Apple, get your foot down on the pedal and gooooo. We’ve been stuck in standstill traffic waiting for you to release the next generation of CarPlay, the rare piece of technology that’s, more or less, worked fairly seamlessly since its debut in car dashboards 10 years ago in March 2014.
By Apple’s count, there are now more than 800 models compatible with CarPlay for sale on the US market right now. I’ve driven a number of them, and while CarPlay is my preferred way of connecting my iPhone to cars for distraction-free music streaming and navigation, I’m excited about the early rumors for the next generation.
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In the next version of CarPlay, users will be able to create widgets for a greater degree of customization. Like widgets on your iPad or iPhone, they’ll allow quicker access to chosen information and interfaces. I may even use them in CarPlay more, since I hate taking my eyes off the road and the fewer the screen presses to access something, the better.
“This next generation of CarPlay is the ultimate iPhone experience for the car,” Apple says under the “Next Generation” section of its webpage on CarPlay. “It provides content for all the driver’s screens including the instrument cluster.
“This ensures a cohesive design experience that is the very best of your car and your iPhone — with designs for each automaker that express your vehicle’s character and brand.”
There’ll be greater integration with the car’s controls, too. Adjusting the radio or temperature controls could be handled through CarPlay, according to Apple, which I personally welcome.
Some automakers do a solid job of simplifying controls for these functions, but many more make a complicated mess of it. I have a bit more confidence in CarPlay’s ability, for these cursed examples, to offer a simplified alternative.
So the big question now is when it’ll arrive. As MacRumors pointed out, Apple’s webpage for CarPlay 2 mentioned it would “arrive in 2024” throughout last year, but that mention was deleted from the webpage this month with no replacement arrival date.
The rest of the section on the next generation of CarPlay remained, though, so it stood to reason it was still being worked on. Then 9to5Mac got the following statement from an Apple spokesperson:
“The next generation of CarPlay builds on years of success and insights gained from CarPlay, delivering the best of Apple and the automaker in a deeply integrated and customizable experience.
“We continue to work closely with several automakers, enabling them to showcase their unique brand and visual design philosophies in the next generation of CarPlay. Each car brand will share more details as they near the announcements of their models that will support the next generation of CarPlay.”
The hedging is a bummer, but with the news that Apple hasn’t just given up on CarPlay 2, there’s consolation in knowing that it’s coming at some point. Until then, we’ll have to make do with the current iteration of CarPlay.
