Apple announces big improvements to Apple CarPlay, will Tesla adopt it now?

Apple shows off the new CarPlay coming next year

Apple

Emily Schubert, a senior manager for Apple presenting at Apple’s WWDC 2022 event, couldn’t sum up the impact of CarPlay better: 98% of new cars available in the US have CarPlay compatibility.

According to Apple, 79% of car buyers wouldn’t buy a car unless it was CarPlay/Android Auto capable.

You have to hand it to Apple, they managed to fundamentally change the auto industry in the eight years since CarPlay was introduced.

Offering a superior internet-connected car UI experience to the various proprietary (and frequently painfully slow and unintiutive) automaker infotainment systems, CarPlay has dominated the auto market.

Doubling-down on the success of CarPlay in dictating UI interfaces and interactions with entertainment and navigation functions, it appears Apple is interested in taking more UI-design and control away from automakers.

New CarPlay Features Coming in 2023

The next version of CarPlay will integrate more car-based functions, enabling the control of systems like climate control and the display of information like speedometer data.

Apple describes the next iteration of CarPlay (available in 2023) as “the ultimate iPhone experience for the car. It provides content for all the driver’s screens including the instrument cluster, ensuring a cohesive design experience that is the very best of your car and your iPhone. Vehicle functions like radio and temperature controls are handled right from CarPlay. And personalization options ranging from widgets to selecting curated gauge cluster designs make it unique to the driver.”

Car controls will now be able to be incorporated into CarPlay

Apple

The infotainment and instrument gauge cluster mock-up that Apple used in the presentation was stunning (as one would expect from a mock-graphic from a multi-billion dollar technology company).

The icon tray, in truth, resembled Tesla’s latest UI changes. The incredibly large and immersive screen, however, resembled the 65” MBUX Hyperscreen found in the Mercedes EQS design.

Automanufactuers have lined up to implement the new integration demands from Apple. Partners include Land Rover, Mercedes, Porsche, Nissan, Ford, Lincoln, Audi, Jaguar, Acura, Volvo/Polestar, Honda, Renault, and Infiniti. Noticeably absent was Tesla.

Tesla has an odd history with Apple. There were even rumored attempts to sell Tesla to Apple in 2015. The current speculation for a lack of CarPlay support is that Tesla is hesitant to give up their mostly successful UI design and control in favor of CarPlay.

In Tesla's defense, Tesla doesn't have a painfully slow infotainment like most automakers. Old automakers are happy to give up control of their infotainment system to Apple to help improve the user experience.

With this iteration of CarPlay, Apple is offering a whole car experience, meaing it not only has a dock to navigate to your favorite iPhone apps, but also to change car specific functions.

Functions such as adjusting your vehicle's climate control, and seat heaters.

However, Teslas have many features that likely wouldn't fit into CarPlay's offerings. Features such as the Toybox, car visualizations, Dashcam, Sentry Mode, and popular HVAC features such as Dog Mode and many others.

Advantages of CarPlay

The inclusion of CarPlay would mean that Teslas would instantly gain a huge amount of new audio streaming services and apps, along with better text messaging integration and Siri support.

Tesla owners would finally have access to SiriusXM, Apple Music, Pandora, YouTube Music and so many more services that have been highly requested by Tesla owners. Tesla has a good set of audio choices, but there are countless music streaming services nowadays.

The same could be true for video streaming, where Tesla owners wouldn't be limited to YouTube, Netflix and a couple others.

Apple CarPlay and Google's Android Auto have the huge advantage of having a robust ecosystem with millions of developers. We spend hours a day on these devices and store our most important information on them, such as photos, health and financial informaiton and more.

Phone apps already exist to do almost anything imagaineable. This makes it difficult for Tesla to compete with the amount of data and apps available on our devices.

Furthermore, Apple is adding widgets to CarPlay in this iteration. Widgets that could show you the weather, our workout activity, access to home controls and more.

Apple CarPlay will support custom layouts with widgets

Apple

Some of things these Tesla may never be able to incorporate because they don't have access to the user's data.

Disadvantages of adding CarPlay

For Tesla to implement CarPlay it could mean giving up a certain amount of control of their UI.

Some initial questions that come up are how would visualizations, AutoPilot controls and other features tie into CarPlay?

Would CarPlay live on a portion of the screen, leaving other portions available to Tesla specific features? Would it require two docks, one for CarPlay functions and another for Tesla specific functions such as Dashcam access and Caraoke?

Although Apple is offering various layout options for the speedometer and other features, Tesla would still be limited to Apple's offerings.

If Tesla were to adopt CarPlay, Tesla would likely have to adopt a similar UI to Apple's for their own features, so that CarPlay and Tesla functions would flow and the integration would look seamless.

This may be giving up more control than Tesla is willing to.

Competition is Heating Up

In addition, Tesla may be hesitant to partner with a company that is secretly designing an EV to directly compete with Tesla. Apple enthusiasts would point out that the new version of CarPlay does not require taking up the entire screen (and could be integrated into a window, similar to the jerry-rigged Tesla CarPlay solutions floating around the internet). But, ultimately, it is unclear if Tesla will budge on CarPlay implementation.

The impact of Apple’s latest CarPlay features remains to be seen, but one can’t deny that continuing to ignore customer demand for CarPlay functionality may ultimately affect demand for Tesla (as other car manufacturers start delivering their planned EV lineups).

