SUNNYVALE, Calif., July 30, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Telenav®, Inc. (NASDAQ: TNAV), UIEvolution, Inc. and Toyota announced today that Scout GPS Link by Telenav and UIEngine Link™ by UIEvolution will be available in the 2016 Toyota Tacoma, as well as other 2016 Toyota vehicles in the United States equipped with Entune™ Audio Plus. Powered by your phone and designed for your car, Scout GPS Link is a brought-in navigation solution truly optimized and tailored for the in-vehicle experience.

Part of the Scout family of apps by Telenav, Scout GPS Link allows users easily to transfer the information displayed on their mobile device outside the car to the multimedia display inside their car. This not only helps provide an optimized and safe experience with larger buttons and easier-to-read navigation while driving, but it also includes one-touch controls and voice recognition. The connectivity between phone and vehicle is provided by UIEvolution's UIEngine Link, which allows drivers to securely access real-time data and services like navigation and traffic, that Scout GPS Link provides, using their mobile device.

Scout GPS Link will soon be available for Toyota owners for both iPhone and Android mobile phones as a free download with a complimentary subscription from the Apple App Store and Google Play. Drivers also can use the app connected to the vehicle head unit free of charge.

"Scout GPS Link provides a flexible brought-in platform that enables car makers to customize the in-car experience to meet their customer needs," said Sal Dhanani, President of Telenav's Automotive Business Unit. "We are excited to partner with one of the world's largest vehicle manufacturers to provide Toyota drivers with a seamless navigation experience across their phone and car screens."

"We're pleased to add Scout GPS Link to Toyota's connected vehicle platform," said Sandy Lobenstein, Vice President for Connected Vehicle Technology and Product Planning at Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Inc. "This partnership with Telenav allows us to provide a unique search and navigation experience that our drivers can access wherever they go."

"We're proud to have been selected by Toyota and to work with Telenav," said Chris Ruff, CEO and President, UIEvolution. "We understand the importance of in-car connectivity and look forward to once again, working together to deliver robust and sophisticated in-vehicle experiences that are safe, seamless, driver-friendly and optimized for the road."

Scout GPS Link features that will be available in upcoming 2016 Toyota vehicles include:

•Seamless usage between phone and car: Scout GPS Link is fully functional outside the car with the mobile app and automatically transfers the experience to the car for a full navigation experience enabled by UIEngine Link.

•No retyping necessary: Scout GPS Link automatically transfers search results, navigation routes and drivers' favorite locations and recent destinations from the phone to the car.

•Fast and easy: Drivers can get on the road faster with one tap from the Scout GPS Link home screen on the multimedia system.

•Enhanced search capabilities: Drivers can find the best places to eat and shop, get gas, and more, with intelligent conversational search commands and one-touch popular search categories.

•Voice activation: Hands-free voice commands allow users to keep their hands on the wheel and eyes on the road.

•Easy-to-follow directions: Users receive voice-guided navigation with driver-friendly turn-by-turn views, displaying the most relevant information, including upcoming maneuvers.

•Multitasking without disruption: Drivers can use other multimedia functions, such as taking phone calls or listening to music, without disrupting navigation while keeping eyes on the road and hands on the wheel.

So does this mean it will be an update available to pre 2016 EnTune models?

Lame. Sounds like another subscription. Android Auto or Apple Car Play would have done the same thing.

Man they could save themselves a bunch of money to spend on other, often more useful items than the crappy nav. It is okay for what it is, what it is, is not great. Plus $100+ for infrequent maps update via the dealer, whatever.

The problem and old method of thinking that they haven't seemed to grasp (or maybe they have?), most everyone has a better GPS/map app on their phone and if they don't they often have a better handheld (more frequently updated) GPS.

Google and other map apps have often far better more frequently updated information, traffic, weather, ect.

IMHO What they need to spend that money on is pass-through, just mirror the phone and be done with it.

Scout is a great app, I've used it for over two years, my LX450 didn't have navigation and it's always updated, no need to pay for map updates.

Does this mean the new Tacomas will be hackable from 10 miles away by people with laptops and cell phones, which is just about everybody?

just buy a new head unit that BT information from your phone to the screen. google maps. problem solved.

Maybe that is what they are doing to address the current nav systems maladies, regardless they should still support mirroring.
Oddly that is what I did with my 3rd gen, I really enjoyed it. Color me stoopid, my 5th gen was my first new truck in 25 years, my bad for not doing enough research and to think that the OEM solution would have similar functionality as the 4 year old aftermarket head-unit I bought for my 99'. I figured that since my truck now has 20+ computers in it instead of just one that just maybe they could pull something better off, like I said my bad for lack of research, that doesn't mean I am still not going to complain about it. Frankly at a minimum software updates should be included in a 3/36 if you ask me. New territory for car manufacturers.