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Apple’s New CarPlay Is the Foreshock to Releasing Its Own Vehicle
The next-generation CarPlay interface is a precursor to an eventual Apple-designed Tesla rival. Also: Apple’s flawed new multitasking system, what it means that the company’s tvOS was missing in action at WWDC 2022, and how the event was full of clues about an upcoming AR/VR headset.
www.bloomberg.com
Apple’s next-generation CarPlay interface. Source: Apple
The next-generation CarPlay interface is a precursor to an eventual Apple-designed Tesla rival. Also: Apple’s flawed new multitasking system, what it means that the company’s tvOS was missing in action at WWDC 2022, and how the event was full of clues about an upcoming AR/VR headset.
Last week in Power On: Apple’s AR/VR headset and realityOS won’t be at WWDC, but the product will still be a hot topic.
When Apple Inc. unveiled a new version of CarPlay at the Worldwide Developers Conference last week, it was more than a software update—it previewed one of the most exciting products in the company’s pipeline: an electric car.
The move fit a pattern for Apple. Before the company enters a major new product category, it usually releases something that serves as the foundation.
- In January 2001, Apple launched iTunes. Ten months later, the iPod arrived.
- In 2014, Apple released HealthKit and the Health app, which heralded the Apple Watch’s debut in 2015.
- Also in 2014, Apple introduced HomeKit. That predated the HomePod smart speaker, as well as smart-home hub technology being integrated into the iPad and Apple TV.
- Currently, Apple is all-in on augmented and virtual reality, having launched ARKit in 2017. It’s also continually adding new related technologies across its platforms, creating the foundation of its upcoming headset and realityOS.
As I reported last October, the new CarPlay expands Apple’s in-car interface from controlling just Apple apps to controlling the entire vehicle. The new CarPlay is capable of replacing a car’s instrument clusters, radio, temperature controls and more with an Apple interface.
The new interface is also fully customizable, letting users personalize the look of their instrument clusters, the screens in their cars, and widgets for weather, calendar appointments, trip data, time zones, music and smart-home appliances.
I think the new CarPlay interface is exceptionally well-designed and will instantly become a must-have for a new car purchase. It also looks more like an entirely new operating system than just a next-generation version of CarPlay.
That’s why it seems like the ideal interface for an Apple car later this decade. But that raises a key question: Why would Apple bring this interface to third-party cars if it’s planning its own vehicle with the same approach?
The easy answer is that Apple wants to show consumers its car chops. You like what you see here? Then you’re going to love the Apple car. It also helps the company learn about the auto industry and gather the necessary data to help build its own ride.
But let’s go deeper. Apple needs to keep adding reasons for people to hold on to their iPhones and upgrade to new models. On average, Americans spend an hour behind the wheel daily, according to some estimates. If a consumer loves the in-car interface powered by the iPhone, that’s another check box that will keep the customer from switching to Android.
There’s also a potential way for CarPlay to become another revenue driver for Apple. Today, Apple doesn’t collect royalties or fees from automakers that use CarPlay. The current system also requires connecting an iPhone.
But the situation could change if Apple got more involved with the process. In-car infotainment systems require special components, software and engineering time—and that’s not typically the core competency of car makers. I’m sure some of them would love to pass off that responsibility.
If the next version of CarPlay becomes popular enough, perhaps Apple could create a version that is built completely into vehicles and doesn’t require an iPhone. Google currently offers such a system, called Android Automotive (rather than the Android Auto feature that requires a phone). An Apple “carOS” could be useful for automakers, which are always looking for features that can increase sales and cut expenses. Paying a royalty for Apple to handle their in-car OS might be the answer.
Now, back to the Apple car. How far along is it really? Despite all the recent staff departures from the project, I’m still led to believe that development of a vehicle is moving forward.
The latest I’ve gathered is that Apple is negotiating supply-chain deals for car parts and overall manufacturing. I’m also told that Kevin Lynch, the new head of the project, has roped in some of his lieutenants from the Apple Watch group to help develop the car.
Lynch also recently reshuffled the car management team, and people familiar with the group say it’s now hitting deadlines that it might have missed under previous leadership.
I’m told that Apple has some of the car industry’s best design minds working on what the actual vehicle will look like. That includes former Aston Martin interiors manager Duncan Taylor, ex-Aston Martin chief concept engineer Pete Jolley, former Tesla exteriors and interiors vice president Steve MacManus and ex-Porsche executive Manfred Harrer.
Though people familiar with the project doubt Apple will meet its goal of shipping a fully autonomous car around 2025, the company is still aiming to announce a vehicle as early as then. Even without self-driving capabilities, a well-designed Apple car with all of the iPhone’s bells and whistles could quickly become a serious challenger to Tesla Inc.
Focus: Apple eyes fuel purchases from dashboard as it revs up car software
Apple Inc wants you to start buying gas directly from your car dashboard as early as this fall, when the newest version of its CarPlay software rolls out, accelerating the company's push to turn your vehicle into a store for goods and services.
Apple eyes fuel purchases from dashboard as it revs up car software
June 30 (Reuters) - Apple Inc (AAPL.O) wants you to start buying gas directly from your car dashboard as early as this fall, when the newest version of its CarPlay software rolls out, accelerating the company's push to turn your vehicle into a store for goods and services.
A new feature quietly unveiled at Apple's developer conference this month will allow CarPlay users to tap an app to navigate to a pump and buy gas straight from a screen in the car, skipping the usual process of inserting or tapping a credit card. Details of Apple's demo for developers have not previously been reported.
But Dallas-based HF Sinclair (DINO.N), which markets its gasoline at 1,600 stations in the United States, told Reuters that it plans to use the new CarPlay technology and will announce details in coming months.
"We are excited by the idea that consumers could navigate to a Sinclair station and purchase fuel from their vehicle navigation screen," said Jack Barger, the company's senior vice president of marketing.
Fuel apps are just the latest in a sustained push by Apple to make it possible to tap to buy from the navigation screen. It has already opened up CarPlay to apps for parking, electric vehicle charging and ordering food, and it also is adding driving task apps such as logging mileage on business trips.
Fuel is a major expense for car owners. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimated in April that the average U.S. household will spend about $2,945 on gasoline in 2022, or about $455 more than last year.
Apple currently does not charge automakers, developers or users for CarPlay; the business interest is putting Apple at the forefront as cars transform into rolling computers, said Horace Dediu, an analyst with Asymco and founder of Micromobility Industries. The new feature will hit hundreds of car models already compatible with CarPlay when Apple releases software updates this fall.
"Forget about Apple Car - Apple CarPlay is a bigger deal," Dediu said. "It's very likely to scale to millions and millions of cars, if not hundreds of millions."
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