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In a First, Apple Maps Navigation To Be Embedded In Ford UEV Pickups (freep.com) 103

Posted by BeauHD from the move-aside-Google dept.
Ford will become the first automaker to embed Apple Maps directly into its vehicles, starting with an all-electric midsize pickup built on its new Universal Electric Vehicle platform. "The pickup -- with Ford testing preproduction models on roads now -- is expected to start at $30,000 when it comes to market in 2027," reports the Detroit Free Press. "Ford has said several other EVs off that platform will follow, including a small all-electric SUV." From the report: Ford CEO Jim Farley said the new EVs will redefine advanced technology as simple, useful, and at a price point that is attainable for most people. "We're proud to embed Apple Maps' navigation and mapping technology directly into our Universal Electric Vehicle Platform, giving customers the ultimate navigation experience alongside our Ford app, a full suite of software, and next-generation BlueCruise, all enabled by a new zonal architecture," Farley said in a statement. "Apple Maps has delivered a world-class product, and we're honored to be among the first to embed it directly into a vehicle, helping define intuitive, capable driving."

In a joint statement, Apple and Ford said the integration will deliver a "beautiful and easy-to-use navigation experience powered by Apple Maps directly to the vehicle's displays. Road-level Maps information will also enable Ford's Latitude AI team to build a seamless hands-free driving experience." Ford said it will use that road information to develop its next-generation BlueCruise hands-free highway driving capability. Also, by leveraging Apple's new MapKit for Automotive SDK, Ford's UEV Platform will offer drivers turn-by-turn directions using natural language, real-time traffic information, intuitive search and routing options for the best route. The system will give drivers EV routing functionality to help drivers with the warming and cooling process of the vehicle's battery before driving or fast-charging.

In a First, Apple Maps Navigation To Be Embedded In Ford UEV Pickups More | Reply

In a First, Apple Maps Navigation To Be Embedded In Ford UEV Pickups

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  • Instead of trying to deliver a product under the price point, they start adding things that require external licensing and ongoing costs. Then they try to hide the price by charging exorbitant fees like 'delivery'.

    • Have you seen what new pickup trucks are selling for these days? Missing the $30k price point really isn't the dealbreaker. What is, for the typical truck buying demographic, is the fact that it doesn't run on gas.

      Hell, my retired father owns a pickup truck. He rarely hauls anything in the bed, literally never uses it for towing. I told him his is the perfect use case for getting one that's electric next time he wants something new, since he's been having no end of mechanical problems with his last few

      • Re:And this is how they miss their $30k price poin (Score:5, Insightful)

        by sound+vision ( 884283 ) on Thursday July 23, 2026 @03:14PM (#66253696) Journal

        You're engaged in the same kind of thinking the automakers are, and it's why they are struggling. Think less about the people currently buying trucks and more about the people who would be buying a truck if it didn't cost $70k.

        It's about making a market, not chasing a market. Slate seems to have understood this. Ford seems to again be chasing, only caring about that gap in their lineup since Slate started threatening them.

        A similar disease affects many markets in the US, but housing and automotive are obviously the most egregious. Everything has to be "luxury" now, and the demand is that you pay for it, whether you like it or not. Set up a space where that doesn't happen, people will run toward it. Anyone with a budget to consider, at least. Which is actually a lot of people. All abandoned by Ford.

        • Slate seems to have understood this.

          Who?

          Ford seems to again be chasing

          The Ford F-Series has been the top selling vehicle, in the U.S., EVERY year for 20 years or more.

          What the ever-loving-fuck are you talking about "chasing"?

          • Ford seems to again be chasing

            The Ford F-Series has been the top selling vehicle, in the U.S., EVERY year for 20 years or more.

            What the ever-loving-fuck are you talking about "chasing"?

            And the EV version sold poorly compared to the traditional F-150 so that is a lesson too.

            But they do have the Maverick for people who want smaller trucks. And you can get a hybrid, which seems much more popular than full BEVs also.

            • And the EV version sold poorly compared to the traditional F-150 so that is a lesson too.

              But they do have the Maverick for people who want smaller trucks. And you can get a hybrid, which seems much more popular than full BEVs also.

              I don't care about what's more popular. I want a small EV pickup truck. I don't need to drive long distances. I own my house, and have a garage for my vehicle. I would use it mostly for commuting to and from work, and have the capability of hauling a bulky cargo if I have the need.

              I DO NOT want a giant bro-dozer even if it's an EV. And I absolutely do not want to spend $50K+ on it either.

