Toyota Finally Adopts Apple CarPlay

Apple’s CarPlay platform has been adopted by many major car manufacturers but one of the largest car makers on the planet held out for as long as it could before finally adopting the platform. Toyota has confirmed today that its 2019 Avalon and several other 2019 model year vehicles will come with Apple CarPlay as standard. The 2019 Toyota Avalon is the first car from the Japanese auto giant to feature CarPlay.

Toyota said back in 2012 that it would stick with proprietary platforms for its cars even though both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto were becoming the platforms of choice for many car manufacturers.

Toyota will start shipping the 2019 Avalon in spring this year and customers will get CarPlay as standard on all trims. The CarPlay interface will be displayed on a 9 inch touchscreen. Android Auto is normally found on cars alongside its rival but Toyota’s press release makes no mention of Google’s platform.

It does mention that the Avalon will feature Toyota’s first integration of smartwatch or Amazon Alexa-enabled device connectivity. This will enable drivers to lock/unlock doors, start the engine, and check the fuel level using a smartwatch or an Alexa-enabled device.

Toyota hasn’t detailed which of its other 2019 model year cars will receive CarPlay but now that it has embraced it, Toyota fans can rest assured that it will trickle down to other models as well.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: General
Tags: carplay, toyota