If you visit Apple's website right now, you can clearly see the company has already promised that the first vehicles with CarPlay 2 will arrive in 2024. While 2024 is finished and we're just onto 2025, Apple has remained tight-lipped about the next-generation CarPlay. However, despite unexpected delays, Apple's CarPlay 2 project is still alive.
Apple's foray into the automotive market began in 2014 with the unveiling of CarPlay and the ambition to build an Apple-branded EV, codenamed "Project Titan." As time passed, the ambition for building a standalone EV diminished, and Apple concentrated all its resources on making CarPlay the standard interface for modern vehicles, doubling down on rivalry with Google's Android Auto.
Back in 2022, Apple gave us a tantalizing glimpse into the CarPlay 2 at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). The next-generation CarPlay promised to add support for multiple screens and bring more advanced widgets for popular applications. With the iOS 18.2 Beta release, Apple also pulled back the curtain on some CarPlay 2 changes, such as new icons for Climate and Media apps.
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. 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. 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.
While Apple missed the 2024 for releasing the next-generation CarPlay, the company doesn't seem to have abandoned the project. Instead, Apple might be working on a tailored version of CarPlay for each vehicle model.
As Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported in March, "Apple's design team has to work with carmakers to create a bespoke interface and style for each model. Even without a fully integrated approach, the new CarPlay still needs to be customized."
Apple's partner car companies and models to receive CarPlay 2 are yet to be discovered. So far, Porsche and Aston Martin are the only car brands that formally approved support for CarPlay 2.
While the exact features and capabilities of CarPlay 2 are still in question, integration with Apple Intelligence and bringing some AI-driven features are welcome additions we would like to see on the next-generation CarPlay.
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