              The only reason I don't already have one is because no one has one to sell. I'm hoping the Slate truck is mature eno

              • I don't care about what's more popular.

                And that is fine, neither do I, so long as you understand that if you want something that is not popular there won't be a big selection, or you will pay a premium, or both. This is true of most things, not just vehicles.

          • Slate https://www.slate.auto/en [slate.auto]

            The exact thing that everyone on slashdot claims to want. A minimal EV with no nanny or phone home features.

            Ford convinced people that spending Mercedes money on a truck is a normal thing. The king ranch has been over $100k for quite a while now.

            • Thanks for the link. I had never heard of them before.

              But, you've made me burst out laughing that anyone would present a soon-to-fail Kickstarter project as a leader and claim that the best selling vehicle for 20 years is "chasing" it. LOL!

              I had no idea that King Ranch was so expensive. It's ridiculous. But, as many of them that I see on the road, there's an awful lot of people with $100k to burn.

              • Ford's gone over a decade without a $25k truck in the lineup. Slate happens, then suddenly Ford is trying to develop in that same segment. Chasing.

                Apparently you had never even heard of Slate, so the idea that you have some commanding view of the market to school me with is a non-starter.

                • I think your vision!=sound. But, you're free to gloat as soon as Slate sells more vehicles than Ford does.

                  Shit, I won't even hold you the to F-Series sales numbers. You can gloat if Slate even beat the Ford Mach e, a low volume niche vehicle, sales numbers.

                  Until then, you're looking delusional from smoking hopium, to put it nicely.

            • The exact thing that everyone on slashdot claims to want. A minimal EV with no nanny or phone home features.

              I just wish they would start selling the damn thing already so people can hurry up and not buy it.

        • I'm torn between the SLATE and my old faithful standby. I have a 1966 and a 2015 F150. I've had F150's since the 90's. The only non-Ford pickup I owned was a Ranger.
          Ford can't get away with not having a massive screen in the middle of the dash anymore. I think they should put a screen there, but make it something you can customize. Is that too hard? Building a version of Android that doesn't suck seems to be a hard ask these days. Most of the Android OS devices I have SUCK and using them in a car would be a

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Many car companies seem to have decided that it's most profitable to sell luxury vehicles, and finance to let people who can't afford one rent it instead. Throw in some subscriptions and re-sale into other markets.

          This leaves the door open to better manufacturers who will simply sell you a reasonably priced vehicle that doesn't charge you monthly to turn on features it has built in.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by mjwx ( 966435 )

          You're engaged in the same kind of thinking the automakers are, and it's why they are struggling. Think less about the people currently buying trucks and more about the people who would be buying a truck if it didn't cost $70k.

          It's about making a market, not chasing a market. Slate seems to have understood this. Ford seems to again be chasing, only caring about that gap in their lineup since Slate started threatening them.

          A similar disease affects many markets in the US, but housing and automotive are obviously the most egregious. Everything has to be "luxury" now, and the demand is that you pay for it, whether you like it or not. Set up a space where that doesn't happen, people will run toward it. Anyone with a budget to consider, at least. Which is actually a lot of people. All abandoned by Ford.

          It's not even as complex as that... Apple are paying Ford to foist this on their customers.

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by smooth wombat ( 796938 )
        There are just some people who are too stuck in their ways to ever own an EV.

        There are those people who don't want to ask their vehicle for permission before they can drive it. They want to turn the key and go, not be tied to an app or some nebulous company who can disable the vehicle they bought on a whim
        • What the fuck are you talking about. I get in my EV, put my foot on the brake, put in heat and drive. No old school tech like turning a key and hoping it will turn over and start. I can get going while you are still turning the key

        • And that's got nothing to do with whether or not it's an EV. *All* modern cars are heading that way, very unfortunately. The drivetrain is irrelevant.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Bahbus ( 1180627 )

        Tbf, almost the entirety of the truck driving demographic is made up of morons and bad drivers.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by CEC-P ( 10248912 )
      After the F-150 Lightning debacle, I think they should focus on delivering an electric truck that works at all. Like it drives and turns on correctly. The last one did not do that.
      So embedding licensed 2nd rate garbage used by clueless Apple customers who are too stupid to download Google Maps was obviously a step in the right direction. It's basically the Safari of the maps world.

  • Will I still be able to use alternatives? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by ardmhacha ( 192482 ) on Thursday July 23, 2026 @02:15PM (#66253592)

    Can I use Android Auto to use my preferred navigation software?

