Apple Opens CarPlay to AI Rivals Following Driver Demand

Apple plans to allow other companies’ voice-controlled artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots to operate within its vehicle interface, CarPlay, Bloomberg reported Friday (Feb. 6), citing unnamed sources.

The company is working to support these third-party apps in CarPlay and plans to make this capability available to AI providers within months, according to the report.

Currently, Apple allows only its own assistant, Siri, as a voice-control option in CarPlay, the report said.

CarPlay users have been demanding the option to use third-party AI chatbots because Siri’s capabilities are limited to managing music playback, sending messages and handling navigation, per the report.

A third-party AI chatbot could do things such as providing restaurant recommendations when asked by the driver, the report said.

Apple did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

This report comes about two weeks after it was reported that Apple plans to use a custom AI model provided by Google to increase the capabilities of Siri, turning the digital assistant into an AI chatbot later this year.

The chatbot will be added to the operating systems of the iPhone, iPad and Mac. While Google will provide the AI model, Apple will design the user interface.

The PYMNTS Intelligence report “GenAI and Voice Assistants: Adoption and Trust Across Generations” found that 60% of consumers believed voice assistants would become as smart and reliable as humans.

The report also found that millennials and bridge millennials were the most frequent users of voice-activated devices. Among each group, 32% of consumers used the devices.

Meanwhile, it was reported in November that Tesla is developing support for Apple CarPlay in its vehicles after ignoring calls from customers to add the software designed for vehicle infotainment systems. CarPlay is already supported by other car companies.

Apple began rolling out the next generation of CarPlay in May, saying it provides “the ultimate in-car experience” by deeply integrating with the vehicle.

“iPhone users love CarPlay, and it has transformed how people connect with their vehicles,” Bob Borchers, vice president of worldwide product marketing, said at the time in a press release. “With CarPlay Ultra, together with automakers, we are reimagining the in-car experience, making it even more unified and consistent.”

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