Car radio makers are scrambling for appointments with Apple to determine if CarPlay will become available for the aftermarket. And the several suppliers we talked to say Apple hasn’t offered any hints.
Mercedes-Benz will offer its own “aftermarket” solution for its own vehicles it said, making CarPlay available to earlier model Mercedes by the end of the year, Mercedes confirmed in an email after it was first reported 9to5Mac.
But when it comes to true aftermarket product, suppliers say Apple could go either way.
A consensus is the earliest we might see a CarPlay aftermarket radio would be mid-2015. The reasoning is that Apple might authorize aftermarket use when it launches the next iPhone in 3 to 6 months and then it would take 6 to 9 months to manufacture the radios.
CarPlay interface devices that let you add the feature to an older radio might be available as early as Q1 2015, suppliers said.
Even if Apple does agree to aftermarket use, sometimes it offers the privilege to select authorized partners first.
As for Mercedes-Benz, one leading interface company said Mercedes would likely offer a kit that would bring CarPlay to 2013 models in the $600 to $800 range but it would be very costly to retrofit earlier vehicles as it would require a new Bluetooth module and other new components in order to satisfy Apple CarPlay specifications.
Mercedes’ parent Daimler told us, “Our goal is to offer the integration of CarPlay into new Mercedes-Benz Cars by the end of 2014. That includes also the possibility to elaborate a retrofit solution.” It would not reveal which models would receive the retrofit solution or the cost of the solution.
Source: CEoutlook
How has lightning locked you out? Anything with real USB support works just fine.
i see this locking us out of the car much the same way that the new lightning cable has. look for an iradio to come out
gar