Toyota Australia to launch Apple CarPlay in 2019

Toyota's Australian customers' wait for Apple CarPlay integration will soon be over, with the Japanese giant promising an announcement will be made "in the near future".

CarsGuide expects a roll-out to begin in 2019, though it's unknown yet whether it will impact new models as and when they're launched, or whether the brand will retro-fit the technology to existing models - though its understood neither Toyota or Lexus have ruled out backdating the technology.

"It's edging closer. I’m sure we’ll be making an announcement in the near future," a Toyota spokesperson told CarsGuide . "It's definitely under development, and we’ll have positive news to share with everyone soon."

The news comes as the USA continues its roll-out of phone mirroring technology, with the just-unveiled (and North America-only) Toyota Yaris to be equipped with both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. But America runs a slightly different audio platform to Australian vehicles, so the the brand's local arm has been working on adopting the technology here.

Toyota's move mirrors that of its luxury stablemate Lexus, which will begin launching Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in its products this year.

"It'll be 2019. What we're doing now is validation testing, and we'll release a schedule in terms of which cars get it first and the rollout plan, but 2019 is the plan for go live," Lexus Australia's CEO Scott Thompson told CarsGuide at the international launch of the UX crossover last year.

Mr Thompson wouldn't be drawn then on exactly when in 2019 the technology will arrive, but given his earlier quotes, CarsGuide would expect it to arrive on key model updates before the end of the year.

Is a lack of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto a deal-breaker when choosing a new car? Let us know in the comments.