Mercedes Intros Tablet Controls for New Vehicles that may Adopt Apple's Hands-Free Functionality Later this Year
In June our report titled "Apple Takes the Lead in the Next Battlefront: Advanced Eyes-Free Services for the Car, we noted that Apple listed Mercedes as one of eighteen car companies signed on to introduce Apple's new "iOS for the Car" software and services sometime in 2014, according to Apple's Eddy Cue. Today, Mercedes Mercedes-Benz is adding touchpad technology pioneered by the iPhone and an iPad-like display to the C-Class sedan in a bid to surpass BMW in sales, reports Bloomberg.
Mercedes unveiled the model's first overhaul in seven years at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
Bloomberg reports that "High-tech options include a head-up display, which projects speed and navigation instructions on the windscreen to avoid distraction, and an air suspension that lets the driver switch between four settings from sporty to comfort.
The touchpad allows the customer to flip through functions or zoom in and out of maps or other images on the central display, which juts out of the dashboard and resembles a small tablet computer. The touchpad, which can also be used to enter letters or numbers, vibrates to give the driver feedback that the command was received to help keep focus on the road."
Whether this will be one of the car models that will introduce Apple's "iOS for the Car" features later this year is unknown at this time.
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