2017/03/15 03/14 User Experience Benchmark: 2017 Honda Civic EX-L with Android Auto and CarPlay

Consumers Show Strong Preference for Mirrored Solutions Over Embedded Systems

Boston, MA – March 14, 2017 – A recent user evaluation from the In-Vehicle UX (IVX) group at Strategy Analytics (www.strategyanalytics.com) has assessed the 2017 Honda Civic EX-L in-vehicle infotainment system.  While the specifications for this system ticked all the desirable boxes for a mid-range model – such as a slick touchscreen interface, embedded speech recognition, Garmin-designed navigation, and integration with CarPlay and Android Auto – unintuitive labelling and UI layout led to problems for consumers completing the most basic tasks such as radio tuning and storing presets.

Surveying consumers in the US using the infotainment system of the 2017 Honda Civic EX-L, Strategy Analytics found that first-time users were confused with the varied functions between the embedded and mirrored systems; and had trouble going back and forth between them. In addition, Honda’s embedded system also contained several features which could be accomplished in CarPlay or Android Auto, such as playing a Pandora station or setting a destination via speech recognition. Overall, this led to consumers’ positive experiences referencing some aspect of CarPlay and Android Auto, while their negative experiences referenced some aspect of the embedded system.

Click here for report: http://sa-link.cc/1jx

Derek Viita, Senior Analyst and report author commented, “In general, automakers such as Honda are to be commended for adopting a consumer-centric strategy toward availability of CarPlay and Android Auto. Mirrored systems provide an excellent modality for completing several advanced in-car infotainment tasks that previously would have been accomplished in an unsafe manner on the handset.”

Continued Viita, “Providing options to the user is always best, but when compared side-by-side for certain tasks, consumers are beginning to show strong preference for mirrored solutions over embedded systems.”

Chris Schreiner, Director, IVX added, “In the 2017 Honda Civic, this meant that even an embedded navigation system from Garmin, with its familiar and intuitive UI, was seen as a step down from the mirrored navigation experience.”