Apple has announced that it will completely refresh its CarPlay would be getting more informative than just showing infotainment and gave a long list of carmakers that could endorse the program. Among the prominent names are Ford Motor, Renault SA, Mercedes Benz, Volvo, Honda Motor Co and Jaguar Land Rover.

Apple shared big updates coming to CarPlay at WWDC 2022. It makes CarPlay more capable than ever. Integration with the vehicle’s hardware allows for radio tuning or changing the internal temperature. Widgets are included to display calendars, weather, smart home controls, and the current trip in Apple Maps. CarPlay will act like an operating system for vehicles. It will take over the car’s instrument cluster to display gauges for fuel and oil, engine temperature, miles per gallon, and more.

Would this mean Apple deep diving into the car OS space in order to not only provide infotainment, but a lot more including dashboard, navigation, fuel and performance indicators?

We already do have quite a few other competitors, some paid and some free, including Android Auto, DriveMode, CarOS, MirrorLink. Now with CarPlay fully rewritten in order to be more than just an infotainment app and give a user the same look and feel as that of iPad or iPhone, there now seems to be some healthy competition once CentOS Automative Stream as well hits the market.

Apple has already forged partnerships with a handful of automakers for its Siri Eyes Free system, but that integration never took off. Now, by ceding control to Apple, automakers don’t have to hassle with updating their aging and perpetually outdated infotainment systems to bring you the core features and apps you use every day. And with each new iOS release, the functionality is bound to grow, further solidifying Apple’s dominance in the car.