JVC/Kenwood is incorporating CSR’s aptX codec into 13 infotainment...

JVC/Kenwood is incorporating CSR’s aptX codec into 13 infotainment products this year, the first of a “series” of announcements in the automotive space, Thomas Carmody, head of connectivity marketing for CSR, told Consumer Electronics Daily. The move into car entertainment comes at a time when 70 percent of Android handsets have an aptX encoder on board, Carmody said. Apple hasn’t incorporated aptX into the iPhone “yet,” Carmody said hopefully, noting that the MacBook supports aptX. For car makers, the high penetration aptX-enabled handsets from Samsung, Motorola, HTC and Sony means consumers can experience “CD-like audio” from their smartphones over Bluetooth in their vehicles, Carmody said. With the CD player disappearing from the dash, high-quality audio is disappearing from the driver experience, and aptX helps boost sound quality over Bluetooth, he said. The addition of aptX for the rear passengers enables wireless headset use with low latency compared with the standard Bluetooth specification, so users won’t experience lip sync issues with movies or lags between button presses during game play, Carmody said. Agreements with automotive OEMs are in the pipeline, he said, and CSR is shooting for having the technology as a factory feature by the 2016 model year.