You’d most accurately describe Apple and Google’s relationship as frenemies. The idea that they’re bitter rivals is at best a relic of the Steve Jobs days, when the co-founder threatened to go to “thermonuclear war” over the similarities between Android and iOS. In truth, Google keeps paying Apple billions to remain the default search option in Safari, and Apple is now paying Google for the Gemini models that underlie Siri AI and Apple Intelligence. During the entire Jobs era, the default navigation app on iPhones was actually Google Maps.
The companies do sometimes try to outdo each other to win your cash, and auto interfaces are prime example. There’s a change inbound to Android Auto that Apple should be imitating if it wants to keep up, especially as EVs gravitate towards bigger dash displays and more reliable self-driving features. This will all make more sense in a moment, I promise.
A vision of the future
What Android Auto (might) get right
When you need to travel somewhere, you don’t always have the luxury of familiarity, or even pulling out your phone to do more research. Sometimes you’re stuck behind the wheel, and typically, neither CarPlay nor Android Auto have been good about providing the same data you’d get directly on your phone. You’ll see things like an address and a business category, but no clue if a location is in a dangerous part of town, or if that Tex-Mex restaurant tastes more like Taco Bell or the real deal.
Apple is headed in the right direction, as you can see from my photo of CarPlay (specifically, Apple Maps) in iOS 27. Google seems to be a step ahead, however, if buried code in Android Auto 17.8 is any indication. Uncovered by Android Authority, the code allows for more detailed location info in Google Maps, incorporating not just Gemini-tinged “Overview” and “Good to know” sections, but actual photo galleries. As you’re probably aware, humans can interpret a lot of info from photos that generative AI isn’t necessarily good at. In the case of that restaurant example, if I didn’t see a photo of a moist beef brisket next to pickles, I’d stay clear.
Apple is in a good position to follow, thankfully. With Apple Intelligence having access to a wider amount of data in iOS 27, and CarPlay already being able to scale content to different screen sizes, it should be relatively trivial to implement similar galleries and info panels in a later point release, or iOS 28 at the latest. “Relatively” is doing some heavy lifting here, mind. Apple Intelligence continues to make basic mistakes as of this writing, such as telling me my parked car is in a completely different city. If Apple can reduce those errors, though, it’s just a question of funneling data it already has into slightly modified CarPlay controls.
All of this is tentative, really. Google has yet to activate its new code, and might decide against it for some hypothetical reason. Apple, meanwhile, can be slow on the uptake sometimes. This is the business that refused to add a Calculator app to the iPad for over a decade. There is more competitive pressure in this case, since many North American drivers — myself included — are genuinely dependent on either CarPlay or Android Auto. If Android gained an edge in daily commuting, you’d better believe a few more iPhone owners would consider jumping ship.
When’s the soonest Apple might follow suit?
Don’t hold your breath, folks
Even though iOS 27 only hit iPhones on September 14, Apple is already beta-testing a 27.2 update with additional features, such as a redesigned Health app and additional languages for Siri AI. The company isn’t skipping 27.1. That’s just going live in tandem with its first foldable, the iPhone Duo, which hits stores October 23. Naturally, that suggests that the earliest 27.2 could be finished is late October, or more plausibly sometime in November.
I wouldn’t count on overhauled CarPlay info being in the mix. Apple can and does tweak CarPlay with point releases — 27.2 includes new cosmetic options for Ultra users — but there’s been no sign of expanded info cards in the first two betas. I can’t imagine Apple adding that significant a feature until at least 27.3 or 27.4, which may not arrive until spring 2027. It’s important enough that Apple might want to take extra time to get it right, and incorporate it into iOS 28, as I suggested a moment ago.
That brings me back to those competitive pressures I’ve talked about. If Google does deploy meaningful new info cards before its engineers take a break for the holidays, and they prove popular, Apple could accelerate its timetable. That approach might even become the new norm, as the AI space doesn’t like to oblige Apple’s traditional pacing.
