Though CarPlay was originally introduced at WWDC 2013, Apple’s iOS based infotainment system hasn’t exactly taken the world by storm. This is partially due to the fact that the auto industry tends to move at a snail’s pace relative to the tech industry. Compounding matters is the fact that some companies aren’t exactly sold on CarPlay in the first place.
The most recent example is Toyota. Despite being touted as an Apple CarPlay partner from day one, The New York Times reports that the Japanese-based automaker won’t be adding CarPlay to its fleet cars anytime soon. Instead, Toyota will opt for an infotainment system it developed in-house.
John Hanson, the national manager of Toyota’s advanced technology communications, said while the company talked frequently with both Google and Apple, it currently had no plans to adopt Android Auto or CarPlay in the United States.
“We may all eventually wind up there, but right now we prefer to use our in-house proprietary platforms for those kinds of functions,” Mr. Hanson said.
In the interim, Apple and Google continue to duke it out for control of the dashboard. Looking ahead, it stands to reason that most automakers would be well advised to offer support for both CarPlay and Android Auto. After all, it seems more than a little shortsighted for carmakers to completely neglect an entire demographic of smartphone user. To its credit, Ford seemingly gets this as the Detroit-based automaker reportedly has plans to support infotainment systems from both Apple and Google by the end of 2016.
