Audi to offer Apple and Android smartphone integration from 2015

By Adam Binnie

Motor Industry

07 July 2014 11:48

Audi drivers will soon be able to use smartphone functions in their cars, as the company becomes the latest to adopt new integration technology from Android and Apple.

Google’s Android Auto and Apple’s CarPlay software platforms will be available from 2015, in what Audi describes as a ‘milestone in smartphone integration’.

The system will eventually allow Audi drivers to connect their smartphone to the car’s Multi Media Interface to make calls, send and receive messages, as well as getting directions and playing music.

Ulrich Hackenberg, Audi’s board member in charge of technical development, said user friendliness and low distraction were important considerations, and that data security would also play ‘a vital role’.

He added: ‘Our customers want to be “always on” and use the services they know from their smartphones in cars as well.’

Audi is the latest manufacturer to promise its customers the Apple platform, having already signed up to Google’s system in early 2014.

Other brands using the Apple CarPlay platform include Ferrari, Volvo, BMW and Ford.

Audi is developing the CarPlay system at its development lab in Silicon Valley, near Apple’s HQ.

Audi said it was investing €22 billion in new products and sustainable technologies between now and 2018.

By Adam Binnie