Many of today’s cars include amazing technology like voice-controlled virtual assistants (some with ChatGPT conversation skills), traffic alerts, and streaming entertainment. However, many drivers rarely interact with the apps and programs native to their car. They just plug in their phone and use the car as an extension of it.
Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are both phone projection systems that essentially turn your car’s touchscreen into a large phone screen. They let drivers use phone apps to listen to streaming entertainment on the car’s speakers, use navigation apps on the car’s screens, and even hear and respond to text messages with voice commands.
Related: Apple Carplay – Do You Need It?
Apple rolled out its latest operating system update this week, and iOS 18 includes some significant changes for CarPlay users. You need to download iOS 18 to your phone to get the upgrades.
Some are small tweaks that could improve the user experience. Others are significant changes that could redefine how you interact with your phone in the car.
Among the changes:
New Voice Control
Most apps can now be launched and controlled with voice commands. “CarPlay with Siri voice control is specially designed for driving scenarios,” Apple says. You can activate voice controls by pressing the microphone button on the steering wheel of most cars.
Siri Shows You She’s Listening
“One of the most noticeable changes is new animations accompanying Siri, just like you’ll find on newer iPhones. In CarPlay, the screen’s border will glow and pulse to indicate that the voice assistant is listening,” explains InsideEVs.
Sound Recognition – Including Sirens
A new sound-recognition system shows notifications on the screen when it detects certain sounds. “For example, a notification could appear on the display when CarPlay detects the sound of a siren or a car honking,” explains Digital Trends. “The notification will pop up on the screen just like any other notification.”
Stellantis (parent company of Dodge, Jeep, Ram, and other car brands) recently added this technology to many of its cars. It’s a safety feature for those with hearing difficulties…and maybe for those of us who turn up the sound system too loud.
Contacts Get Photos
CarPlay’s most important role is keeping you focused on driving. It lets you use phone features without touching the phone.
To minimize the time you spend looking at the car’s screen, MacRumors reports, CarPlay now “adds contact photos next to names in the Messages app, making it easier to identify conversations at a glance.” The system will still read text messages to you and let you compose replies verbally, so you don’t need to look at the screen at all to know what someone just texted you.
Color Filters
The iPhone has long had color filters that help those with certain visual impairments. That technology will come to CarPlay with iOS 18.
“Color filters essentially tint the entire display based on the filter you select, and there’s a grayscale option as well,” Digital Trends explains. That should help users with different types of color blindness set up a visual system that works for them.
