2017 BMW 5 Series Will Be the First Vehicle to Support Apple’s CarPlay Wirelessly
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Apple’s CarPlay infrastructure is, in its current form, an almost universally standard feature — or at least an available upgrade option — on most new cars, and is ideal for those looking to connect their iPhone to their car’s existing Audio/Video interface with ease. Millions of satisfied people already use CarPlay, and automobile manufacturers have been increasingly warming up to the platform, left and right..
But there is one thing holding Apple’s iPhone-connected infotainment system back, in my honest opinion, and that would be the fact that in order to use the feature, your iPhone has to be physically plugged into an in-cabin Lightning cable. Now, I don’t know about you guys, but to me, that sounds awfully inconveniencing to have to be bolted down like that, doesn’t it?
Especially in light of how far along technology has come in recent years, though, doesn’t it only seem reasonable that Apple would have provided some sort of wireless option for connecting your iPhone to CarPlay by now? Well, actually, the Cupertino-company has done that already.. Volkswagen, one of BMW’s primary home-field competitors, was the very first car manufacturer to have shown off a wireless CarPlay infrastructure earlier this year at CES 2016 in Las Vegas.
Not to VW’s demise – which is more likely to happen due to other issues – the Beetle-maker’s primarily German rival, BMW, just announced that it will be releasing an all-new 2017 5 Series sedan very soon, which will be the first official automobile to feature support for Apple’s CarPlay infrastructure wirelessly.
“CarPlay is available in the BMW 5 Series Sedan too. Integrating the smartphone into the vehicle’s system environment allows the phone, together with any apps that are on it, to be operated via the screen in the car by means of the iDrive Controller or touch control. BMW is the first carmaker to integrate Apple CarPlay without any cables at all.”
This is obviously a pretty big deal for BMW — albeit far from the first major move the German automaker has made in its CarPlay endeavors. Sure, it’s almost guaranteed that wireless CarPlay will sooner or later become mainstream thing; but for now, I’m sure BMW will just keep on enjoying its moment of glory.
Will you be adding a 2017 BMW 5 Series to your Christmas list this year?
Let us know in the comments!