements. I wish that CarPlay could take over the small screen between the tach and speedo as well as the big screen in the center stack; that could be the “Now Playing” screen and the center stack could run the nav screen, for example. And switching between functions takes too many button presses; since the left edge always has the Home button and the signal strength display, how about some quick access buttons there? I notice that when I’m using Maps to navigate and I switch away from it for something else, I get a Maps icon in that space; so expand that to act like the bottom row on the iPhone. And I want a numeric compass display, not just the eight cardinal directions!
Well, you could have been using TomTom navigation (insert your country) on an iPhone since the 3G (2008) for reliable directions with lots of useful information, far more than any of the native maps, although, it seems TomTom has screwed the pooch with their latest versions, so don’t bother anymore.
Built in maps navigation, while becoming adequate recently, has been at most a backup to a dedicated app, even though they wouldn’t accept voice commands.
The integration offered by the watch and apple maps is nice, but even though it’s eight years after relatively sophisticated navigators were available on the App Store, they still don’t offer any where near the amount of useful information you could have had for nearly a decade, on any car, and if Siri wasn’t so retarded and unreliable, you could have had an almost CarPlay experience since 2011, without having to wait an eternity (well 10 years) for iThingies to power your car’s infotainment in almost any car you desired.
Bought a Volvo with excellent Apple integration. It multi-tasks CarPlay meaning I can listen to the radio while getting Apple maps and Siri voice prompts. It can use the center display to show media from CarPlay. Siri is getting better but there are things I wished it could understand, like playing “Radio NPR” instead of “radio in p-r.” … even so, it’s three-taps away at most.
Last week I hired a Vauxhall Corsa (British brand of GM) to drive across England, great news for me the car had CarPlay, I plugged my iPhone in and set up a Maps navigation to my destination.
The radio station volume was loud and perfectly clear; however the Apple point to point voice was low and extremely muffled to the point of being useless.
I think this issue was with the Vauxhall integration, not Apple; however Apple need fixed it.