The new generation of CarPlay was announced years ago, but has still not been officially released. Will Apple still come with CarPlay 2.0?
CarPlay 2.0
At WWDC in 2022, Apple announced the new generation of CarPlay. With CarPlay 2.0, almost all screens in your car are taken over and the software gains access to many more functions of the car. You can control the radio, air conditioning, (seat) heating and lighting of the vehicle via the updated version of CarPlay. You will no longer need physical buttons with the next version of CarPlay.
Expectations were therefore high for CarPlay 2.0, but little has changed after the announcement in 2022. Apple has still not released the updated version of the operating system and the listing on the website is also unchanged. Apple indicates that the first cars with CarPlay 2.0 will appear in 2024, but that chance seems small now that it is December. Will Apple still release the new version of CarPlay?
Car brands are cautious
Although Apple’s website still states that CarPlay 2.0 is coming this year, it is almost certain that the major update will be postponed to 2025 or even later. This may have to do with various car brands, which are currently reluctant to integrate CarPlay 2.0. The next generation of the operating system will take over almost all functions in the car, which is why car manufacturers are afraid of losing control of important software.
This software is taken over by Apple with CarPlay 2.0, with the result that manufacturers have less insight into car driver data. This has already caused General Motors to abandon CarPlay 2.0. Apple will probably have to make good agreements with manufacturers about (sharing) the collected data. In addition, there are no cars yet with support for the new version of CarPlay. For example, Porsche announced that it would stick with the current generation of CarPlay for the time being.
CarPay 2.0 in iOS 18
December is an unusual month for new car releases, so it’s almost certain that CarPlay 2.0 won’t arrive until 2025. In any case, Apple is still working on the update, because new CarPlay symbols have appeared in a recent test version of iOS 18. Apps such as Climate and Media are added to CarPlay 2.0. In iOS 18.2, Apple added the icons of these apps.
It therefore appears that CarPlay 2.0 is not off the track and will be released later. It is unclear exactly when the next generation of the operating system will be released, but it will certainly be 2025 or later. Apple’s website will probably be updated soon, which happened around the same time in 2024. Then we will know more about Apple’s plans for CarPlay 2.0.
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