Apple on Thursday announced that it has expanded CarPlay availability to 5 new countries, including Russia, New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands. This brings the total amount of CarPlay countries to 25.
Folks in these countries now have the ability to use Apple's hands-free display-streaming feature with compatible vehicle models and head units, as long as they have an iPhone 5 or newer, running iOS 7.1 or later firmware.
Pandora revealed on Tuesday it has plans to launch its online music radio on Apple's CarPlay, the in-car infotainment software set to be found in several vehicles on the market.
While Pandora is a little late to the party, as CarPlay launched in 2014, it's a seemingly perfect app to fit the car software. Many users already utilize the Pandora app on their iPhone to play music through their car's speakers.
Toyota has revealed in a piece with the New York Times that it's currently not planning to offer CarPlay on any of its vehicles in the United States, going back on being one of the first partners to announce CarPlay support last year.
John Hanson, the national manager of Toyota’s advanced technology communications, told the New York Times that while it talks frequently with Apple, Toyota currently has no plans to adopt CarPlay in the United States, but didn't necessarily rule it out in the future.
The 2016 Chevrolet Volt is the first production car from General Motors that features Apple CarPlay built right into the dash, The Verge observed at Detroit's North American International Auto Show.
Chevrolet presented the new Volt on Monday, which offers greater range and a slightly sleeker look than the previous model, along with the new technology from Apple. The 2016 Volt is the second version of the hybrid vehicle, which has seen mixed reviews from automobile critics and customers alike.
Jeremy Horwitz of 9to5Mac had a chance to play with Harman's novel CarPlay solution at CES 2015 which ditches touchscreen-based interactions in favor of a steering wheel-mounted touchpad.
Harman, which designs and sells audio and infotainment equipment, says its Integrated Essentials Cockpit is noteworthy as it doesn’t render UI on an in-car display like other CarPlay systems, but rather puts it in the dashboard directly behind the steering wheel.
Such an approach could be viewed as better compared to touchscreen-based CarPlay systems for a number of reasons, yet isn't without its pitfalls.
Shortly after Kenwood went head to head with Pioneer with its own aftermarket receivers with CarPlay integration, the company responded by announcing a second-generation Networked Entertainment eXperience (NEX) in-dash receivers with CarPlay support.
Building on the features introduced in the previous NEX series (the $1400 AVIC-8000NEX, $1200 AVIC-7000NEX, $900 AVIC-6000NEX, $750 AVIC-5000NEX and $700 AVH-4000NEX), the updated receivers offer better displays, support for Bluetooth connectivity and are Sirius XM-Ready.
Kenwood is the next car accessory-maker to jump on the Apple CarPlay bandwagon, announcing at CES 2015 on Tuesday its new DDX9902S receiver.
The DDX9902S will support both CarPlay for iPhone users and Android Auto for Android Phone users - a pretty common theme we've been seeing at CES 2015. It features a touchscreen, with the ability to add a rear-view camera and maneuver safely with on-screen parking guide lines, and compatibility with factory steering wheel audio controls.
Volkswagen has finally announced it will rollout Apple's CarPlay software in its vehicles sometime in 2015, a year late to the party when it was noticeably absent from the list of initial CarPlay supporters. The European automaker made the announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show on Monday, saying CarPlay will be alongside its rivals.
Parrot has announced a rather slick car infotainment system at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Sunday, packing a 7-inch 720p "IPS Pro" touchscreen that supports Apple CarPlay.
CarPlay Activator, a tweak that we reviewed in depth a few weeks ago, is now available for download on Cydia as Ignition. The tweak, which is remarkably free of charge, is from well-respected developer Adam Bell. If you're not interested in dropping north of $500 on a CarPlay head unit with a terrible resistive touch screen, then Ignition may be the answer to your CarPlay desires.
South Korean car maker Hyundai on Thursday confirmed that its new Display Audio in-dash system featuring a color touchscreen and CarPlay compatibility will be built into select 2016 models which will debut in late-2015 before being rolled out to the manufacturer's entire car lineup.
In addition to CarPlay, Hyundai said that Display Audio will support Google's Android Auto platform out of the box as well. The company will show off Display Audio with CarPlay and Android Auto integration at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show.
I've had the privilege of going hands-on with Adam Bell's upcoming CarPlay Activator tweak for standalone iOS devices like the iPad and the iPhone. As we reported a few week's ago, Bell, known for his work in the jailbreak community with tweaks like Stride, posted a video of an in-progress CarPlay port for the iPad. The thoughts of such a release immediately got my wheels turning, as I'm sure it has for many others. Watch our full 9 minute video walkthrough for a deeper look into what makes this upcoming CarPlay tweak so promising.