New Honda Civic packs multi-touch interface and Here Maps navigation

With certain exceptions, Honda isn’t frequently on the vanguard of car cabin technology. However, we’ll have to toss out our expectations now that the automaker has detailed the 2014 Civic’s center stack. he vehicle will be Honda’s first to use Display Audio, an infotainment system with multi-touch input much like that on your smartphone.

Honda has baked both Apple and Nokia technology into its latest infotainment system, bringing Siri Eyes Free and HERE Maps with remote route planning support to the 2014 Civic. The new car – and the 2015 Honda Fit which will follow it – gets an updated version of HondaLink, with a 7-inch multitouch-capable display in the dashboard for navigating through audio, phone, directions, Pandora, and web-based points of interests using the Aha app. However, the 2014 Civic will also be the first car to get Siri Eye Free technology, Apple’s integration of its personal digital assistant into the dashboard.