When you think of Apple’s CarPlay, there’s a good chance you’re thinking about those infotainment units found on the dashboards of cars, but hey, why should car owners have all the fun, right? The good news for our readers who love riding their motorcycles is that it looks like CarPlay will be arriving on bikes, with the first model being the 2018 Honda Gold Wing.In a report from CNET’s Road Show, “Yes, the (now inaccurately named) feature is available for the first time on two wheels courtesy of the 7-inch LCD in the center of the new Gold Wing’s dashboard. Connect your phone via USB (either in the trunk or the storage cubby in the tank), then pair your Bluetooth headset to the bike and the familiar CarPlay interface shows up right there on the dash.”
Users will have to pair a Bluetooth headset which is apparently a rule set by Apple. There will be a four-way controller on the left grip of the bike and a rotary controller on the tank of the bike, so how you want to access or control the system will be entirely up to you. As for Android users wondering about Android Auto, CNET reports that the decision to go with CarPlay was due to Google focusing on cars for now, not so much an unwillingness on Honda’s part, although if this does take off successfully you can be sure that Google will want to look into this next.
For those who are interested in a new bike that supports CarPlay, the 2018 Honda Gold Wing will be made available come February 2018 where it will be priced starting at $23,500.