Toyota has chosen to use a technology originally developed by rival Ford to connect smartphone apps to its cars’ dashboards, snubbing Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto in the latest sign of tension between the automotive industry and Silicon Valley.
In a related announcement on the eve of the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Ford said it would offer both CarPlay and Android Auto as standard in its 2017 models while maintaining its own AppLink software.
So-called infotainment systems that allow music or navigation apps from a smartphone to be displayed on the dashboard have become the site for an early turf war between traditional carmakers and Silicon Valley groups.