    • If this is like the Google Built In that other car manufacturers (GM, Mazda) are using then, no, it won't support screen mirroring, but it will link up with any phone for sharing normal bluetooth stuff. It does make the car more smart device like on its own but is also a way to sell car connectivity packages. The Google stuff at least works ok without the OnStar nonsense, hopefully this Apple competitor will also.

      • If this is like the Google Built In that other car manufacturers (GM, Mazda) are using then, no, it won't support screen mirroring

        Horseshit. Nothing about Google Built-in (the name is Android Automotive) blocks screen mirroring. In fact there are native apps for both CarPlay and Android Auto for Android Automotive and they work perfectly fine on many implementations (e.g. Polestar supports screen mirroring from both platforms).

        • Oh cool, I hadn't seen it done on anything on our chevy yet that supported AA style mirroring, but I'd yet to hit a use case where I really missed it. My old Mazda was still the old school bluetooth for calls and SMS without further integration so perhaps I'm not looking in the right places. Only used AA in rentals. What apps have you used that did the mirroring? Of course the most common use case I'd used on rentals was Maps but it has that as a standalone app.
        • Does it work the other way? Can I cast from the car to my TV so I can watch when my wife backs out of the driveway?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Targon ( 17348 )

        There have been two sides to this issue, and you may have missed the nuances involved. First, you have the voice recognition/internal systems that many auto makers have. Then you have Android Auto/Apple Car Play support. In some cases, if the car includes its own voice recognition system, that tends to mess up integration with Android/Apple voice support, because the voice button goes to the system the auto maker has included, and in many cases, without there being an option to set which one you want

    • Good question. So now we have to either buy phones based on our cars, if not cars based on our phones? I loved my ex 2014 Subaru Crosstrek, except that the Navigation Unit recognized iPods, and thereby iPhones, but it couldn't recognize either CarPlay nor Android Auto

  • Will there be updates? Will the updates be free? How complicated will it be to install an update?

    This is a giant waste. I don't want this as part of my car. My current car already has built in navigation. I never use it; I use android auto which is vastly better.

  • Hasn't Apple maps always sucked?

    • Hasn't Apple maps always sucked?

      It's still not my favorite, but I think they've fixed most of the issues where it was telling people to drive into lakes.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Pascoea ( 968200 )

        I think they've fixed most of the issues where it was telling people to drive into lakes.

        Seems like a useful feature. Especially for an EV.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by cusco ( 717999 )

        After the third time that Apple Maps directed us off the route to take an utterly unnecessary loop through some residential neighborhood we gave up on it. We just use Google Maps all the time, even on my wife's iToy.

      • But still haven't gotten routing right. Google maps will give you the short route, Apple will send you the long way.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by shilly ( 142940 )

      My experience has been that Apple Maps is pretty reliable in the UK, and I value the integrations eg with my calendar so that it will auto-suggest a destination. It's less good, though, when I need it most, eg when visiting another country where Apple has just not been able to map with the same degree of accuracy. I'm just back from Bogota, and the issue remains as always that Apple Maps doesn't have the same reliability when you plug in a destination eg a restaurant or shop. It may or may not have been add

      • So the first sentence was "it is good" but then the rest of your comment was "it sucks".

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by shilly ( 142940 )

          I live in the UK and spend most of my time here. It is good in the UK, where, to repeat, I spend most of my time. Sometimes I travel and then it is not good, but because I spend most of my time in the UK, which I will mention again to see if it sinks in this time, I don’t experience the problems of Apple Maps most of the time and only experience the ways in which it is good. I said all this quite clearly the first time, I don’t know why you feel the need for wilful editorialising that is clearly

          • Ok well my thinking is that a mapping software is mostly for places that you are not familiar with. Perhaps that is a high bar to set. Continue using apple maps to go to the grocery store.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by shilly ( 142940 )

              You really never miss an opportunity to be a dick. Funnily enough, the UK has quite a lot of places within it, and I don’t know them all, and I travel around enough within it that a map is helpful. I don’t use a map to go to the fucking shops, you nugget. I use it to go to a climbing festival in Sheffield or drop my daughter at a summer school in Dorset, etc.

              • You are the one insulting people. I just notice everything and have never been able to ignore downsides. Most people are blind to the negative things in the world and that's how they cope. I can't do that. I'm told it's a high functioning autistic trait. Be happy you aren't autistic.

                • Re: (Score:2)

                  by shilly ( 142940 )

                  I didn’t accuse you of insulting people, I said you were being a dick.

