According to a new report from BloombergTesla is still working on adding CarPlay integration to its cars. However, the automaker reportedly ran into “several obstacles” that it had to ask Apple to fix.
iOS 26 adoption slows down Tesla’s CarPlay plan
last November Bloomberg brought the news that Tesla is working on CarPlay support and that the feature could launch “in the coming months.” Tesla plans to integrate CarPlay as a “window inside its broader interface.”
In the latest edition of his Turn on Mark Gurman reports that “Tesla continues to plan to add CarPlay.” The automaker is collaborating with Apple on this launch.
The report explains that Tesla discovered several “compatibility hits” between Apple Maps and its own first-party mapping platform used for autonomy features.
“Specifically, turn-by-turn guidance from the Tesla Maps app did not sync properly with Apple Maps during autonomous driving,” explains Gurman. “This could create a confusing experience for users who could theoretically have both apps open side by side.”
Tesla has reportedly asked Apple to “make technical changes” to improve compatibility between its own software and Apple Maps.
To resolve this, Tesla asked Apple to make technical changes to Maps to improve compatibility. The iPhone maker agreed and made adjustments in the bug fix update to iOS 26 and the latest version of CarPlay. But here’s the catch: Adoption of iOS 26 has been slower than previous versions. From Tesla’s perspective, this meant that by the end of last year, too few users had updated Maps.
As Gurman notes, Apple released the first iOS 26 adoption numbers on Friday, which revealed that 74% of all iPhones released in the past four years are running iOS 26. But that doesn’t mean all of those people necessarily updated to the newer version of iOS 26 that includes this CarPlay bug fix.
There is currently no specific launch date for Tesla’s CarPlay support. The automaker is likely waiting for those numbers to get a little more mainstream before deploying the feature.
Still, today’s news reaffirms that CarPlay is still coming and reveals why it’s taking a little longer than some expected.
My favorite CarPlay accessory
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