Apple's WWDC23 Keynote Doesn't Bring the Big CarPlay Update We Expected

• Apple's WWDC23 conference just finished, but we didn't get any of the big CarPlay news we expected.
• There are changes, but they are minor compared to what Apple unveiled last year.
• We'll likely have to wait until at least September to find out more about CarPlay's next iteration.

For those unfamiliar with Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), it's the annual event where the tech giant's most senior engineers take center stage and share new products — often both hardware- and software-related. Last year, Apple wowed with news of an all-new version of Apple CarPlay that would take complete control of a car's infotainment display and instrument panel (pictured above). This year's keynote, however, made little in the way of updates to CarPlay.

Apple did announce iOS 17, which makes just one small change to CarPlay. Apple Music subscribers will now be able to create Collaborative Playlists, and passengers will be able to add to the queue and control what's playing from their own devices using the SharePlay function. The new feature is very similar to a feature found on Spotify, where users can share a code and collaborate on a playlist together.

The new operating system also features offline maps for Apple's Maps app, which allows users to download a portion of a map and still get turn-by-turn directions. While we assume this feature will work with CarPlay, Apple didn't say for sure. We have reached out to an Apple spokesperson for confirmation and will update this piece as we receive new information.

That said, the news is hardly the update we were expecting on the future of CarPlay. The newest version that Apple first showed last year essentially turns your car into an iPhone/iPad with widgets for at-a-glance information, new instrument panel displays, and major functions being controlled by Apple's own software. When it released its concept for the next version of CarPlay in 2022, Apple said "more information about the next generation of CarPlay will be shared in the future, and vehicles will start to be announced late next year." Since WWDC is where most of their new software makes its debut, we were expecting another announcement detailing CarPlay's next big move.

We'll likely have to wait until September when Apple hosts its other major keynote event (where it typically unveils the new iPhone) to get word on which automakers are going to work with Apple and adopt its new CarPlay software. That's likely the earliest we will learn which cars will use this more expansive version of CarPlay and when it will be officially rolled out to customers.

Edmunds says

As is the norm with Apple, it'll get to the release of the next generation of CarPlay in its own time.