Volkswagen To Launch CarPlay, Android Auto in Europe and US This Year

German Automaker Volkswagen is a bit late to join Apple and Android CarPlay Auto Train, but the company has announced it will offer new vehicles with support for both systems this year.

The automaker is demoing a complete fleet of its vehicles at CES this year in Las Vegas and used the event to announce his forthcoming adoption of two Android CarPlay Auto.

Support for both platforms will come with its second generation "modular platform infotainment ', nicknamed MIB II. In the US, the new infotainment system will come with MirrorLink for the first time, and that Android will also Auto CarPlay. introduction According to Volkswagen, it will launch Android Play Car and Auto simultaneously in Europe, but will not bring MirrorLink on the continent.

Volkswagen is one of the biggest brands still opted for a smartphone infotainment system improved. Despite its new commitment, it still lacks the Apple page CarPlay manufacturers supported, but does not appear on Auto Android equivalent.

The precursors on the forehead CarPlay include Ferrari, Mercedes and Volvo - if Volvo and Mercedes have delayed their deployment this year. Fellow German Automaker Audi has promised CarPlay models will arrive later this year.

For IPhone owners who are not in the market for a new vehicle, Pioneer last year released its range of systems in the dashboard for the US and European markets that support CarPlay.

Volkswagen is also showing off its concept Or A Press this week, where the unit infotainment uses cameras to detect gestures and assigns a meaning to them, in order to allow users to control display without having to touch the screen. The idea behind the technology is to reduce driver distractions.

Although it took some time for automakers to start CarPlay deployment, the list of Apple CarPlay market is still relatively small, including currently Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong , Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea and Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States.

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About Liam Tung

Liam Tung is an Australian business technology journalist living a few too many Swedish miles north of Stockholm for his liking. He gained a bachelors degree in economics and arts (cultural studies) at Sydney's Macquarie University, but hacked (without Norse or malicious code for that matter) his way into a career as an enterprise tech .