Apple’s Next Generation CarPlay Shown in Real Car Mockups ⇥ coolhunting.com

In the nick of time to beat its self-imposed “late 2023” deadline, Apple has announced two automakers which will support the new version of CarPlay: Aston Martin and Porsche. This news is not relevant to my tax bracket, and it was delivered in a series of articles from — at least — Cool Hunting, British GQ, and Car and Driver. The Cool Hunting article, by Josh Rubin, is probably the best of the bunch — even though it reads like marketing copy directly from Apple — primarily because there are quotes from Alan Dye, an Aston Martin executive, and Porsche’s “Vice President of Style”. Nice.

I am still uncertain about the transformation of the entire dashboard into a control interface with moving touch targets. I can adjust the heated seats in my car while on the highway because I know exactly where the physical button is, and I can feel when my finger is on it and when it is pressed. None of that applies to a touch screen. There is not any great data on how safe these systems are compared to physical knobs and switches, but a 2020 study of just forty people found CarPlay and Android Auto distracted drivers to the point where their response times were worse than substance-impaired drivers.