CarPlay Adds HiDPI Support, Automaker Apps, More in iOS 9

While automaker support for CarPlay has been slow to roll out, drivers everywhere (me included) are ready and waiting for their favourite makes to finally release CarPlay supported vehicles.

Today’s vehicle infotainment systems are getting more and more (and more) complicated, and an aspect of CarPlay that I’d always wondered about was just how you’d access your ride’s settings with a CarPlay enabled headunit.

Apple answered that question at WWDC by unveiling support for automaker apps in the CarPlay interface. This will allow drivers (and passengers) to change vehicle settings, climate control options, and much more, bearing that automakers develop the apps necessary to do so for their particular vehicles.

Apple also revealed that in iOS 9, CarPlay will feature support for various screen sizes and resolutions (including HiDPI displays), and that they’ve also cut the cord with wireless CarPlay in equipped vehicles (though that feature has actually been available since iOS 8.3).

Apple’s blurb on CarPlay in iOS 9 states that “If your car supports wireless connection to iPhone, you can use CarPlay without plugging in. CarPlay also plays audio messages, so you can hear from people in their own voices. If you use your car’s knobs to control CarPlay, you can now take full advantage of the way they tilt and spin to scroll through lists or pan around in Maps. And apps developed by car manufacturers are supported, too — so you can control more of your car’s features without ever leaving CarPlay.”

I’ll soon be in the market for a new vehicle, but the lack of CarPlay support in anything current (and most vehicles upcoming) is definitely turning me off of this year’s offerings. With a huge list of ‘dedicated’ CarPlay partners, I sure hope that we see the interface become more prominent soon.

What do you think of CarPlay so far? Would it be a deciding factor in purchasing your next vehicle? Let us know in the comments below, and head here for our news roundup of everything revealed at the 2015 WWDC keynote!