Hands-on with redesigned Apple CarPlay in iOS 13: new dashboard with Siri Suggestions, Do Not Disturb While Driving, calendar and settings apps, and Light Mode
Zac Hall / 9to5Mac :
Context & Ripple Effects
This hands-on from Zac Hall follows Apple's earlier CarPlay redesign announcement, which introduced side-by-side app tiles and on-screen Siri Suggestions; now we see how those pieces actually behave in a car. The timing matters because the dashboard's value depends on what can fill its tiles.
That gap was filled starting with iOS 12, when Google Maps arrived on CarPlay after years of Apple Maps exclusivity, followed by Waze. The new dashboard is therefore the first CarPlay design built for a post-exclusivity world where the driver chooses which navigation app owns the biggest tile.
First-order effects
- Drivers running iOS 13 get a CarPlay home screen that shows multiple apps at once — maps beside audio, plus new calendar, settings, and Do Not Disturb While Driving apps — reducing how often they leave navigation mid-trip.
- Third-party navigation apps like Google Maps and Waze gain equal footing for prime dashboard placement, competing directly with Apple Maps for the largest tile.
Second-order effects
- With Apple surfacing Siri Suggestions on the dashboard, navigation and audio providers now compete for proactive recommendations, not just icon taps — raising the stakes for ranking inside CarPlay rather than on the iPhone.
- Automakers' own infotainment screens become less differentiating as CarPlay absorbs more dashboard functions (calendar, settings, driving modes), pressuring manufacturers to decide how much of the console they cede.
Third-order effects
- The trajectory runs from this tile-based dashboard through Apple's multi-display CarPlay update with climate controls and instrument integration toward deeper vehicle penetration — a path that continued with the iOS 26 Liquid Glass redesign and widget support.
- If that pattern holds, CarPlay evolves from a phone-mirroring layer into a de facto dashboard operating system, with automakers increasingly supplying hardware while Apple supplies the interface.
The trend: CarPlay is steadily expanding from a mirrored app screen into a full dashboard platform that displaces automaker-built infotainment, one iOS release at a time.