CES 2013: All Eyes Are On Chevrolet's MyLink With Siri Eyes Free Integration
January 11, 2013
In November last year, General Motors (GM) announced that it's the first car manufacturer to integrate Apple's Siri Eyes Free mode. Now, we have our first demo video of Siri Eyes Free integration in one of GM's 2013 Chevrolet models straight from this year's CES.
Siri Eyes Free mode was introduced by Apple at last year’s Worldwide Developer Conference. At the event, Apple announced that it had partnered with a number of car manufacturers to integrate Siri into their vehicles.
Apple’s initial partners were BMW, Mercedes, Land Rover, Jaguar, Audi, Toyota, Chrysler, Honda, and GM. And just a few days ago, Hyundai was added to that list.
But as mentioned, GM is set to become the first carmaker to integrate Siri into the dashboard. It intends to do so by connecting Apple's voice assistant with the MyLink system in its Chevrolet Spark and Sonic models.
As it happens, these two upcoming models are being showcased at the Chevy station at this year's CES. And my colleague Dom has had the chance to hop into the Chevy Spark with Brad of Chevrolet to check out MyLink with Siri Eyes Free Integration. Take a look at the video below.
If you can't see the video embedded above, please click here.
As you can see in the video, pressing a special button on the steering wheel activates Siri on the Chevy Spark's MyLink system. Once activated, Siri can be instructed to perform certain tasks, including checking and replying to messages.
But perhaps more interesting are Siri's limitations when connected to MyLink.
When asked a question like, "What is a waterfall?" Siri responds, "To ensure your safety, your vehicle won't permit me to help you with that right now."
As pointed out by Dom, any type of visual information is off limits in MyLink with Siri Eyes Free Integration. This way, the potentially hazardous distraction of having to take your eyes off the road in order to look at what Siri has for you is avoided.
Safety first, in other words.
Also featuring Pandora, Stitcher, TuneIn, and BringGo support, MyLink with Siri Eyes Free Integration is set to come out this year with the new Chevrolet Spark and Sonic models.
