26 October 2011

Toyota Introduces World-First MirrorLink Based
In-Car Infotainment Product For Smartphones

Toyota introduces the latest addition to the Toyota Touch infotainment product family with the all-new Toyota Touch Life. Offering consumers with unprecedented smartphone-vehicle connectivity, Toyota Touch Life will be available for the Toyota iQ city car towards the end of 2011 in selected markets.

Symbian smartphone owners can seamlessly connect their devices with Toyota Touch Life using the new industry standard connectivity protocol, MirrorLink™, developed by the Car Connectivity Consortium. This represents an automotive industry world-first deployment of the protocol.

Nokia Car Mode app with MirrorLink support will be available for download on Nokia 701, Nokia 700, Nokia 603, Nokia 600, expanding to include Nokia N8, Nokia E7, Nokia C7, Nokia X7 and Nokia C6-01 models at a later date. Support for Nokia N9 is also planned.

Toyota Touch Life uses the latest industry connectivity protocols to mirror the smartphone’s display on the infotainment system’s 7-inch touchscreen. Smartphone functionalities can now be easily accessed using steering wheel-based controls or the large touchscreen surface.

In addition, Nokia smartphone users can also make use of the specially developed Nokia Car Mode app which simplifies the user interface to give direct access to the device’s telephony, voice guided, turn-by-turn navigation, and music player functions. This easy-to-use GUI (graphical user interface) ensures that drivers can access only the most essential and non-distracting functions on the smartphone while the car is on the move.

The Nokia “Car Mode” app, with MirrorLink™ support, can be downloaded from the Nokia Store for devices equipped with the Symbian Belle (1) operating system. When the car is stationery, Toyota Touch Life allows drivers and passengers to access the complete functionalities of their Nokia smartphones through the in-car touchscreen display. The display supports not only point-and-touch standard touchscreen capabilities but also on-screen scrolling or swiping gestures.

Apple iPhone users (running iOS 4 or later) can download the free “Application Launcher” app from the App Store to connect their devices with Toyota Touch Life. The “Application Launcher” app offers drivers and passengers access to various apps on the in-car display including the Garmin StreetPilot® (2) app (available for purchase from the App Store), internet radio and news apps such as AUPEO! (3) and Stitcher (3), and social networking services such as Facebook and Twitter (4) using the built-in application interface.

Complete audiovisual connectivity to the Apple iPod also comes as standard on Toyota Touch Life, giving users complete access to their music and video collection using either steering wheel-based controls or buttons located on the infotainment system.

Smartphone-vehicle connectivity with the Toyota Touch Life will continue to expand as more mobile communications and consumer electronics companies continue to implement the MirrorLink™ industry standard.

Toyota Touch Life is the latest addition to the Toyota Touch family of infotainment products aiming to offer a new level of in-car connectivity and multimedia experience to a wider range of consumers. The Toyota Touch & Go was recently introduced for the Toyota Verso-S, Yaris and Hilux models. The Toyota Touch infotainment experience will be soon expanded with the Toyota Touch & Go Plus, making its debut for the Toyota Avensis, Prius and Verso, as well as the Toyota Touch Pro for the Toyota Prius.

"MirrorLink and Nokia Car Mode are a big leap forward in allowing car drivers to access their favourite smartphone services," said Floris van de Klashorst, Director Automotive Services of Nokia's Location & Commerce business. "Via MirrorLink users have comfortable and safe access to maps, music and telephony on their phones when they're in their cars even while driving. In the future, MirrorLink will enable plenty of other popular features since we're only at the beginning of what we can do by linking smart devices with vehicles. We expect developers to come up with innovative new applications optimised for use in cars."

"As a member of the Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC), we are very excited to introduce the world's first in-car infotainment solution based on MirrorLink - the all new ICS-X8 App Link Station," said Ingmar Heck, Manager of Sales and Marketing, Alpine Electronics Europe. "The ICS-X8 featuring MirrorLink allows users to create a digital ecosystem of mobile applications and the vehicle's infotainment system. Users that own a compatible Nokia smartphone can connect it to the ICS-X8 and navigate using Nokia Drive, as well as enjoy all their music stored on the phone while driving using Nokia Music. Nokia Drive even connects to the car's GPS receiver, allowing accurate navigation in areas of weak signal strength."

"Safe and seamless access to web-apps via an integrated smartphone is critical in accelerating the evolution of the connected vehicle," said Thilo Koslowski, VP and Automotive Practice Leader at Gartner. "A standardized smartphone-to-vehicle integration solution allows automotive companies to simplify their connected vehicle offerings and focus resources on extending consumers' connected lifestyles to the vehicle."

(1) Nokia Car Mode app with MirrorLink™ support will be available for download on Nokia 701, Nokia 700, Nokia 603, Nokia 600, expanding to include Nokia N8, Nokia E7, Nokia C7, Nokia X7 and Nokia C6-01 models at a later date. Support for Nokia N9 is also planned.

(2) Two versions of the Garmin StreePilot® navigation app are currently supported, including maps for Western Europe and the United Kingdom and Ireland.

(3) AUPEO! and Stitcher apps are subject to regional availability in the Apple App Store.

(4) Application Launcher uses the Twitter API (application programming interface) to access Twitter.

About the Car Connectivity Consortium: The Car Connectivity Consortium was founded under U.S. law as a limited liability corporation. Founding members are vehicle manufactures Daimler, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai Motor Company, Toyota, Volkswagen; system suppliers Alpine and Panasonic; and consumer electronics makers LG Electronics, Nokia and Samsung. The Car Connectivity Consortium is open for any industry member to join as a charter member, a core member or on one of two lower levels. For further information, please visit: http://www.terminalmode.org/en/agenda/consortium/