Apple CarPlay Business Insider’s 2018 Infotainment System of the Year

Apple CarPlay is the big
winner!
Hollis
Johnson

• AppleCarPlay
  is the winner of Business Insider’s 2018 Infotainment System of
  the Year.
• Apple
  CarPlay beat out four other systems, from Audi, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, General Motors, and Tesla.
• CarPlay is unique in that it can be used in different
  vehicles from different manufacturers, overriding the quirks of
  proprietary infotainment systems.

Several years ago, the transportation team at Business Insider
decided that in-vehicle infotainment systems were turning into a
huge selling point for consumers.

Our interest neatly coincided with automakers seriously amping up
their offerings, ranging from 4G LTE WiFi connectivity and
over-the-air software updates to suites of apps that allow
various types of e-commerce from the comfort of a car.

So we created the Infotainment System of the Year award.
Audi took the prize in 2016 and 2017, and, if anything, the
competition has stiffened since. Consumers are more demanding
than ever of the technology and connectivity features in their
vehicles.

As we said last year, if you aren’t aiming for state-of-the-art,
particularly in the luxury realm, you’re falling behind. A really
great infotainment system makes car ownership a pleasure; a poor
system makes it a chore.

Safety first

Car companies have to tread carefully with how they control the
use of connectivity in vehicles. Both Consumer Reports and JD Power have recounted
frequent owner complaints about balky systems.

Our methodology for choosing an Infotainment System of the Year
hasn’t changed since 2016. We consider a great system to be one
that performs all its functions relatively seamlessly and with as
much of an intuitive interface as possible.

Right now, voice-recognition technologies are still at an early
stage, but we certainly appreciate when a manufacturer’s setup
works as advertised and isn’t clunkier than the more dangerous
manual-entry-of-info modes. We also appreciate it if an
infotainment system is part of a carmaker’s business case for its
vehicles and its technology.

Reliability, ease of use, precision (especially when it comes to
navigation), and the ability of a system to be operated while
driving without endangering anyone were top criteria for our
choice — which involved debate and discussion all year long among
senior correspondent Matt DeBord, senior transportation reporter
Ben Zhang, and deputy executive editor Cadie Thompson.

This year’s finalists were:

• Apple CarPlay
• Audi MMI-Virtual Cockpit
• FCA Uconnect
• General Motors MyLink/IntelliLink/Cue plus OnStar
• Tesla Infotainment System

The big winner

CarPlay integrates with infotainment systems from
numerous automakers.
Daimler

Apple CarPlay is our Infotainment System of the Year winner for
2018!

You might consider this an odd choice, given than CarPlay isn’t a
stand-alone infotainment but rather an iPhone software interface
for cars. It typically has to integrate with an automaker’s
in-vehicle system by being plugged into a USB port.

But the truth is we now routinely use CarPlay to benchmark
proprietary infotainment systems, especially when it comes to
ease of use. And CarPlay is portable; it can be used in multiple
vehicles from different manufacturers. We often found CarPlay to
be a handy tool when we encounter a poor user interface. Plug in
CarPlay, and it’s smooth sailing from there.

Siri is better than the majority of voice-recognition setups we
test, and being able to use Apple Maps or Google Maps through a
smartphone is often more effective than relying on the in-dash
navigation software.

Read more: Acura ELS Studio 3D is Business
Insider’s Car Audio System of the Year

Accessing your media, stored on your iPhone or streamed, is also
easier through CarPlay. And best of all, if you like aspects of
your vehicle’s infotainment system but prefer some CarPlay
functions, you can toggle back and forth.

What really gave CarPlay the crown this year, though, was an
observation that both Matt and Ben have made about younger
drivers. They genuinely don’t like it when CarPlay isn’t
available — that is, no matter how good an automaker’s own system
is, if CarPlay isn’t on the menu, they’re disappointed — and they
might consider that a deal breaker.

Ben is younger than Matt, who isn’t as infotainment-centric, and
Ben considers it a negative if an automaker doesn’t provide
CarPlay integration. Other, younger staffers who’ve reviewed
vehicles for Business Insider have been even less tolerant of a
no-CarPlay situation.

In fact, this has become such a thing that we’re now adding
Android Auto testing to our reviewing process, to be fair to the
other major technology actor in this space.

Beyond the degree to which CarPlay lets motorists use their
iPhones more safely, the technology suggests to us that Apple
will become more deeply involved in the user interface of
automobiles going forward. What CarPlay currently does is fairly
modest, but in the coming years Apple could remake the entire
dashboard. We’re looking forward to what the company comes up
with.

The runner-up

Audi’s MMI-Virtual Cockpit remains a force to be
reckoned with.
Hollis
Johnson

We certainly can’t overlook Audi’s MMI system. As we said last
year when it took the prize, it’s the gift that keeps on giving.
It does everything well, from managing audio to providing superb
and accurate navigation powered by Google Maps. It also has
Bluetooth integration along with Audi Connect 4G LTE connectivity
and a cluster of apps.

And it does all this without being a touchscreen system! A
central infotainment screen emerges from the dashboard, but you
use a knob, buttons, and a touchpad to access the menus and
features. In practice, it works flawlessly, and thanks to the way
it’s organized, you won’t be taking your eyes off the road as
often as with touchscreen-style systems.

Audi MMI running Apple CarPlay.
Hollis Johnson

What puts MMI into “hard-to-catch” territory is the Virtual
Cockpit feature, available on most Audi models. Virtual Cockpit
impressively transforms the main instrument cluster into a
customizable digital screen.

It can, for example, display the navigation map and send the
traditional gauges to the corners of the screen. This means a
driver’s eyes are front and center much of the time, rather than
darting between the road ahead, the infotainment screen, and the
instruments (as well as the rearview and side-view mirrors).

Audi’s MMI-Virtual Cockpit system is a remarkable setup that has
helped Audi rise to the top tier of the US luxury market,
previously ruled by the big three luxury automakers: Mercedes,
BMW, and Lexus.

For the record, the other three infotainment systems we
considered this year are also quite excellent. Of particular note
is Uconnect, which is often overlooked and somewhat underrated
for how effective it is.