Or it could be something in your car software or the usb plug.I have a mini13 with 18.1 and a 2021 Nissan March. After months of frustration, I found that the wire used in my wired connection has become a critical component, so I’m using a genuine Apple cord. I have also found that after I click OK twice on the splash screen and it hangs, unplugging and replugging usually works. It’s really frustrating.
What’s weird is I’ve tried an iPhone with the current version of iOS 16, and one with the current version of 17, and they exhibit the same annoying behavior. It seems that Apple has modified CarPlay—probably through a security fix.
This stuff is really hard to debug because there are multiple components and we don't have logs or other visibility into what each one is doing.