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Ferrari first to hit the road with Apple CarPlay
The Ferrari FF has become the first car with integrated CarPlay to hit the road. – AFP/Relaxnews pic, September 10, 2014.The Italian supercar maker has won the race to bring Apple's new iPhone-supporting infotainment system to consumers as the first deliveries of the FF begin.
Apple's CarPlay system, designed to make smartphone use safe, intuitive and distraction-free while behind the wheel, will eventually be coming to the dashboards of Hondas, Volvos, Mercedes and Jaguars among others, but, for now at least, Ferrari drivers will have one more reason to feel superior.
CarPlay was officially unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March where Volvo, Mercedes and Ferrari all demonstrated working versions of the system in their soon-to-be-released cars.
As well as enabling hands-free calling, messaging and web searches, CarPlay gives users access to their iPhone's music library, to turn-by-turn navigation via Apple maps and to a small number of third party apps that have met Apple's strict in-car safety criteria.
Following the official unveiling, a host of other manufacturers, including Hyundai, Alfa Romeo, BMW, Citroen, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mazda and Toyota, plus aftermarkets system makers Pioneer and Alpine all also announced that they'll be supporting the technology.
However, many of those initial carmakers have had to adjust timetables as they experience problems integrating CarPlay into their infotainment systems – Mercedes and Volvo have said that although they were aiming for 2014, the technology won't reach drivers until 2015.
Ferrari appears to have had no such problem integrating CarPlay into the FF, its four-seat family GT car. The very first model to sport the feature was delivered to its Italian owner this week with more deliveries scheduled to UK, German French, Japanese and US clients in the coming days.
The system will also be available on the new California T convertible which, like CarPlay, was revealed for the first time in Geneva. – AFP/Relaxnews, September 10, 2014.
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