Good news for Apple iPhone users: CarPlay, the system that reduces distraction using your smartphone in the car, now works wirelessly on some new cars and more are on the way.
BMW’s new 5-series, and most of the automaker’s other 2017 models, now offer CarPlay’s benefits via their Wi-Fi hot spot. Until now, all vehicles that had CarPlay required the phone to be hardwired into the vehicles’ USB port.
CarPlay allows the driver to do web searches for directions, phone numbers, find gas stations, play music, send and receive text messages and use some apps hands-free. It also displays some of the phone’s features on the vehicle’s dashboard.
iPhone users have wanted the system to work wirelessly, but the phones’ Bluetooth connections didn’t have enough bandwidth for features such as real-time updating of navigation maps.
Wi-Fi hotspots provide a sturdier connection that can transfer the phones’ more data-intensive features to the same screen the BMWs use for navigation and audio.
Apple expects many more vehicles with CarPlay-friendly Wi-Fi systems to hit the road shortly.
Transferring navigation information and music to the car via Wi-Fi uses less battery power than streaming music alone via Bluetooth, according to Apple.
Apple won’t identify the next vehicles likely to offer the feature, but any Wi-Fi-equipped new model from an automaker with advanced infotainment is a likely candidate. That should include a number of vehicles from high-volume, affordable brands before the year is out.
