Tesla’s CarPlay Rollout Delayed Due to iOS 26 Maps Changes, Slower Software Adoption: Mark Gurman

Tesla has long stood out as one of the few automakers not to offer Apple CarPlay support. We heard many rumours that CarPlay would eventually be added to Tesla's car infotainment system, but the Elon Musk-led firm has yet to confirm that it will add support for the same. Now, a Bloomberg journalist states that Tesla is working with Apple to integrate CarPlay into its cars. However, several technical challenges remain for both Tesla and Apple to fix. Meanwhile, Apple is reportedly working to update CarPlay with support for third-party voice assistants.

What's Holding Back Tesla's CarPlay Debut?

In this week's Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman claims that "Tesla continues to plan to add CarPlay, allowing it to run in a window within the current software interface. There are just a few hurdles that Tesla and Apple need to overcome".

During its testing, Tesla is said to have found "compatibility hitches" between Apple Maps and its own in-house mapping system that powers its self-driving features. Tesla's native maps reportedly didn't properly sync with Apple Maps during autonomous driving.

If both apps were displayed side by side, the mismatch could create a confusing experience for drivers. To resolve the issue, Tesla reportedly asked Apple to make engineering adjustments to Maps. Apple complied, rolling out the fix in a subsequent update to iOS 26 and the latest version of Apple CarPlay.

"But here's the catch: Adoption of iOS 26 has been slower than with previous releases. That meant, in Tesla's view, too few users had the updated Maps changes by the end of last year", said Gurman. 

The journalist notes that Apple shared its first usage figures for iOS 26 recently, reporting that the system is now installed on 74 percent of iPhone models released within the past four years compared with 76 percent adoption for iOS 18 at a similar point last year. Apple has not specified how many users are running the newer builds that include the Maps fix, leaving some uncertainty around how quickly Tesla can proceed.

It is still uncertain when (or whether) Tesla will roll out support for Apple CarPlay. The company appears to be waiting until software adoption rates go up further before moving ahead with the launch. 

In the meantime, Apple continues to bring new features to CarPlay. It added support for third-party voice chatbot apps and expanded its premium CarPlay Ultra tier.