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Chevy Spark and Sonic Are First Cars to Get Siri 'Eyes Free'

Wednesday February 13, 2013 1:57 pm PST by Jordan Golson
As promised late last year, Chevrolet is the first company to deliver Siri 'Eyes Free' to consumers. 2013 Chevy Spark and Sonic cars allow owners to perform a number of tasks via Siri using the car's built-in entertainment system.

In the 2013 Spark and Sonic vehicles equipped with MyLink, owners can use Siri in Eyes Free mode to:

- Make voice-activated, hands-free calls to Contacts on their iPhone
- Play songs in their iTunes libraries, and even switch music sources automatically from AM/FM/XM radio to iPod mode
- Listen to, and compose and send an iMessage or text message to a phone number or anyone in saved Contacts
- Access Calendar and add appointments
- Minimize distraction even more by keeping the screen of the iPhone from lighting up even when Siri answers simple questions such as game scores or the dates of national holidays
Chevrolet doesn't specify exactly when new Sonic and Spark cars will get 'Eyes Free' support, but the company says existing 2013 owners will be able to upgrade their MyLink radios with Siri capability beginning in March.

Honda has promised that the Accord and the Acura RDX and ILX cars will get 'Eyes Free' later in 2013, with some current 2013 Accord owners getting to beta test the service ahead of a wider rollout.

[ 136 comments ]


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Eduardo1971
78 months ago

wait, I thought apple was a premium company?


A shame we can't 'down-vote' these type of remarks.:(
Rating: 25 Votes
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GermanyChris
78 months ago
Yay a car company integrating a proprietary beta technology :rolleyes:
Rating: 13 Votes
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Gemütlichkeit
78 months ago
The haters have arrived.
Rating: 12 Votes
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AustinIllini
78 months ago

I would rather walk 12 miles through a snow storm than drive either of those cars.


I doubt it.

And for those of you who don't follow this sort of thing, modern Chevys are surprisingly sophisticated.
Rating: 10 Votes
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rmwebs
78 months ago

wait, I thought apple was a premium company?


No not really. Apple are about as mainstream as it gets these days. The premium days are long, long gone.
Rating: 8 Votes
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AustinIllini
78 months ago

It's still a Chevy :(


Anyone who knows about the state of the modern motor industry knows this means nothing. Ford and GM are soaring up the rankings with their offerings.
Rating: 8 Votes
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rcread
78 months ago
I would rather walk 12 miles through a snow storm than drive either of those cars.
Rating: 7 Votes
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AustinIllini
78 months ago

...says the guy with an AUDI avatar...


Makes my belief all the more relevant.
Rating: 5 Votes
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johncrab
78 months ago
Apparently GM has run out of names for their cheap cars. Spark and Sonic? Are they serious? Those are better than trying to sell the No-Va in Latin America but not by much.

Other great GM names that turned out to be mostly prophetic of failure:

No-Va GM spent millions advertising this in Latin America
Citation Plagued by bugs which probably saved many lives
Chevette plastic gears in the tranny sounded great as they ground to bits
Chevelle
Corsica (See Beretta)
Beretta (see Corsica)
Catera "Great European Styling" by a team clearly pissed off at GM
Aztek - a car so ugly that one warms to the toilet seat grille of the Edsel
LaCrosse (ask anyone in Quebec)
Fiero - plastic cars, known to catch fire.
6000SUX (just wanted to see who remembers the movie)
Impact (Johnny Carson said the next model would be called the 10 car collision)
Lumina
Cavalier
Corvair unsafe at any speed
Monza
Vega unsleeved aluminum engine, good for 20k, 40k if you added Motor Honey
Allante

And....(drum roll, please), the worst thing ever belched out of GM, The Cadillac Cimarron, a Chevy Cavalier with Caddy badging.
Rating: 5 Votes
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curmudgeon32
78 months ago
Cool. More crap for people to distract themselves with instead of paying attention to what's happening on the road.
Rating: 4 Votes

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