Almost ten years ago, Apple introduced CarPlay, which integrates the car experience with the applications in iOS. Back in June 2022 at WWDC, Apple gave us a sneak peek at the next generation of CarPlay, dubbed CarPlay 2. It has been over a year since we heard anything about that technology, but this week, Apple confirmed that CarPlay would launch this year as it updated its website to indicate that.

If you head to that webpage, you’ll read that the first models to support CarPlay 2 will arrive in 2024. Apple also pushed out the first beta of iOS 17.4, which referenced eight new CarPlay apps:

  • Auto Settings
  • Car Camera
  • Charge
  • Climate
  • Closures
  • Media
  • Tire Pressure
  • Trips

CarPlay 2 will also provide even more customization options for users to change the appearance and color schemes for both the overall user interface as well as the instrument cluster. Additionally, users shutting off the vehicle will likely see a “goodbye” screen that’s in the same font style as Apple’s “hello” trademark used in the original Macintosh marketing as well as in the welcome screens when users set up an Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad, or even a Mac.

Several automakers to support the next generation of CarPlay in their vehicles include Acura, Audi, Ford, Honda, Infiniti, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Polestar, Porsche, Renault, and Volvo. (Sorry, none of the Tesla vehicles have official support for CarPlay, so don’t get your hopes up yet.)

For existing vehicles with original CarPlay support, it remains unclear whether those vehicles will support any of the features that CarPlay 2 will offer. However, we may hear even more details down the road when Apple introduces iOS 17.4 in the spring or iOS 18 in WWDC.