Apple has announced their next level of car infotainment system and Subaru is on the "coming soon" list.
Apple - CarPlay
Apple - Press Info - Apple Rolls Out CarPlay Giving Drivers a Smarter, Safer & More Fun Way to Use iPhone in the Car
I doubt it is something I would hold off my expected purchase of a 2015 Forester and wait for the 2016s or not... But it does look very handy since I rely on the IOS ecosystem for audio books, directions, texting and music in my vehicles anyways.
It looks like it's a special version of their "Airplay" screen/audio sharing technology that is formatted for a car display and has a controller feature that allows the car's audio controls (and touch screen if available) to interact with the device.
As such it will likely be a layer on top of the audio/nav system's interface. I would expect that it will not keep manufactures from supporting other technologies or be that difficult to implement. If the system has it's own Nav system I would hope the user would have an option to use the built in or Airplay.
Whether or not existing systems can be updated to support it or not (if the manufacturers would even bother) is another question.. I suspect that this would be rare.
If you hear any rumors of when/how Subaru might implement this, please share! :rock:

Apple - CarPlay
Apple - Press Info - Apple Rolls Out CarPlay Giving Drivers a Smarter, Safer & More Fun Way to Use iPhone in the Car
I doubt it is something I would hold off my expected purchase of a 2015 Forester and wait for the 2016s or not... But it does look very handy since I rely on the IOS ecosystem for audio books, directions, texting and music in my vehicles anyways.
It looks like it's a special version of their "Airplay" screen/audio sharing technology that is formatted for a car display and has a controller feature that allows the car's audio controls (and touch screen if available) to interact with the device.
As such it will likely be a layer on top of the audio/nav system's interface. I would expect that it will not keep manufactures from supporting other technologies or be that difficult to implement. If the system has it's own Nav system I would hope the user would have an option to use the built in or Airplay.
Whether or not existing systems can be updated to support it or not (if the manufacturers would even bother) is another question.. I suspect that this would be rare.
If you hear any rumors of when/how Subaru might implement this, please share! :rock: