Lexus' rollout of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto technology will ramp up this year, with the UX SUV the next model to get the phone-mirroring technology as standard.
We know already that the RX SUV, which will arrive in Australia before the end of 2019, will get both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as part of that vehicle's standard features list. And we knew that the technology would then rollout on other new models as they arrived in Australia.
But it appears Lexus has at last settled on a retro-fit solution, with the popular UX understood to also be receiving the technology this year. The news confirms comments made by the brand last year, when executives pledged to introduce true phone-mirroring in 2019.
"It'll be 2019. What we're doing now is validation testing, and we'll release a schedule in terms of which cars get it first and the rollout plan, but 2019 is the plan for go live," Lexus Australia's CEO Scott Thompson told CarsGuide at the international launch of the UX last year.
Would you buy a car without Apple CarPlay or Android Auto? Tell us in the comments below.
Andrew Chesterton
Contributing Journalist
Andrew Chesterton should probably hate cars. From his hail-damaged Camira that looked like it had spent a hard life parked at the end of Tiger Woods' personal driving range, to the Nissan Pulsar Reebok that shook like it was possessed by a particularly mean-spirited demon every time he dared push past 40km/h, his personal car history isn't exactly littered with gold.
But that seemingly endless procession of rust-savaged hate machines taught him something even more important; that cars are more than a collection of nuts, bolts and petrol. They're your ticket to freedom, a way to unlock incredible experiences, rolling invitations to incredible adventures. They have soul.
And so, somehow, the car bug still bit. And it bit hard.
When "Chesto" started his journalism career with News Ltd's Sunday and Daily Telegraph newspapers, he covered just about everything, from business to real estate, courts to crime, before settling into state political reporting at NSW Parliament House.
But the automotive world's siren song soon sounded again, and he begged anyone who would listen for the opportunity to write about cars. Eventually they listened, and his career since has seen him filing car news, reviews and features for TopGear, Wheels, Motor and, of course, CarsGuide, as well as many, many others.
More than a decade later, and the car bug is yet to relinquish its toothy grip. And if you ask Chesto, he thinks it never will.
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