Dawn Of The Mac Button? Siri Comes To BMW, GM, Land Rover, Audi, And Honda

Siri is getting a whole mess of new updates, and she looks to be a whole lot smarter than she used to be. Part of Apple’s new Siri makeover, beyond her ability to open apps, is that she’ll now be with you while you’re riding in your whip. “We want to integrate Siri even better in the car,” Scott Forstall said on stage at WWDC today.

To that point, an important tidbit that was buried in the keynote today: Siri is getting its own button on BMW, GM, Mercedes, Land Rover, Jaguar, Audi, Toyota and Honda cars, right on your steering wheel. When you press a switch on your steering wheel, Siri will pop up on your phone (via Bluetooth) and assist you on the road, like your very own AAA agent.

While presumably the car companies aren’t in bed with Apple deep enough to offer a dedicated, logo-branded button on their valuable steering wheel real estate, it’s clear that the value proposition offered by a deep Apple/manufacturer relationship is definitely compelling.

Apple is lucky: Hardware partners line up to be part of their licensed program. However, this is much different. For the entrenched and staid car companies to offer a literal Siri button in their vehicles is a wild departure.

Obviously Microsoft Sync is already part of some vehicles, but imagine the cost savings associated with a simple button versus a hardware solution that car manufacturers have to install, update, and maintain through the life of the car.

Reporting contributed by John Biggs