CarPlay is a platform with which, if we connect our iPhone to the car, we can take advantage of Apple’s interface to carry out certain tasks. But this same 2023, this system may end up taking a radical turn that would lead it to be in an even more powerful position. If you want to know what this change is about and how it will end up coming, we will explain it to you in this post.
From platform to software
Currently, CarPlay is a platform that introduces the iOS operating system to vehicles with compatible screens. This does not replace the car software, but the operating system runs on a layer above, and also depends on the iPhone to run. That is to say: it is the interface with which the iPhone manifests itself in our car when we connect it by cable or by Bluetooth.
With this system we can access to control all the multimedia and navigation section of our car using the iPhone on the screen. But, until now, the thing remained there. Beyond music, maps and hands-free calls, all other aspects of the car are not dependent on the iPhone. Options such as the air conditioning, the rev counter or the gears continue to work separately from CarPlay.
The integration will be deep
In the same way that Android is beginning to be more integrated into vehicles, with Android Automate being their main software, something similar could happen with CarPlay, but there are still unknowns about how it will be carried out. And it is that if right now, CarPlay is a software layer, at the end of this year could become the default software of the vehicles.
Or at least be software that can be used to control all aspects more purely “of the car”. The air conditioning and heating, the kilometer counter, the speed indicator, the car’s battery level (if it is electric), or fuel (if it is a thermal engine), etc. Everything that the manufacturer’s proprietary software offered can now be offered by CarPlay, since it will also adapt to the screens and controls that our car has.
For its part, Apple has announced that the new vehicles that are already going to incorporate this new software will be announced at the end of this year 2023. In addition, the current version of CarPlay is available in more than 600 models of vehicles of many brands. And as if that were not enough, third-party manufacturers are the ones that mount the hardware compatible with Apple CarPlay, these being:
- Alpine
- blaupunkt
- Clarion
- JVC
- kenwood
- pioneer
- sony
Still there are many things to know. Can it be installed in our current vehicle to replace the car software? Will it be reinstalled on new models? Will it be a software layer but more advanced? What vehicle models and makes will work with this new interface? Throughout this year we will learn more details. And if Apple keeps its word to announce news regarding new vehicles that will have this system, it may be in October or November when we have more certain and “clear” information.