                  And for someone who claims to notice everything, you seemed not to notice that “living in the UK and using Apple Maps” is not functionally equivalent to “using Apple Maps to go the shops”.

                  I have met plenty of people who are dicks and plenty of people who are not. I’ve met plenty of people with autism and plenty of people without autism. These are orthogonal categories. You may or may not be in the perso

                  • Yes that's usually the reaction people give me when they don't want to see the truth. I repeat again, I'm not the one calling people a dick for pointing out things they don't like to hear.

                    • Re: (Score:2)

                      by shilly ( 142940 )

                      You truly are just endlessly a prick. You give yourself these ridiculous airs and graces as though you are fearlessly telling truth to power, when in reality you’re being a cock on the internet telling someone they use Apple Maps to get to the shops because they say they use the service in their home country. This isn’t bravery, it’s stupidity. And it’s even more stupid that you pretend that you were saying something dispassionate, when it’s patently obvious you were attempting

                    • Oh, you just tripped. There are certain things anyone might say that always mean something else, and you hit a big one. It isn't "when they don't want to see the truth", its, "when they fail to see or do things my way". Very common.

                      Combine that with your claim of autism and the problem is most likely that you are, and I don't mean this as an insult, being a dick. An inability to process or adhere to social lubricants like norms, politeness, and formality, is common in autism (as I'm sure you are awar

                    • Ok whatever.
                    • It's very tiring living in a world where you have to say things you don't feel so that others won't be insulted. Being able to know every time others are doing it to you and watching everyone do it to everyone else. The energy we put into making others feel good all day is exhausting. Slashdot has always been a place to say what you feel and I come here for that break.
      • Maybe it just works better in the UK? I've only had bad experiences with it here in the US. Though I don't know how blameworthy any of them would be in Latin America, where the roads may not be roads and addresses can be"500 meters past the bridge". Which is an actual part of my parents' address in Costa Rica.

        That said, ever hear about the time Google caused Nicaragua to invade Costa Rica? October 2010, I think. Google had the border drawn in the wrong place, and Nicaraguan soldiers thought Costa Ri

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by CEC-P ( 10248912 )
      Remember when Apple Maps kept telling hundreds of the zombie dumbfuck cult members to drive down an airport runway? That was my favorite story on Slashdot about this trash app.

      • Yes, who knew a brand new mapping software would have a one in a billion bug.

      • My favorite is the times it's told people to make a right angle turn off the side of a bridge. That's not an instruction very likely to cause harm because there's not an exit there for some idiot to take, but it's especially hilarious because there's no excuse for that.

  • Don't you hate it when those Apple fanboy cult member morons invade a company and start suggesting bullshit like this? Should have stomped them out before they got a foothold. If you're not familiar, Apple Maps is 2nd rate garbage based on Magellan's database. And now the vehicle won't full function without an expensive data connection. Yeah, that's what I wanted; a car that has to be 2nd cell phone on my plan when I have my existing phone on my 100% of the time that I'm driving.
    Just kidding, it's usually

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by cusco ( 717999 )

      So people who live outside urban areas where connections are more or less reliable shouldn't buy one? Fine by me, I wouldn't buy a Ford anyway, much less one with Apple garbage preinstalled.

  • Remember how bad it was when Apple Maps first came out? Putting it INTO the vehicle as a default is a really really bad idea.

  • I don't know anyone that doesn't have a decent phone these days, with nice map options and data plans. Screens are bigger than ever and resolution is great. Just put 3 x 6 inch pad (with magnet for charging), or just flat area for suction cup. USB port in proximity for power. No syncing, no fiddling, no updating (beyond what you do for your phone anyway)

    No brainer.
    • It sounds like you want a Slate truck. [slate.auto], it is for those that want functional and not much else.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by pla ( 258480 )
        Very much so! Unfortunately, they're still vaporware.

        Or more accurately, I'd very much like a $10k BYD, but Detroit has bought DC wholesale to block any meaningful competition for Ford's Coal Roller 150.

    • Screens have been mandatory to comply with the law requiring a back-up camera, so it's a huge waste if they don't also make it available for infotainment functionality as well. My previous vehicle (a '19 Nissan Versa) was like that - it had this ginormous screen in the dash that displayed either the back-up camera feed or the radio and was completely useless otherwise.

      I'd never been able to find a phone mount that I was satisfied with, either. They all get in the way or are too janky and drop your phone (

  • So there's not any detail on whether this means iOS will be running or if this 'MapKit' supports another platform.

