At its annual WWDC event, the tech giant announced that the next generation of CarPlay would soon be freed from the links that limit it to the main infotainment screen and spread to additional screens within The Car.
CarPlay will also, for the first time, use vehicle data to show critical driving information such as speed, fuel level and engine temperature measurements as well as allow users to control settings including radio or climate.
Will your car be ready for this extended version of CarPlay?
That’s why The Verge cited 12 major auto manufacturers about the updated CarPlay, and most responded that we’re working on it.”
To be sure, Apple itself wasn’t ready to reveal which car companies were involved, and promised to announce later this year which cars would support this more complex version of CarPlay, nor did it reveal which carmakers Apple was targeting.
Was this yet another case of Apple sending automakers scrambling to develop systems that could accommodate its vision of controlling the car? Here’s what the automakers told us:
BNW: “Currently we have placed a clear focus on further improving our iDrive user interface system and as part of this development, we will continue to seamlessly integrate into the Apple ecosystem. An integral part of these efforts will be to assess how to incorporate the latest innovations announced in WWDC in our solutions.
Volvo: “At the moment we don’t have anything to share other than that, we plan to support the next generation of Apple CarPlay in future cars.”
Toyota: “We cannot comment or speculate on the future product at this time.”
Ford: “Thank you for connecting with the story of the next generation of Apple CarPlay. We don’t have any additional information to share at this time.”
Polestar: “Apple CarPlay will be coming to Polestar 2 as part of an OTA update later this month. We are also excited to announce that the next generation of CarPlay will arrive in future Polestar vehicles.”
Stellants: “This is Apple’s OS for Car Apps and not the CarPlay Upgrade. We have not made any announcements regarding this system.”
GM: “General Motors does not have any specific commitments to announce at this time.”
Mercedes-Benz: “We are evaluating all potentially relevant new technologies and functions internally, in this context, we are also in discussions with Apple.”
One potential wrench in this plan is that a number of automakers have already made software deals with other technology companies. Ford is working with Google to design UX software for “millions” of future vehicles, while Stellantis is doing the same with Amazon. Volvo and Polestar have simply transformed the user experience into Google’s Android Auto, which already works in certain cars. Apple has not yet made any similar deals with car manufacturers.
This isn’t the first time Apple has promised multi-screen interoperability for CARPLAY.
This isn’t the first time Apple has promised multi-screen interactivity in CarPlay. When it unveiled iOS 13 in September 2019, the company promised an overhaul of CarPlay to make it more compatible with Google’s Android Auto.
This included the ability to support screens of different sizes and display information on two different screens in the vehicle at the same time, the company said at the time: “Car manufacturers could develop CarPlay systems that display information on a second screen, such as in an array or HUD main screen display. ‘, (Although this sentence no longer appears on Apple’s iOS 13 support page.)
At the time, automakers said they were still figuring out how to let Apple overlay the CarPlay screen on these secondary screens. After this week’s announcements, it looks like they’re still working on it.
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