Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Hoping my current car gets this. It is a manufacturer that is on board and still in production. My bet they add it for the 2025 model and not my 2022 or anything earlier.
 
I expect that it will be a set of APIs, I very much doubt that Apple will want their code on a multitude of infotainment platforms.

I agree with your second point though.
A distinction without a difference, I believe. CarPlay (and Android Auto) are simply layers that project from your phone over the car's UI and communicate little if at all with the car's systems. So this method is a limitation, not a feature. To go beyond this limitation some version or component of CarPlay has to run natively on your car's hardware, independently of your phone, or most of what is being described here simply can't be done. Many seem to believe Apple is going to release a new version of CarPlay that will allow the instrument clusters on their cars and other controls to be projected from their phones. Never, as in, no way. Apple wouldn't want that and neither would the carmakers.
 
I really wonder where all of this will go, especially if Apple Car becomes reality. I wonder if they will make it as simplistic as possible... no clutter at all?

I just hope they release it with USB C charge port on the side... I really don't want to have to turn over my car each evening to insert a lightning port in the underside 😆
 
I wish there was a way to add your own wallpaper. Seems like a simple enough thing to implement and lots of folk would like it. Heck I would even spring a moderate amount for an app that would do this. A static image would do.. a time/date widget would be a bonus
 
I hear you... within a few years or so they will be clamping down hard on these distractions. I think the only good thing about this.. is perhaps a sort of black box device.. with the amount of tech in the car they could record every user interaction, every vehicle movement and crash detection signals. So post accident.. you will have to own up to what you were doing in the moments before a crash.. otherwise the data will get you.

I too cannot wait for my every micro movement to be recorded and continually monitored in order to raise my insurance costs
 
  • Love
Reactions: TheNewLou
Don't most of these features require additional and/or bigger screens and integration with the car's controls? Doesn't sound that easy to me, but perhaps I am missing something
Depends on the car. This is supposed to scale across systems. I have a 2017 civic And it has a main screen and then a screen behind the steering wheel. as well as Wi-Fi and bluetooth and regular CarPlay. I don’t see why it couldn’t be done from a technological standpoint
 
I too cannot wait for my every micro movement to be recorded and continually monitored in order to raise my insurance costs

I think it's inevitable. Especially if self driving becomes the normal thing. Black boxes will be required to allow car companies to know what went wrong, and how to resolve issues that result in fatalities.

They would have to be standardised too..

I think if you're a responsible driver, these things would actually lower your insurance costs.
 
Incidentally, a growing number of companies are realizing that Tesla's (like Apple's) appeal is that the entire product was made by one company with a singular vision. No user-facing design work was outsourced, and so we're starting to see them backtrack on their adoption of CarPlay at all.

CarPlay is a lot like Safari on Windows or iTunes on a Motorola phone - it's misguided and confusing what Apple thinks they're doing. Why is Apple trying to control just the software and outsource all the hardware? That's the kind of nonsense that Microsoft used to do with Windows.
What’s the alternative? Should Apple be trying to sell gauge clusters and center console units to car manufacturers?
 
What’s the alternative? Should Apple be trying to sell gauge clusters and center console units to car manufacturers?
They will just make their own car... essentially what Surface was for Microsoft.

I just don't see this going the way Apple want it to go, unless its on their own device. It's what they do, its what they are known for and they are good at it.
 
I just want a weather widget on CarPlay!
I prefer a car with windows.

Still looks a bit too busy for a car dashboard in my opinion.
Dunno, most cars have horrible screen interfaces. When my CarPlay screen pops up on my Mercedes dashboard, it's a breath of fresh air.

CarPlay is the most buggy software I have and in a car you need to have the least amount of distractions. Needs to be very robust.
True. It is very very buggy. Not only the connection between the iPhone and the car, but the apps as well. It very much feels like a hobby project. And don't forget the bare bones interface: you can't even switch focus modes or silence notifications.
 
I don't need more features. My 2022 XC40 has all that stuff and more built in already. I just want the features it has now to work better, sort of like the factory voice controls. Press the button on the steering wheel, say "turn on the driver side seat heater, and turn the fan up to high." Done. "Play XM Deep Tracks channel." Done. "Play WXRT FM." Done. "Navigate to 109 Fleet Landing Boulevard Atlantic Beach Florida." Done. "Turn off Adaptive Cruise Control."