    Apple did go out of their way to say *Carplay* would be supported, but no one has mentioned whether android auto will be supported.

    This seems like a broadly fine concept, so long as they didn't toss Android Auto support to get this partnership with Apple going. The built in nav was, at it's best, never better than google maps and, I presume, Apple.

    • Well, if it wasn't worse than Google Maps, it was better than Apple Maps. I have an iPhone and have used both. I no longer have Apple Maps installed.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Junta ( 36770 )

        Well, I never promised as good as google, just saying that so long as android auto is an option, then nothing lost by the built in map going to Apple.

  • As recently as two weeks ago I inadvertently launched Apple Maps instead of Google, and it promptly instructed me to turn the wrong way down a one way. This was in the downtown core of a major city, and the street has been one way for at least five years. And if the destination is the least bit complicated by service roads and medians it ties itself in knots trying to plot a route. In my experience they're still way behind.

  • What Do Car Manufacturers Get? (Score:3)

    by SlashbotAgent ( 6477336 ) on Thursday July 23, 2026 @04:00PM (#66253782)

    We want to connect whatever phone we choose this week to the car's screen. Next week, we may want to use a new app or a whole new phone. This is almost entirely solved by Car Play and Android Auto. There is no need for a car to have a built in and out of date map ever again.

    We've made this clear, and the car manufacturers know full fucking well, that the consumer wants to connect their phone to the car's screen. The consumer does NOT want maps, phones, voice control, or everything else built into the car and going obsolete in under 5 years.

    So, what is the advantage to the car manufacturers for putting this stuff in the vehicle. What's the benefit to Ford? Why are they spending extra to provde what the consumer has told them they do not want?

    • It's going to be a subscription based service so they can extract more money.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by cusco ( 717999 )

      what is the advantage to the car manufacturers

      It's likely mostly to the advantage of certain executives who were in the know and were able to play the stock market with the price of AAPL when the announcement was made. That's the true interest of executives now, not benefit for the company or the customer, only for themselves.

    • They'll use the Apple Maps we didn't ask for to justify the always on cell connection we didn't ask for so they can use it for subscription seat warmers, air conditioning, and heater. Come on, do you even corporation?

    • I share your sentiments, but I'm not sure everyone else does. I can guarantee you that Ford has done far more research into what consumers do and do not want than either of us ever will.

  • Ford CEO Jim Farley said the new EVs will redefine advanced technology as simple, useful, and at a price point that is attainable for most people..

    This, coming from the American auto maker who can't sell shit at their current MSRP+FU pricing model.

    This, coming from an auto-making industry who just took a financial fucking bath on EV adoption, and is reverting backwards in many ways because of it.

    Whatever the hell this guy is smoking, should either be illegal or free. I'll take two.

    • This, coming from an auto-making industry who just took a financial fucking bath on EV adoption, and is reverting backwards in many ways because of it.

      To be fair though, the auto industry was just trying to roll with the political tides. That was never going to end well when one political party thinks EVs are the second coming of Jesus, the other has a raging hate boner for them, and the American public keeps flip-flopping between the two of them every 4 years for every election cycle since Obama.

      • I think your analysis is correct overall, but I do want to pick at one thing.

        I don't think anyone hates them like that, I think they hate feeling like its being forced on them. I'd probably get one, it would suit my needs fine and I could keep a gas car for longer trips, but I want to have the option to buy a gas or hybrid car and don't want to put my tax dollars towards subsidizing someone else's purchase.

        Understand that it isn't about the cars, it's about choice and fairness. When there were EV su

  • I'm going to guess its not exactly apple maps, cause likely apple isn't going to fully rewrite the maps app to run on a whole different OS and I doubt the infotainment system runs iOS. Either Apple paid Ford to get their name in front of Ford customers, or Ford paid Apple to be able to claim they have something unique in their products.
    • That's an interesting question! It could be either, or Apple may have offered it at a steep discount to try and get more traction behind their (crappy) maps. I think that's how they dominated film and TV placement for as long as they did.
  • Will they reject map data corrections like Google does?

  • Please don't - Apple maps is terrible (Score:3, Informative)

    by expresspotato ( 5687556 ) on Thursday July 23, 2026 @09:21PM (#66254198)
    So 20% of the places that are on google, with none of the features. So who asked for this? Nobody.
    • Yeah, I had a similar thought when I saw this. Apple Maps SUCKS! It isn't good at its job. It'll route you the long way for no apparent reason and may still go ahead and get you lost in the process.

      This is just a bad choice. Google and Waze are both far superior.

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