Last Updated on June 8, 2022 by srinivas
The tech world watched as Apple unveiled and demonstrated iOS 16, its upcoming iPhone software update, at WWDC this week. And it lived up to the pre-event hype with a range of excellent new features, from radically improved lock screen customization to much-anticipated editing and non-sending features in Messages.
Aside from the kind of delays we saw with Universal Control last year, these will all arrive in the fall when the public version of iOS 16 is made available for compatible iPhones around the world. (It should appear alongside the iPhone 14 in about a week or so.)
Perhaps the most exciting iOS development announced at WWDC 2022, however, will have to wait a little longer. And maybe much longer.
CarPlay, that platform designed to integrate your iPhone and several of its core apps with your vehicle’s interface, has some significant changes in store. Rather than being limited to a single screen, the next-gen version of CarPlay takes over the entire front panel, including speed, rpm and fuel buttons, and takes control of your car’s functions, such as climate control and the radio. In the spirit of customization this year, you can also customize the interface in ways not currently possible, by changing colors and adding widgets to your heart’s content.
Apple
The new version of CarPlay will bring together more elements of the driving experience than ever before. You can get weather and music information at a glance and use apps for tolling, towing and refueling. It’s not just a projection of from your iPhone — the CarPlay demo was a remarkable and somewhat unusual reveal of a concept that’s nowhere near shipping, sandwiched between iOS 16 and watchOS 9.
Like you, my first reaction to the announcements and teaser images was excitement, especially since Apple is always at its best when it gains extensive control over a product. When it makes both the phone and the phone’s operating system, we get the iPhone. If it needs to co-create software with someone else, we get iTunes for Windows or the ROKR phone. Apple’s design specialty is the invisible glue among features, and it can only add value in that area if it gains control over a broad tranche of the user experience.
It doesn’t seem likely that Apple will make automotive hardware in the near future. Even if the Apple Car becomes a reality in a year or so, an auto partner will build the auto parts: wheels, engine, and so on. But full 360-degree control over the in-car software is a much more appealing prospect than the current horse-engineered commission you get when iOS has to coexist inconveniently with the manufacturer’s own software. For example, I find it frustrating trying to remember the separate and conflicting naming conventions used by Skoda (in most parts of my car’s interface) and Apple (when I’m in CarPlay) and the different ways I have to navigate, depending on which company is currently in control. I’d rather Apple handle the whole thing and develop some good software muscle memory about which visual or written elements are associated with which function.
It’s also exciting and cool to see the entire front panel of a vehicle act like a digital touchscreen, offering the same kind of transformative versatility we got when we switched from BlackBerry hardware keyboards to the iPhone’s soft keyboard. Depending on the context, that panel can be used for almost anything. (My own personal dream feature would be to connect it to cameras on the outside of the car so you could see the outside world ‘through’ the panel. But that may be why I’m writing this article and not designing cars. )
IDG
Caution and Yield Signs
However. However. You’ll notice that I’ve called this the coolest and most exciting iOS announcement rather than the best or most practical because there are still some concerns. Obviously turning a car’s front panel into a dynamic touchscreen is a much bigger step than with a phone, because you’re not looking at a phone when you’re driving 70 on the highway.
Apple will have to think seriously about the dangers of distraction, and the value of controls that you can find without looking, because they’re always in the same place or because they’re plastic and you can feel them with your finger. fingers. Haptics could help here, as would to a lesser extent the kind of Focus modes we’ve seen in recent editions of iOS: some visuals might lock automatically if you’re driving over 10 mph, others kick in (or stop working). ) when rain or low light is detected. It could work, but it needs some careful thought.
Apple
Still, Apple has time to make it work, as this is a work in progress. CarPlay 2.0 (if we call it that) isn’t coming with iOS 16 this fall. While Apple has bragged that it’s working with Audi, Porsche, Ford and other automakers to implement the new technology, it will be by the end of next year before we even know in which cars it will be integrated. And then probably another year or two before we actually get to see it on the road.
But those of us who have followed the Apple Car saga are used to waiting. At least we’ve got a clear idea of what’s in the pipeline, even if the details might need a little more work before they hit the road.