Apple introduces CarPlay. Will this drive change in your travelling lifestyle?

WILL Apple redefine driving the same way they did phones? We check out CarPlay, Apple’s way of bringing convenience into the cabin.

A 1965 Mustang looks good anywhere but when you place it at Apple’s biggest even of the year then the vintage sports car also looks out of place.

But its when you sit in the front seat of the nearly 40-year-old car that you start to understand Apple’s vision of how they want to do to driving what they did to smartphones.

While the presentation today at the Worldwide Development Conference was all about the features of the upcoming iOS8, mobile operating system, and OS X Yosemite, the desktop operating system, the demo of Apple’s next big thing was on a different track.

It’s called CarPlay, and it’s Apple’s way of bringing the convenience and smarts of the iPhone into a car dashboard — any car dashboard.

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While there was a Lamborghini also in the foyer of the Moscone West conference centre, which is hosting the WWDC event this week, the nearly 50-year-old car shows an important point: when it comes to smart cars, the best way to stay smart is not to update the car but update the computing device.

Pioneer announced recently that it would bring aftermarket in-dash CarPlay systems to Australia to launch in “early winter” — which means soon.

You can read the blurb about how it works, but nothing gets the message across like a demo.

Luxury model ... Apple’s CarPlay system on display in a Ferrari at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.

I sat in the car fitted with a Pioneer screen, I plugged my iPhone into the port in the glove box and that was it. I didn’t have to hit a button to pair my phone with the car. This is true plug and play.

Instead of the standard Pioneer screen, the display changes to iOS apps. Specifically, they are my iOS apps.

The music that comes through the sound system is the music I was last playing on my iPhone.

When I tap on maps I see in the drop down menu the last locations I searched for on my phone.

If I hit on messages or phone, it shows my last messages and phone calls. If I tap on podcasts, I see the podcasts I was listening to.

Obviously I don’t want to be having to touch a screen to navigate the modified iOS display. That’s where Siri comes in.

I hit Maps, hit the microphone button and, when prompted, say “find nearby sushi”. The results come back as a list of options — choose one and Siri starts off on turn by turn navigation.

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The beauty of the system is that the screen is a display but the apps come from your phone.

I drive a 10-year-old car and I’m happy enough with that. If I was to use a 10-year-old phone, my feelings would not be one of happiness.

Crappy. Unloved. Angry with the world. Any of those would sum up my life with a 10-year-old phone.

With CarPlay, when you update your phone, you get a new car system.

Typically, we upgrade our phones every two years, and update the software on the phone more frequently than that.

TITLE: NND MultiPromo Smart Homes Interactive

Smarthomes have undergone a revolution in the past few years as cheap off-the-shelf products let you control devices around the home using an app in a way you would have needed a built from the ground up bespoke system in the past.

CarPlay has the potential to do the same thing to cars. Sure, it’s not a smart system that’s part of the car but its more versatile because of that.

A 1965 Mustang is a very sexy thing to sit in, although when you do you’re better off to bring your own smarts.

Plug’n’play. Attendees gather at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, California.

Rod Chester flew to San Francisco as a guest of Apple.