Apple, better known for products like the iPhone and iPad, has made its first inroads into the auto sector. It is going to add a new button to your steering wheel - if you're going to purchase a car from the nine automakers it has tied up with, that is. The button is called 'Eyes Free' and it will activate Siri on the iPhone or iPad linked to the car (you weren't really expecting them to sell just ONE device to you, were you?) and you can then use Siri as you normally would while driving.
Among the manufacturers that will have Siri onboard within the next twelve months are BMW, General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover, Jaguar, Audi, Toyota, Chrysler and Honda. No surprises there, except for GM - it offers a subscription-based service called 'OnStar' which is quite similar to what Apple is promising. The glaring omission is, of course, the Blue Oval and Fiat, both of which use Microsoft-based applications for their voice-activated systems.
In another Apple move, the company has done away with its links to Google maps, instead releasing its own maps with spoken turn-by-turn navigation, real-time ETA, real-time traffic information, smooth-scrolling 3D imaging and Siri integration. The traffic information is apparently crowdsourced anonymously from users, which raises the question of privacy. But if it helps save time on the commute, we doubt people will be complaining too much.
