In-car stereo system updates are as rare as unicorn horns. They come around once in a blue moon, and when they do appear, most only come with minor improvements or just bug fixes. You just have to look at Pioneer and Alpine for their lack of firmware updates for each of their own CarPlay enabled receivers, with many, including myself, waiting for new firmware updates to appear for our CarPlay systems.
Having a CarPlay enabled in-car stereo receiver, and Apple’s regular release of iOS updates, we can fill this void of lacklustre updates from manufactures. Each new software update from Apple brings new life to your in-car entertainment experience, and it just gets better with each major iOS release.
The imminent update for Apple’s devices in the form of its new iOS 10 software, and more specifically the new updated Apple Maps update, has made me realise how great it is having a CarPlay system in your car, and how, with a simple software update, it can breathe new life to your in-car experience.
The new iOS 10 update for Apple Maps has greatly improved its navigation software, with an improved traffic display during navigation in Detail mode (above), through to improved POI display along with some tweaks to the existing UI. New features such as displaying ‘ETA Only’ whilst driving regular routes is a nice touch, where are you know where you’re going, but you just want to know when exactly you’re going to get there.
The interface and graphics on the maps themselves have improved greatly, with clearer labelling of street names, along with clearer road markings and road types, whether you’re zoomed in close or searching from a distance on the overview screen, using the new zoom and pan controls.
Turn-by-turn audio navigation is also improved, thanks to the improvements with Siri’s voice in iOS 10. Speech has greater clarity and sounds a lot more human and a little less robotic, at least with the UK female Siri that I’ve been using.
iOS 10 and the new Apple Maps update are planned to release out of Beta as soon as tomorrow, during Apple’s iPhone 7 event at 10am PDT (6pm BST). However if you can’t wait less than 24 hours, then you can sign up for the public beta program over on Apple’s Public Beta website.