Luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz has showed off an amazing iPhone integration concept at IAA Motor Show in Germany. Last year, the company demoed a “Media Interface Plus” accessory which now seems to have evolved into the “iPhone Interface Plus”. The concept will be available as a retrofit on every Mercedes Benz starting summer 2012. The interface will work with a free iPhone app while the handset itself will be inserted in the glove compartment of the vehicle fully integrating with the car’s electronics. Wow!
The press release says:
“…the iPhone® screen can be seen on the display screen of the audio system, the audio signals are played through the car’s loudspeakers and the smartphone itself can be controlled through the car’s rotary pushbutton – a perfect example of successful integration. And of course all the time the iPhone® is connected to the control unit, it will automatically be recharging.”
There is also a mention of “holistic integration” in the press release which will allow things like “Like currently playing media” and “Share your current destination via Facebook and Twitter”. If all this sounds too good to be true, then go ahead and take a look at this concept video showing Mercedes-Benz’ vision for the “future of multimedia online systems” using an iPhone as the media hub:
