Toyota announced that it is taking a look at SmartDeviceLink, the open source platform that lets drivers safely use phone apps through their cars while on the go. Ford already has AppLink in use in millions of cars, so Toyota knows that it has a reliable product on its hands, but one that can be customized to their own brand. Ford connected services product manager Julius Marchwicki said that SmartDeviceLink is complimentary, not competitive, with other connected car services such as CarPlay. There is no planned rollout date for the product on Toyotas yet.
Toyota Eyeing Ford’s Connected Car Software
Toyota may be the first company to take advantage of Ford’s open-source AppLink connected car platform.
Ford announced that it would open-source its AppLink connected car platform at CES two years ago; at the time, it seemed unlikely that any global automakers would bite, considering the industry’s persistent heel-digging on differentiation in the dashboard. But the landscape has changed: Android …