Apple iOS Carplay!!!
 

https://www.apple.com/ios/carplay/

soooooo joooocy. I can't wait for these to start coming out!

https://www.apple.com/v/ios/carplay/.../dashboard.png

Looks cool and this sort of idea is definitely the future. There's just no reason to have these standalone head units when everyone's phone is more than capable of running the operating system and allowing for seamless integration with all of your settings, contacts, music, etc.

I completely fail to see how this is much better than the actual car solutions, and a tactile volume button? Nevaaaaaa!!! Actually every tactile solution in car sucks, real buttons are where it's at if you want to talk about "keeping your focus on driving".

There's a reason why I don't have much of a push right now to upgrade my head unit from the stock base '13 FR-S head unit. It's got all the buttons I would want and need. I can do whatever I need to do without looking at it.

Granted, an upgraded head unit is on my list. But even with a screen, it has physical buttons for the most used functions. Muy importante.

I have very little doubt that Apple can do this better than most of the garbage head units that come in cars right now (including the BRZ head unit). The lack of actual buttons is annoying. Out of all the native in-car units I've used, I think Lexus is one of the few I would be totally happy with.

Apple won't make the head units though. It's just going to use the car display to stream the interface from the phone, similar to how AirPlay or ChromeCast works, except you'll be able to interact with the display. So if your car's head unit has knobs, CarPlay will have knobs. Although I guess Apple could set standard, like "compatible head units must have at least one physical knob/button," but keep in mind how much Apple hates physical buttons before you get too excited about that.

Yeah I understand how it works, which leads to my point. I'm sure that using iOS as your "headunit" will be much better than the stuff that's out there now. Using the BRZ unit for anything more complicated than changing radio stations is like pulling teeth. And for a car like the BRZ, there would be no physical buttons, which I dislike, but it's still a better option than what's in there now. And I'd guess they'll have a decent amount of design input, though like you, I doubt that leads to physical buttons. But I don't think they'll be content to have this product on some garbage display.

Nice, now I won't have to retrofit an ipad in the dash

I wonder how long before they try to sue pioneer for making touchscreen headunits.

Seems like a great idea. Too bad I'm probably going to switch to the New HTC One...

I wouldn't trust Apple's Maps lol

Yup. It's basically going to be mirrorlink for iOS, and I bet will even use mirrorlink protocols adapted for iOS as well.

That means it's going to be slow as hell, too. It'll not be a big headache to connect, but if it's going to work like I think it will, with a simple usb-to-lightning connector, then it's going to be mirrorlink-like.

It'll work in basic form, and give you basic, apple-approved app use. You won't get to choose what apps to run. Apple will TELL you what apps you CAN run, if any.

You're better off getting one of the new Pioneer NEX units.

I think this is a terrible idea. These synthesized voices simply do NOT do human speech well enough to properly read to you a text message. Normal human grammatical errors or laziness in texting in particular leads to computerized confusion, often leading to the driver saying "Wth? I didn't understand a single word!"

This happened to me in my brz once. And when I called up the text on my phone after I'd pulled over, I looked at the text and it wasn't even lazily typed. The voice synth was simply just that bad at pronouncing it, despite the voice being about as nice as Siri's.

Yeah, no thanks. I'd have been less distracted if the text had popped up prominently onto the headunit screen AS text. It'd have taken less time for me to read it at a glance than I spent trying to decipher the garble that text-2-speech on the HU had made of it.

Also notice that neither Toyota, Subaru, OR Toyota subsidiaries Scion or Lexus are mentioned as being platforms for Apple's Carplay. Apple isn't selling this to automobile owners, but to automobile manufacturers as OEM or OEM option equipment, and it looks like our vehicle's parents are excluded from the list at least for now.

Does look like I was wrong about slowness of response, if Apple is using the airplay protocol as the basis for the carplay interaction. Airplay actually is fairly responsive, unlike mirrorlink.