***I'm dismissing a feature I used briefly based off my experience with it*** I have used it on my friend's car and I thought it was not worth it for the money. Again - its based off of my opinions and experience with it.

Based off the things you listed - here's what I felt about the 360 Camera during my short time with it:
Tight things - Agreed. Useful to getting to a garage, perhaps.
Poles/Side curb - I think that's glimmicky. I'm sorry. When I parked my friend's car with 360 Camera, I hardly even cared for it. Tilt down reverse was good enough.
Front curb - Useful, likely to help you not scratch your front bumper.
People/Children/animals/shopping carts - I guess this is reasonable if your car is huge.
Parking spots with lines (Pull in spots) - Never felt like I needed a 360 Camera to park those. Didn't enhance the way I parked either. Pretty easy to match up lines while reversing into a pull in spot.

To say the 360 Camera is the "de facto requirement" of something being "luxury" or "premium" car is very subjective. If it was, then all major luxury car companies would offer this as a standard item.

 

360 camera is the next wave of unique selling points in a car. I agree with SW17LS and he knows what he's talking about. I had a car with it for 7 months and it was weird at first -- after a few days with it, this feature made every parking task a real pleasure and could park with confidence. It eliminated guesswork on how close you are to nearby cars. Instead of trying to park between the lines, you could center the car with similar space on EACH SIDE of the car with CONFIDENCE. Backing in? no worries. It was a fun video game like experience. No dings, no scratches, no problems.

Guess what? This car was a 2012! 6 years later it trickles down to a must have luxury item. It's all about making the car experience a better one for the driver.

Yesterday I finally downloaded the updated IOS 12. Lo and behold, Google Maps is now available in Car Play. I freaking loved it. Soon Waze will be available. These 3rd party navigation solutions position the smartphone as the solution. Apple changes the game again with a very functional 'tech' experience that compliments your driving needs.

Lexus needs to stop getting hung up on CarPlay in their vehicles and make it available on all models. The most important thing a lexus driver has on them besides their car keys is their smartphone. The phone is becoming the 'info/music/map' solution of choice. 3rd party apps in 3-5 years will quickly render anything car mfgs can offer obsolete. Completing this experience in a positive way will have lexus drivers forgiving any other short comings that may arise with their infotainment system. Perhaps Lexus will get this message and make it standard across all models for 2020? I know it is 2018 now but when you're really really late to the party, it sticks out like a sore thumb for a $500-1000 enhancement (perhaps costing less than $300 if designed in at the factory). You can learn from the Subaru experience to fix this CarPlay within one model year after a design refresh on their Outback. They heard their buyers loud and clear to add on this feature in a hurry to check off all the boxes.

 

 

Being 'good enough' is probably the biggest problem with Lexus.

 

Yep. Well OP did his job and hasn't come back (2 posts), left everyone here arguing amongst ourselves. This is how you stir the pot

 

ok i've had my car since mid-march with it, and i absolutely love it. when i put the car in reverse (from the garage or parking space generally), i NEVER look in the mirrors/windows any longer. the huge screen shows me the rear and areal views of the car side by side. i can see if i left anything on my driveway while backing out of the garage and in a parking space i can see any cars or obstacles around, beside, in front, etc. combined with beeping sensors i'd have to be pretty dumb to hit something.

this video shows all the options:
i never have to hit any of those buttons because it's all set by default.

i guess i'm not surprised your beautiful ls doesn't have it as it was the last year of the model run but still, disappointing. i've no doubt it will be on your next car. it's a bit like my g90 doesn't have apple carplay and android auto while the g80 does, just due to timing cycles or development. so far i actually haven't missed it, and like bippu wasn't all that about it when i did try it on a g80 briefly (loaner) but i think having a feature for a while definitely changes opinions (good and bad). i'm sure i'd love to have waze on my car screen although the nav and traffic graphics are stunning on the g90 and when i've seen android auto in operation the graphics looked lousy but maybe that varies by phone and car and app.



i believe it will be standard or optional on all cars within a couple of years.

necessary is different than highly desirable. an automatic transmission isn't necessary but almost all drivers prefer them and won't buy a car without it.

 

Well - I have no digs, scratches, or problems w/o 360 Camera either. Back up camera + reverse tilt was enough info for me. This is more of how the person parks. I'm one of those people that mod their cars, park super far away from people, and triple check before I consider it "finished" parking.

To each their own. I personally think Apple Car Play is a waste on a new car. The only difference between Apple Car Play and mounting a phone on a A/C bracket is that the thing is integrated to a bigger screen. You are essentially still using your iPhone to navigate. For my in coming C43 AMG, I'll be using MBUX to navigate. For cars, that which has Virtual Cockpit, MBUX, or BMW's new digital gauges, you can not put the Google Maps onto the digital gauge area. What is happening is - you are trading an insanely good infotainment system for an iPhone mirroring service. In my opinion - that's just not worth it.
Oh another example is: Amazon Alexa on the Lexus ES. I believe Alexa only functions with the Lexus infotainment system. So if you ask Alexa to set an address up for you - it'll only do it for the Lexus Navi.

