Tesla Reportedly Adding Apple CarPlay, Bucking Industry Trend

Tesla has problems on multiple fronts with slowing demand for its models amid increased competition and expired government electric vehicle incentives, as well as everything going on with Elon Musk. To curb that, the company is pulling out all the stops, such as offering less expensive models, renting cars, and now it may be adding a feature its customers have been asking for.

A longstanding holdout, Tesla is reportedly weighing adding Apple CarPlay to its vehicles as soon as the end of 2025, according to Bloomberg. The automaker is said to be testing the standard CarPlay setup, rather than Apple CarPlay Ultra, which debuted earlier this year in the $250,000 Aston Martin DBX and controls not only audio and phone functions but also vehicle systems. Tesla’s setup reportedly would allow the use of CarPlay on the central vehicle touchscreen display while keeping native functions such as controls for the Reverse and Drive, lights and wipers, and Autopilot visible at all times.

Android Auto is apparently not on the table at this time. It’s also unclear which models would get it or if older models could add CarPlay, and the idea is still in the testing phase with an official rollout date still to be determined.

Such a move would run counter to recent developments and break a longstanding insistence by Tesla and Elon Musk that its native software is superior to a third-party system.

General Motors CEO Mary Barra told The Verge last month that it would phase out Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in its vehicles in the coming years, a process it started last year when several new electric vehicles like the Chevrolet Equinox EV and Cadillac Escalade IQ launched without the system and relied solely on the native Android Automotive-based infotainment system. While the plan was limited to EVs at first, GM now plans to ship new gas and hybrid vehicles without either system as the vehicles are updated with the latest corporate infotainment system.

That strategy met with backlash from consumers and industry analysts as if GM was forfeiting sales to other automakers, and research shows CarPlay, a decade after its launch, can be a deciding factor for purchasing.

According to an AutoPacific study from July, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto were among the features that would “make or break the deal†on a new car for more than 60% of survey respondents. Those items were listed among conveniences such as a power driver’s seat and all-wheel drive.

In addition to GM, Rivian and Lucid are notable in resisting adding either Apple CarPlay or Android Auto to their native infotainment systems. BMW briefly tried making CarPlay a subscription to its new models in 2018 but backed off of that structure the following year after it was deemed wildly unpopular by its customers.

After being a longtime Apple critic, though, nothing appears completely off the table as Tesla tries to navigate a new EV economy while trying to please its shareholders.