Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto are the two hottest options right now for car infotainment systems, but if you’re hoping that Ford will give you a pure CarPlay experience in one of their upcoming vehicles, you might as well keep on waiting for the mythical Apple Car.
Ford currently supports both CarPlay and Android in a limited capacity, but for now its CEO says the company will only allow the two systems to serve as secondary interfaces to its primary navigation system, SYNC.
The first vehicles to support Apple’s CarPlay infotainment system are just starting to roll off the assembly lines, but within five years CarPlay could be the most popular car platform in the world, with over 24 million cars sporting Cupertino’s dashboard system.
Despite being in its infancy, a host of auto manufacturers from Audio to Volvo are partnering with Apple on CarPLay, and ABI Research estimates that more vehicles will use CarPlay by 2019 than MirrorLink, the #1 open source solution that integrates popular smartphone apps with your vehicle’s dashboard.
The competition between iOS and Android is coming to your car. The recently announced Android Auto is Google’s answer to Apple’s CarPlay, and the two platforms offer similar features, with each promising to seamlessly connect smartphones to automobiles’ in-dash monitors.
As you might expect, though, there are some key differences between CarPlay and Android Auto beyond the type of phones with which they work. In today’s video, we take a look at the many features of the competing platforms, as well as the automakers who are partnering with Apple and Google, to help you decide which will be the best fit for you.
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Following Google’s announcement of Android Auto, Apple has added nine more car makers that will support CarPlay in future models of their vehicles.