Follow

Follow

Follow

Tesla Updates Energy App in Update 2025.8.3: Adds Reset and Distance Filter [VIDEO]

@EV3_Model3 on X

Tesla recently launched software update 2025.8.3, which included a bunch of “minor updates.” Nestled away in the release notes are a couple of interesting features - including some major changes to the Energy App.

We’re not quite sure we’d call these minor updates, so let’s take a bit of an exploration of the revitalized Energy App.

Select Distance in Energy App

The Energy App has received some new categorization features in the Consumption tab. You can once again limit the graph by distance. As part of the 2024 Holiday Update, Tesla redesigned the consumption tab and brought it to the new Model S and Model X for the first time. However, with the redesign, Tesla removed the ability to choose the distance shown in the graph, instead providing a static display of the last 200 miles (300km). 

The first part of the improved Energy App is bringing back this distance filter. You can now choose between showing the last 10, 100, or 200 miles (15, 150, or 300 km). This differs from the previous available distances of 5, 15 and 30 miles, but brings back the ability for the driver to choose a distance that may be more applicable to how they’re driving.

We’d love for Tesla to introduce custom distances by pinching and zooming the graph or simply add the ability to choose “This Drive Only” to the list of available distances.

Reset Energy App History

@EV3_Model3 on X

Sadly, the “Instant Range” button that was available in the Energy App before is still not available, but Tesla introduced a new feature that may be even better. You can now clear your driving history so that the graph only reflects your current driving style.

This is a little hidden, but if you tap the little info icon at the top near your average Wh/mi, you’ll now be presented with a dialog that lets you clear your history.

This could be useful if you’ve just come from some hard driving on a track or off-road, where energy consumption could be exaggerated. It could also be useful if you just started towing or a different type of driving that is drastically different from your current driving.

Other Changes

In addition, it looks like future predictions of the Energy app now take into account your driving history and apply that in addition to expected vehicle consumption, weather, altitude, and the multitude of other factors that your Tesla constantly takes into account while calculating your expected range.

While these are smaller improvements to the Energy app, they added some important functionality, as it helps users better understand their vehicle consumption and display data that is more applicable to the current driving style.

This is a great example of Tesla listening to its customers and bringing back features they had previously been removed. Check out the video below by akide on the updated Energy app in update 2025.8.3.

Follow

Follow

Follow

Franz and Lars Discuss the Tesla Cybercab in New Interview

Munro Live

Sandy Munro once again had the opportunity to chat (video below) with Lars Moravy, Tesla’s Vice President of Vehicle Engineering, as well as Franz Von Holzhausen, Tesla’s Chief of Vehicle Design. This time, rather than focusing on the improvements to the refreshed Model Y and all the new engineering behind it, the focus was on Tesla’s autonomous ambitions.

In this case, the Cybercab and Robovan were the key highlights, with a distinct focus on the Cybercab. With that all said, let’s dig into all the fun new stuff. You can check out the entire video at the end of the article.

Cybercab Unboxed Process

The Cybercab will be the first of Tesla’s vehicles to use their new unboxed assembly process, which builds vehicles in parallel sections, and then brings them together all at once for final assembly. Traditionally, vehicles are assembled from the ground up, and sometimes even disassembled for parts of production to take place.

This innovative method involves using a big rear and front casting, brought together by a structural battery pack on the floor. The door rings are hot-stamped and laser-welded to form the side shell of the Cybercab, resulting in a very rigid structure that can also absorb crash impacts due to its unique manufacturing.

Paint-Free Panels

We’ve already talked about the Cybercab’s unique paint-free panels, but we’ve never heard until now exactly how Tesla intends to manufacture them. Tesla will inject colored PU plastic onto the backside of another plastic part (formed from various processes) and then ultrasonically weld that entire piece to an inner part.

That essentially combines multiple parts into one smooth piece that is easy to repair - because all you have to do is remove the entire panel - it just comes off as the interior fasteners are removed. There is no subframe holding it together - instead, the subframe is part of the panel.

The only area of the vehicle that will have any paint will be the hot-stamped door rings - which will be painted to improve corrosion resistance to protect the steel.

Aerodynamics

Aerodynamically, the Cybercab boasts the largest aero-cover-to-wheel ratio of any Tesla vehicle. This updated aero cover improves efficiency, even with the Cybercab’s relatively large tires—chosen to reduce rolling resistance. Interestingly, the impact of unsprung weight on efficiency is minimal compared to the benefits of improved rolling resistance and aerodynamics.

Another key to the aerodynamics is the teardrop shape of the Cybercab itself. With its low profile and smooth shape, it is extremely aerodynamically efficient. While neither Sandy nor Lars delved into drag coefficients, we expect it will likely be more efficient than the Model 3’s already fantastic Cd of 0.219.

Range and Battery Pack

Tesla currently has prototypes undergoing real-world testing at Giga Texas to evaluate range and efficiency. The goal is to ensure the vehicle can operate throughout an entire day in the city before returning to charge.

Tesla is targeting a battery pack under 50kWh, delivering close to 300 miles of real-world range—an impressive efficiency of around 166Wh/mi, even outperforming the Model 3’s lowest at 181Wh/mi.

When Does It Arrive?

So, with all that new knowledge - when does the Cybercab arrive? Well - the prototypes for the June Robotaxi network deployment in Austin are getting prepared now - but Tesla expects to begin production and sales sometime in the first half of 2026.

Follow

Follow

Follow