Comment by dylan604
3 years ago
I've purchased a few Toyota models, with the first having the connect service being a 2014 model. The sales rep asked for my phone so they could download the app that works with their system. The manner in which it was asked was interesting to me in that they clearly had not had someone so much as flinch as to giving them their unlocked phone and access to an app store. Maybe I was the first person not a grandparent they had worked with, but they obviously were not handed my unlocked phone. Since it was my first car with a connected system, I tried it out but was very unhappy with it. Their GPS required you to use your phone to enter a location and provide GPS. The in car system was basically just a screen for the services your device provided. The next time I purchased a car, I never even connected a phone to it.
That sounds perfect. How could a car system be better than just be a screen and interface for the functionality your phone provides? It's literally the dream.
If it's a particularly cheap car I wouldn't even mind if it doesn't have a screen or interface, and just supplies an API to the phone and a holder for it.
Either way would be a million times better than any car made between 2005 and 2015 has to offer.
> How could a car system be better than just be a screen and interface for the functionality your phone provides? It's literally the dream.
This is how Apple Carplay works. It just streams the phone to the display, and accepts input from the car's buttons. I think Android Auto does the same.
The caveat being that it requires the use of their app to run the system. Using an app is exactly the thing that gives them access to so much personal data.