Shallowly buried in the reveal of the all-new Toyota Avalon earlier this week at the Detroit Motor Show is the discovery that the Japanese automotive giant has succumbed to the pressures of consumer demand and eased its stance on including supporting first-party smartphone mirroring support.
The 2019 Avalon now stands as the first beacon of hope that a more open attitude will spread to other models and markets. However, Toyota has seemed to only have let Apple CarPlay past its guard as Android Auto, typically flanking the compatibility list, is notably missing.
Toyota, and by extension Lexus, had been the only major automaker to outright ignore more integrated smartphone mirroring software support such as that for Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android when they were initially announced through their ascending popularity, citing the importance of maintaining a uniform interface across their proprietary digital interfaces - and something that Apple CarPlay and Android Auto breaks in favour of familiarity to an interface that resembles our smartphones.
All variants of the Avalon, a large luxury-esque saloon tailored primarily for the North American market, will be equipped with an infotainment system - either Enform 2.0 or Enform 3.0, depending on trim level - supporting Apple CarPlay, the automaker confirmed in the car’s accompanying press release.
Interestingly, the omission of Android Auto might only seem a temporary inconvenience for users of phones that run Google’s popular and multi-flavoured mobile operating system. However, Toyota’s included support some smart watches as well for the Amazon Alexa voice assistant indicates this as being a more deliberate decision.
Unfortunately, Toyota has only confirmed CarPlay support for 2019 models, potentially ruling out cars currently being sold in dealerships possible due to some hardware deficiency. Also a downside is that Toyota has not announced support wireless CarPlay, something automakers are starting to adopt more widely, thereby requiring their newest models to connect via USB.
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