Two of the core automakers supporting Apple’s CarPlay — Volvo and Mercedes-Benz — have both confirmed that they won’t have vehicles with the technology in 2014, despite earlier promises. “As of now, we do not support CarPlay in our series production cars,” the latter party says. “We are working on a highly sophisticated head-unit based solution, which will enable CarPlay as well as other systems (e.g. MirrorLink)… we are not quite sure if we will feature an aftermarket solution. CarPlay won’t be available by the end of this year, but in 2015.”
Volvo meanwhile states that it will be offering “preparation” for CarPlay in the XC90, but that “full CarPlay functionality will be available later in 2015.”
Other companies also appear to be missing deadlines. Hyundai says it intends to offer CarPlay by the end of the year, but it started shipping 2015-model Sonatas in May that still lack support. In May, Pioneer said it planned to update its aftermarket head units within weeks, but it has since gone silent.
No reasons for the delays have been revealed, but automotive development can take some time. At this stage, companies may simply be waiting for the iOS 8 implementation of CarPlay to be released.
