Jaguar Land Rover Offers Improved Cell Phone Connectivity

Mike Schlee
by Mike Schlee

Jaguar Land Rover announced its latest move in the ongoing fight to curb distracted driving today at the L.A. Auto Show.

Jaguar Land Rover is expanding its in-car smartphone integration with the launch of justDrive. Designed for use with InControl, the new justDrive system integrates voice control for multiple smartphone apps like Spotify, Twitter and Yelp.

InControl already enables drivers to plug smartphones directly into their vehicles and control many apps through the vehicle’s touchscreen. In essence, it’s like turning the vehicle’s infotainment into into a giant smartphone. JustDrive takes things a step further.

Instead of just relying on touch controls, the new software allows plain natural speech to be used to control various InControl Apps. This means phrases like “find me a gas station” or “is this pizza place any good?” would be fed through the appropriate app, followed by a response from the system.

2014 LA Auto Show Coverage

You will also be able to ask for songs by name and dictate tweets or text messages through justDrive with simple voice commands like “This traffic is horrible.” The system can also read all messages back to the driver before they are sent as well as reading new incoming messages aloud.

Based out of Silicon Valley, CloudCar is the company behind the development the new justDrive software. Using state of the art voice recognition software, CloudCar claims the new program is one of the most advanced systems when it comes to recognizing natural speech.

justDrive marks the 17th app now available for Jaguar Land Rover’s InControl infotainment system, continuing the trend of further smartphone-to-car integration. For 2015, justDrive will be available on the Jaguar F-Type and any of Land Rover’s 2015 vehicle line-up. The company expects full integration of justDrive for all its vehicles by the 2016 model year.

Initially, justDrive will be available for Apple iOS8 users while Android users will have to wait until early 2015 for justDrive to be available.

Mike Schlee
Mike Schlee

A 20+ year industry veteran, Mike rejoins the AutoGuide team as the Managing Editor. He started his career at a young age working at dealerships, car rentals, and used car advertisers. He then found his true passion, automotive writing. After contributing to multiple websites for several years, he spent the next six years working at the head office of an automotive OEM, before returning back to the field he loves. He is a member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC), and Midwest Automotive Media Association (MAMA). He's the recipient of a feature writing of the year award and multiple video of the year awards.

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