(Pocket-lint) – Apple Carplay gets a whole new look and feel.
Inspired by the design of WatchOS, the new look uses widgets and even spreads across the board, if the manufacturer allows it.
Apple expects to eventually feed your entire instrument cluster, including the MPH indicator and other dashboard instruments. In addition, you can select different types of tabs to display, including time, even smart home features to instantly view important information while driving.
You can also choose Apple Maps to run on the rear screen of the wheel as the background of the dials, while information about fuel (or battery details) can be set aside as separate widgets.
The new Apple Carplay will be formally launched in 2023. We’re still not sure what backward compatibility it will be with existing Carplay-compatible vehicles, though Apple claims that more than 90 percent of all cars now made in the U.S. are compatible. the current version, so we expect the company to make an effort to have at least one version running.
Hopefully, it will also encourage app developers to introduce Carplay support into their apps. Some other essentials already do, but we’ve found several that we’d like to see incorporated.
Written by Rik Henderson.