CarPlay 2, aka next-generation CarPlay, was announced way back in the summer of 2022. At the time, Apple said that a list of supporting cars would be available in 2023, and two brands were later said to be launching in 2024.
Today is the last chance to hit that deadline, and Apple’s CarPlay webpage still carries that promise. Unless there’s a surprise announcement later today, the question is: Will the date be quietly changed to 2025, or is this project now dead in the water … ?
CarPlay
First announced as “iOS in the Car” in 2013, and quickly rebranded to CarPlay, the first version launched as part of iOS 7. It got a new look in 2019.
CarPlay Dashboard is the biggest rethinking of the CarPlay Home screen since it launched. While we’ve seen the ability to rearrange apps and hide select apps added over the years, CarPlay in iOS 13 adds an additional Home screen to the left of the existing icon grid that presents a dynamic cluster of information on a grid.
The left half of the Dashboard shows your location on a map, current navigation, or an overview of your route. The right half of Dashboard is even more dynamic, surfacing quick access to upcoming calendar events which can include addresses, suggestions for routes including home, playback controls for audio apps, and Siri Suggestions including HomeKit actions like opening your garage when you arrive home.
CarPlay 2 promises
Apple announced a huge overhaul of CarPlay at WWDC 2022, in which the feature would take over the entire dashboard.
This next generation of CarPlay is the ultimate iPhone experience for the car. It provides content for all the driver’s screens including the instrument cluster, ensuring a cohesive design experience that is the very best of your car and your iPhone. Vehicle functions like radio and temperature controls are handled right from CarPlay. And personalization options ranging from widgets to selecting curated gauge cluster designs make it unique to the driver.
The webpage read “vehicle announcements coming in late 2023,” with an impressive list of automakers said to be on board:
- Land Rover
- Mercedes Benz
- Lincoln
- Audi
- Volvo
- Honda
- Porsche
- Nissan
- Ford
- Jaguar
- Acura
- Polestar
- Infiniti
- Renault
At the end of the year, Porsche and Aston Martin – which had not been on the original list – each said they would be launching new models with CarPlay 2 in 2024. As of the time of writing on December 31, Apple’s website still lists it as coming this year.
Will it launch in 2025, or is the project dead?
Barring a surprise car launch or two on the final day of the year, that promised date will need to be changed to 2025. But the bigger question is whether it will now happen at all?
One of the companies on the original list changed its mind earlier this year. When The Verge’s Nilay Patel asked CEO Ola Källenius whether Mercedes-Benz would ever support next-generation CarPlay and let Apple “take over all of the infotainment” in a car, he replied that “the short answer is no.”
We noted at the time that other car brands were keeping quiet about it, which didn’t seem a good sign. That was still the case in September, when Porsche said it had no updates on its plans, and Aston Martin declined to comment at all.
Given the continued sound of chirping crickets, it seems more than possible that other car brands have reached the same conclusion as Mercedes. Given the technological sophistication of today’s cars, it really doesn’t make sense to hand over your screens to a third-party company, and it will make even less sense as we inch ever closer to true self-driving vehicles.
We’ll have to see whether Apple changes the date, or quietly removes all reference to next-gen CarPlay. Either way, if I were a betting man, my money would be on it never launching at all – or only in such a watered-down fashion that it will really be more like CarPlay 1.2.
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Image: Apple
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