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Apple at the wheel: excerpt from the CarPlay presentation
Photo: Apple
Apple is making inroads into the automotive industry with its Car Play software.
The manufacturer announced on Monday at the start of its WWDC developer conference that for the first time information about speed, direction of travel and fuel level could be given from the iPhone to the instrument display.
Thanks to deeper integration in the vehicle, the air conditioning or the radio can now also be controlled via the Apple application.
Apple presented the logos of several car brands as participants in the project, including Mercedes, Audi, Porsche, Ford, Renault, Nissan and Volvo.
How exactly the cooperation should look like will be announced at the end of next year.
The US group did not initially give any further details.
The first vehicles that use it should be presented at the end of next year, it said.
Google has been working for years to offer manufacturers an Android version for vehicle functions in addition to its CarPlay competitor Android Auto.
Tech giants like Apple, Google, and Amazon have long been looking for a way to play a bigger role in cars and access the myriad of data in connected vehicles.
So far, however, the car manufacturers have been reluctant and prefer to rely on their own developments.
CarPlay is already available in almost all new car models.
So far, however, the software has been limited to bringing content such as music or podcasts from an iPhone to the infotainment screen.
According to the preview, the upcoming version should also be able to operate the entire instrument cluster, for example with the speed display.
Information from the smartphone, such as the weather, could also be displayed there.
While moving from one screen to another may seem like a small step for Apple, it's a giant leap in the technological and business relationship between the iPhone maker and the world's automakers.
For the first time, iPhones based on the new model communicate directly with the vehicle's control unit - a decisive step in order to be able to offer functions for autonomous driving in the future.
Engineer Emily Schubert of Apple's car project said at the WWDC developer conference, "your iPhone communicates in a privacy-friendly manner, on-device, with your vehicle's real-time systems and displays all of your driving information."
Cars have changed a lot, with bigger screens and more of them spread across the vehicle, Schubert explained.
"There is an opportunity for the iPhone to play an even bigger role." According to the new concept, the displays should offer a uniform user interface that fits the experience with Apple products.
According to Apple, the manufacturers are "enthusiastic" about the concept.
Some representatives of the brands whose logos appeared in the Apple presentation expressed reservations: They are probably interested in the new CarPlay, but have not yet decided on its use in future models.
"We are working with Apple on this development project," said a Porsche spokesman.
For years there has been speculation about the extent to which Apple could compete with car manufacturers with its Apple Car project.
According to the Reuters news agency, Apple's own electric car with self-driving functions could come onto the market as early as 2024 or 2025.
Linking the software to the instruments in the cockpit could give Apple access to the vehicle data it needs to market its autonomous technology.
The car companies are suspicious of Apple and other tech giants.
They want to bring in high profits themselves, which they expect from the software business - and fear the fate of traditional mobile phone manufacturers such as Motorola and Nokia or the music industry.
"It's definitely a danger," said Silicon Valley venture capitalist Evangelos Simoudis.
"With the transition to software-defined vehicles, automakers perceive a significant risk of losing any ability to interact with users."
In China, younger buyers are already turning away from the established brands, also because their connection to the smartphone does not work as seamlessly as with Tesla or the offers of Chinese electric car start-ups.
Consumer complaints about the quality of entertainment systems were also increasing in other parts of the world.
New models not before the end of 2023
Major manufacturers have already announced giant touchscreens for the next generation of new cars.
Mercedes-Benz, for example, offers the EQS electric sedan with a 141-centimetre-wide "hyperscreen" equipped with functions such as an "Eco Assistant" that calculates the most economical route.
Now the competition is about who develops the software behind such displays, who controls the data between the vehicle and the user, and who collects the future proceeds.
The car manufacturers have an advantage over the electronics companies: they already control the control systems, which have to comply with state safety regulations and significantly stricter durability tests than in the smartphone industry.
There are first signs that car and tech companies are coming to an agreement.
Google has struck deals with General Motors, Volvo, and the Renault-Nissan Alliance for its next-generation automotive software.
Amazon has agreed with some manufacturers to integrate its voice assistant Alexa into their vehicles.
With the new CarPlay version, Apple dares to get closer to the car hardware – but also gives the manufacturers time to react to the announcement.
Cars with the software now presented would not be presented before the end of next year, Apple said.
So the final product in a Ford should also look different than in a Ferrari.
ak/Reuters/dpa
