German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen is in talks with Apple on bringing CarPlay to its 2016 lineup, according to a new report. This is an important development as Volkswagen, itself notably absent in Apple’s press release announcing CarPlay, files as the biggest German automaker and the second largest automaker in the world.
According to a source with knowledge of the discussions, a formal announcement is expected in the coming months…
Mark Gurman, writing for 9to5Mac:
Specifics on which models will receive CarPlay are currently unavailable, except sources say that Volkswagen is targeting CarPlay for 2016 models, not 2015 versions.
As for earlier VW models, CarPlay can be added via aftermarket solutions from Pioneer and Alpine, now officially endorsed by Apple.
It’s surprising that Volkswagen is a notable holdout from announcing CarPlay integration – after all, the German company did act as an important partner back when Apple took it upon itself to embed iPod integration into cars.
Gurman added that an upcoming CarPlay update for a future version of iOS will allow the system to connect to cars wirelessly instead of over the Lightning cable.
CarPlay requires an iPhone 5/5s/5c with iOS 7.1 or later.