Tesla is reportedly planning to finally add support for Apple CarPlay in the coming months. This move marks a major reversal from Elon Musk, who has long resisted integrating Apple’s infotainment system.
What’s happening with Tesla and Apple
For years, it’s been the most requested feature from iPhone-owning Tesla drivers: Apple CarPlay. While Tesla has slowly embraced parts of Apple’s ecosystem, adding Apple Music in 2022 and Apple Podcasts in 2023, full CarPlay integration has been stubbornly off-limits.Now, according to a new Bloomberg report, that’s finally about to change. Tesla is reportedly planning to roll out full support for CarPlay, a move that could happen in the coming months. This is widely seen as a “holy grail” feature for the many Tesla drivers who live inside the Apple ecosystem and have wanted a seamless way to use their iPhone’s maps, music, and messaging apps on the car’s large display.
Why the sudden change of heart
Tesla has for a long while resisted adopting CarPlay integration in its infotainment system. | Image credit — Bram Van Oost on Unsplash
Elon Musk’s long-standing resistance was reportedly about protecting Tesla’s own proprietary infotainment system, which is a core part of the vehicle’s user experience. So what changed? In short: competition.The report suggests that the shifting electric vehicle landscape is the primary motivator. With global competition heating up, the lack of CarPlay has become a significant drawback, potentially costing Tesla sales. Customers expect this level of integration, and its absence is a glaring omission.There’s another factor at play: Apple is no longer building a car. The report speculates that Musk would likely have never given in if Apple were still a direct competitor in the automotive space. With that threat gone, and Tesla needing to hit sales milestones, making this concession is now a necessary and pragmatic business decision.
If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em?
This is looking a lot like a classic “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” scenario, and it’s long overdue. Tesla’s native system is slick, but it’s not a person’s iPhone. The convenience of CarPlay is its seamless, zero-effort integration with the device that many already use for their entire digital life.Forcing users to use a separate, proprietary system for navigation and media—even a good one—is a point of friction. The stubborn resistance to CarPlay has always felt more like a personal battle than a user-focused decision. This change is a massive win for drivers, as it removes a key frustration and makes an already high-tech car feel truly connected to its owner’s life, which is what modern in-car tech should be all about.
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Tesla’s stock is climbing Monday as CEO Elon Musk disclosed the purchase of more than 2.5 million shares worth approximately $1 billion.
Shares of the electric vehicle maker rose more than 5% in morning trading.
Musk purchased various amounts of shares at different prices on Friday, according to a regulatory filing. The move may be viewed by the markets as the billionaire remaining confident in the company’s future.
Earlier this month Tesla released a proposed pay package for Musk that would possibly make him the world’s first trillionaire if he hits a series of extremely aggressive targets for the company over the next decade.
Tesla said in a regulatory filing that it will hand Musk shares worth as much as 12% of the company in a dozen separate packages if the company meets certain performance targets, including massive increases in car production, share price and operating profit. If approved by shareholders, the new pay package could make Musk the world’s first trillion dollar executive, and would mark a new level of outsized pay in a country already known for extreme compensation. But the payoff is in shares, not cash, and the goals are extreme as well.
To get his first package of shares equivalent to 1% of the company, Musk would have to convince investors in the stock market that Tesla is worth $2 trillion in total, double what they value it today, and also hit several other milestones. To receive all the shares offered and make him the world’s first trillion-dollar man would require that market value to then rise to $8.5 trillion, double that of the world’s most valuable company now, chipmaker Nvidia.
Tesla has seen a plunge in sales this year, largely due to blowback over Musk’s affiliation with President Donald Trump. Tesla also faces intensifying competition from the big Detroit automakers and particularly from China.
Investors have grown increasingly worried about the trajectory of the company after Musk had spent so much time in Washington this year, becoming one of the most prominent officials in the Trump administration in its bid to slash the size of the U.S. government.
Tesla is set to hold its annual shareholders meeting on Nov. 6, where investors will vote on the new pay package.
