Years ago, the internet buzzed with rumors of an Apple Car. A physical car. Apple’s largest, most ambitious product yet.
It was the time when automotive startups were flourishing. Electric vehicles were exciting, their technology feasible, and the industry seemed ripe for reinvention. Naturally, we wondered: what would a car, reimagined by Apple, look like?
The rumors surged and subsided. Eventually, they vanished. Apple would not be building a car. Instead, we got the Apple Vision Pro.
But I believe we will get an Apple Car. Just not in the way anyone imagined.
At WWDC, Apple quietly offered a glimpse of their automotive ambitions. A new version of CarPlay was unveiled. Not just an upgrade, but an overhaul.
CarPlay, for years, was that little iPhone-mirroring interface you might use for navigation or music in your car. It was convenient but contained. Now, it’s breaking free.
The new CarPlay doesn’t stop at the infotainment screen. It reaches into every corner of the dashboard. Speedometers, climate controls, even energy usage displays can be driven by CarPlay.
Apple published an in-depth tutorial for developers, outlining how to integrate with this system. The message is clear: Apple is stepping deeper into the driver’s seat.
Most of us already prefer CarPlay over the clunky systems built into our cars. Imagine that preference extending to every digital interface in the vehicle. One seamless, unified experience.
This is Apple’s endgame. Not to build cars, but to own the interface between human and machine.
Think of the Apple TV. Apple doesn’t make TVs. It makes the Apple TV—a box that transforms any screen into an Apple-controlled experience.
The new CarPlay hints at the same strategy. Apple doesn’t need to build cars. It just needs to control how we interact with them.
What if Apple launches CarOS? A software layer for car manufacturers, abstracting away the messy, outdated digital systems. Apple would own the interaction. The hardware becomes a shell for Apple’s vision.
With CarPlay’s evolution, Apple has reduced the essence of a car to one thing: interaction. Why build the hardware when they can own the experience?