Just make it work better and faster. Got so sick of my brother screaming "Hey Siri!!! Take me to Taos New Mexico" over and over in his 2023 Tundra and getting no response at least half the time. Then his wife screaming at it to no avail.
Yeah, I’m sure it varies greatly from model to model and among manufacturers, but I have no complaints of the built-in (BMW) facilities. Like you, I use voice for pretty much anything I want, and it just works. Certainly more responsive than anything I try to do with Siri.

These days I seem to only use CarPlay when I use a radio streaming app I like (TuneIn) or Amazon Music. Even there, CarPlay support for vehicle controls seems inconsistent. In Amazon Music I can use the steering wheel (or center console buttons) controls to skip track, but TuneIn apparently can’t switch stations or do anything with vehicle controls. I know that’s more the app developer’s responsibility, but it seems like something that basic would be a requirement to claim “CarPlay” compatibility.
 
A distinction without a difference, I believe. CarPlay (and Android Auto) are simply layers that project from your phone over the car's UI and communicate little if at all with the car's systems. So this method is a limitation, not a feature. To go beyond this limitation some version or component of CarPlay has to run natively on your car's hardware, independently of your phone, or most of what is being described here simply can't be done. Many seem to believe Apple is going to release a new version of CarPlay that will allow the instrument clusters on their cars and other controls to be projected from their phones. Never, as in, no way. Apple wouldn't want that and neither would the carmakers.

There is no way Apple is going to make this hardware dependent on the Car Makers. It is 100% going to continue to be a projection of your phone on all the screens. Other then people's intuition, it would go against the way Apple would want to handle their Software.

Everything here can continue be done with projection from your phone. The hardware from Apple that would be part of the vehicular systems is simple data acquisition that is to the phone. They already have this functionality but is very limited to lighting/gps currently.


In Apple's ideal world, they would simply have access to all of the vehicle's CAN buss'. But more then likely the Auto Manufactures will want more control over it and chose to relay this info to Apple's DAQ
 
  • Like
Reactions: Roadster Lewis
I prefer a car with windows.


Dunno, most cars have horrible screen interfaces. When my CarPlay screen pops up on my Mercedes dashboard, it's a breath of fresh air.


True. It is very very buggy. Not only the connection between the iPhone and the car, but the apps as well. It very much feels like a hobby project. And don't forget the bare bones interface: you can't even switch focus modes or silence notifications.
My experience it is usually the car bluetooth stack crashing. 90% of the time rebooting the phone or trying to reconnect does not work and only thing that does is rebooting the stereo. Can only imagine if the speedometer crashes
 
  • Like
Reactions: Roadster Lewis
With Apple's software QC firmly in the toilet these days, I'd definitely wait a good year or more after release before trusting this in my car.
 
  • Disagree
  • Like
Reactions: ErikGrim and Mr_Ed
All most people really need (myself included) is a dock to snap in the iPhone (with charging) and a projector that displays the screen in 4x above the dash.
 
Agree... Ford's SYNC 4A interface is actually very nice. The UI is well thought out and not laggy.
I think older hardware was laggy. My 2021 vehicle wasn’t “laggy” per se, but it wasn’t smooth. My latest 2024 vehicle is much smoother and quicker when reacting to touch/swiping.
 
I too cannot wait for my every micro movement to be recorded and continually monitored in order to raise my insurance costs
For better or worse, I was recently hit in a parking lot, hit and run, driver also banged up a few other cars on their rapid escape. I’d THOUGHT I was going to go through a long extended “thing” with the insurance company, but it was cleared in less than a week. Totaled the car and was out shopping for a new one.

If the telemetry in my car showed I was motionless foot on brake in the GPS tagged parking lot when I was struck from the side… such that the insurance company doesn’t fight it? I’m for it. I guess that also means I’d HAVE to be “for” it if the data showed that I spend most of my time driving weaving rapidly in and out of traffic going 30 over the posted speed limit and burning doughnuts in parking lots.

Guess I’ll have to resist the urge to do those two.
 
The timing of this post is hilarious - I literally screenshot Apple's CarPlay page this weekend to keep track of when they change the phrasing to "early 2024" (or whatever) cuzzzz...I don't have high hopes this is coming before EOY 😅 ALTHOUGH, the 2024 Kia EV9 is coming to the US imminently and it's the first Kia getting Digital Key 2, which uses UWB to use the iPhone as a key and more. The EV9 is likely my next car so I'm hoping they come out as CarPlay 2 compatible!! I won't hold my breath, though.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.