Apple CarPlay — Blog

Toasty hands

The best feeling in the world during these cold winter months is a heated steering wheel in the car. I think toasty hands are more important than a toasty bum (read: heated seats). Funny enough, my previous Subaru came equipped with the cold weather package, but it didn’t have a heated steering wheel! I guess they expect users to wear gloves.

What are some car features that you absolutely cannot live with? I reckon Apple CarPlay (or the yucky Android Auto equivalent) has got to be number one on the wishlist. Though it seems that feature has already reached critical mass. Ferrari has stopped implementing factory navigation software because most customers connect their phones. Smart: why waste software engineering hours on a feature customers don’t use?

Only General Motors is dumb enough to drop CarPlay support (in their EV lineup). GM wants to be Tesla - own the entire software stack, but does it have the requisite engineering talent to execute? (It’s going so well over at Volkswagen.) I can excuse Tesla cars not having CarPlay support because the built-in software is amazingly intuitive and effective.

As much as I love the heated steering wheel feature in my M2, it’s not something I steadfastly look for in a car. My needs are what most cars come as standard: keyless entry, automatic climate-control, and Apple CarPlay. Any features above that are merely nice-to-haves. That means if I weren’t a car enthusiasts, I’d be just fine driving a bog-standard Toyota Corolla from new until it stops running.

I’d be far richer today, too. Expensive hobbies are expensive.

Apple CarPlay is a must-have

As a proper enthusiast of on the car variety, a vehicle’s infotainment is near the bottom of my concerns. How much power a car has got and how it handles into a corner is the primary interest. It’s the oily bits that counts; a car could have the crappiest stereo system in the world and I wouldn’t have cared less. Who needs amazing music when the song from the engine is ever so melodious.

That was then; as I’ve grown older I’ve come to appreciate a nicely done car stereo. When leasing the Hyundai Tucson for my family a few months ago I elected to get the trim with the upgraded stereo, and every time I’m in the car I marvel at how awesome the sound is. Of course, an SUV isn’t the type of car to offer any driving enjoyment, therefore the quality of the interior is further up on the importance scale. Nevertheless I got spoiled; in my next car(s) I definitely will tick the better sound system option.

Along with that there’s one killer app that is an absolute must-have: Apple CarPlay. I’ve been an iPhone user since the 4 came out on Verizon, and having used CarPlay in various cars of not my owning, it’s simply amazing. CarPlay the most easiest and best possible way to integrate the data from an iPhone to car: music, maps, contacts; all it takes is a singular USB cable. Honestly all automakers have to do is provide a quality touchscreen screen in an appropriate size.

And they have: thanks to Tesla outfitting the Model S with a 17-inch display on center console to control just about everything, established manufacturers have hurried to copy. The latest Audi cars is almost entirely screen: the instrument cluster is a screen, the infotainment is a screen, and the climate controls are on a screen. Thanks to Tesla, physical buttons appears to be a thing of the past in new luxury cars. Even most mainstream cars have at least a 7-inch touch display at the center.

What automakers haven’t been so good at is actually offering Apply CarPlay, and I’m primarily talking to you, Toyota and Mazda. (And somewhat you too, BMW: charging a subscription to use CarPlay? Get the F out of here.) I would be bombing the backwoods in a Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro for years now had Toyota simply implemented CarPlay in the venerable SUV. It’s only this year that Toyota and Mazda have started implementing the function in their respective new cars.

A word to automakers: I’m not buying a car from you if it hasn’t got Apply CarPlay ability. Full stop.