Actually - that's too generalizing. You claim that, "The most important thing a Lexus driver has on them besides their car keys is their smartphone." That's not true for all cases of Lexus drivers. Lexus drivers vary in age heavily - with tons of older and wealthier folks buying ES and LS models. Majority of the people actually don't even use smartphones or has one but isn't consistently using them. Secondly - for me - the most important thing I have on me besides my car keys is my wallet.

I believe the smartphone has become the info/music/map of choice for most people in cars.
For information - yes - just simply because you can Google things on the web browser.
For music: some people still use radio but sure - people will connect their iPhones for music because phones carrying music has been a thing for a long time.
For map: this varies - in my opinion. You'll rarely have people using Virtual Cockpit (MMI), iDrive or MBUX go into a car and just use their Apple Car Play (iPhone mirroring) to do everything. If they did, they would be wasting thousands of dollars on an excellent infotainment system. If you ever visit Audi and Porsche forums, 90% of the people find Apple Car Play useless.

3rd party apps will always make apps from a car company seem less than of. Its just due the fact that car companies don't make apps so of course app companies will do a better job at it. The question isn't if the Apps will be better - the question is - do we need more apps on our cars? There comes to a point where we have to ask ourselves - are cars for driving? Or are we making an iPhone on wheels? I mean - 90% of the apps on our phones shouldn't be used while driving a car.
The sad truth is - majority of the public wants an iPhone on wheels. They want the car to do everything. They want to get into the car and automatically know the infotainment system. This is why the Apple eco-system is so smart. They made everything the same so people can learn to use any Apple product. I think this has an effect on younger car buyers or people who love tech - they just want a car that functions similar to an iPhone.

I agree. During my build order for my 19 C43 AMG, I skipped the 360 Camera feature. From what I remember, it was a bit over 1K for the option. I wasn't about to pay over 1K for something that I might not use often. But I agree with you on the last part - like I said earlier - 360 Camera is worth the thought if your car is huge.

Thanks for your input Bit! I totally see where you were coming from with the 360 Camera feature.

Like I said before - its my just my experience with that made me feel like I don't want 100% need it. The way I see is - it'll be nice to have if its standard but I wouldn't want to pay for it.

 

Smartphone mirroring will soon totally replace infotainment systems in cars.

 

technically, this is doable, reality? no way.
Car company doesn't allow all inside information being exposed to outsider. they only expose certain information to diagnostic system.
Letting 3rd party interprets the inside data can cause car company huge liability if the output cause customer any risk or damage.

 

Well, this is a subject that is actually worth arguing about.

Personally, I consider it a gimmick, with a bunch of added hardware and sensors to fail....but I can also understand the viewpoint of some of those involved (like bit) who like the convenience and added coverage.

As for what has happened to Lexus, I've said, numerous times, in the past, that I thought the best ones were probably built before about 2006...and why. No need to go into that again in great detail.

 

I'm not sure I understand what you're talking about...

I'm talking about navigation, audio interface, messaging, phone, etc

 

I may misunderstand your point that you want everything displayed on phone, sorry.

what I'm talking about is lots of CAN signals can be passed to outside (I did that development before), you will know huge information, but auto company definitely disallow it.

 

Bold statement but it likely won't happen at all. Car companies wouldn't want to give up their own technology to use Apple/Android Car as a permanent. It'll likely only stay as an option for people that want to mirror their phones. There are too much corporation BS in for that to happen.
That's the first reason why I don't think it'll happen.

My other reasons are:
2) It'll be too complex. That means car companies will have to allow all mirroring servicing programs onto their cars. What I mean by that is - there is more smartphones than just iOS or Android brand. What if you are running a different software? What if a new phone companies come out and use a different OS? This will lead car companies to continuously add on mirroring services, waste money on updates, and waste money on contracts. If they limit themselves to iOS and Android, they'll end up forcing drivers to buy specific phones.
3) What about the small population of people that don't use smartphones?
4) What happens in a situation where you lose your phone? Your car will have no infotainment system.
5) So car companies are going to sell a car that is 100% empty and force you to mirror in maps, music and etc?? That likely won't happen. If anything Apple Car Play will force car companies to step up their tech development.

It'll just too complex at the end of the day. Going forward - what you might have is the standard infotainment system with mirroring services offered, 3rd party apps offered, and etc...

 

 

No, I mean in the spirit of Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, where the infotainment is run off of and is an extension of your phone, is updated with your phone, etc.

Wait and see. Remember just 2 years ago Toyota and Lexus were saying they would NEVER allow Apple CarPlay or Android Auto in their cars. And...here we are. Consumers are going to demand it, they want technology that is more effective, upgradable, etc.

My other reasons are:
The VAST majority of smartphones are Apple or Android. Almost all of them.

What about them? Cant design to the lowest
.
What happens if you loose your keys? No car.

Exactly. Cars already don't have CD players. Why? Because everybody is streaming off of their phones. Will be the same way with navigation, etc.