Voice Command Audio Coming To The Dashboard

Playing deejay with voice commands will get easier for more Americans this fall as some best-selling cars get updated with software that integrates smartphones into the dashboard.

The NY Post reports with the 2016 model year, Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto will turn cars as affordable as a base model Chevy Spark into rolling robotic assistants that give directions to nearby restaurants or play the latest hits with commands as simple as “Play Ellie Goulding.”

2016 Chevy Spark

Consumers increasingly want to use their smartphones while driving — without running afoul of the law. For the last few years, drivers of most new cars have been able to speak to their phones and have audio stream through a car’s speakers using the nearly ubiquitous Bluetooth wireless standard.

However, doing so can require fiddling with the phone, like holding down the home button first.

Both CarPlay and Android Auto allow voice commands to be turned on with a touch of a steering wheel button. Phones need to be plugged into the USB port, where the phone is kept charging and powering the in-car entertainment. You can access maps, voicemail, phone contacts and music apps using a touchscreen embedded in the dashboard — no need to grab your phone.

2016 Chevy Cruze

One wrinkle is that Apple reserves voice commands for its proprietary apps — phone, maps, texts and Apple Music. That means the magical ability for iPhone users to ask the digital voice assistant

Siri complicated tasks such as “Play the top song from 2011” will only work if you’re paying $10 a month for Apple Music.

The less restrictive Android Auto will allow you to use apps like Spotify as long as you specifically tell it to “Play Aerosmith on Spotify,” or set Spotify as the default music app. A Spotify subscription also costs $10 a month.

IHS analyst Colin Bird predicts that automakers in the US and Canada will sell a modest 497,000 cars with CarPlay, Android Auto or both this year. The number should jump to 5 million in 2018 and nearly 10 million in 2020.

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