According to technology media 9to5Mac, Apple’s CarPlay car system has officially supported Meta AI chat robot access. So far, the CarPlay platform has gathered four mainstream third-party AI chatbots: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Grok and Meta AI.
iOS 26.4 opens the door to CarPlay AI
CarPlay’s opening to third-party AI chatbots began in March this year. For the first time in iOS 26.4, Apple has included “voice conversation applications” into the application categories allowed by CarPlay. Developers need to apply for a special authorization from Apple before they can access it. This policy adjustment is seen as an important strategic shift for Apple in the field of in-vehicle AI - from a closed Siri ecosystem to an open platform layout.
Since ChatGPT first launched on CarPlay at the end of March, Perplexity followed in April and Grok joined in May. The entry of Meta AI now marks that mainstream AI chatbots have basically completed coverage of CarPlay.
Meta AI is still in the testing stage
Although the Meta AI icon has been displayed in the CarPlay interface of some users, according to 9to5Mac, when you click to start, it will prompt "The current account does not support the Meta AI experience." This indicates that the feature is still in a limited testing phase and is not yet fully available to all users.
It is worth noting that Meta’s layout in the field of automotive AI is not an isolated case. Meta has previously launched a Mac desktop application that supports screen sharing and Google Workspace integration. Driven by the Muse Spark 1.1 multi-modal reasoning model, its AI assistant is evolving from an auxiliary tool to a fully automated intelligent assistant.
iOS 27 is coming, Siri AI is about to debut
Behind CarPlay’s intensive integration with third-party AI chatbots is the upcoming arrival of Apple’s own Siri AI. According to Apple’s confirmation at WWDC 2026, a new generation of Siri AI will be officially launched with iOS 27. iOS 27 is expected to be released in September this year.
The new version of Siri AI deeply integrates personal scene understanding capabilities to support more natural conversation interactions without the need for users to manually switch or jump. Starting with iOS 27, voice control templates will be available for all CarPlay app categories. This means that Siri AI will join the competition of in-vehicle AI assistants with a more powerful attitude.
Vehicle AI track competition accelerates
From ChatGPT to Meta AI, CarPlay has completed the leap from zero to four third-party AI chatbots in just five months. The vehicle scene is becoming a new battlefield for AI chatbots.
Currently, various AI chatbots have different functions on CarPlay. Grok is the only app that allows users to switch voice modes within the CarPlay app. The Perplexity CarPlay version is currently only available to paid subscribers. ChatGPT supports access to advanced features such as historical chat records and "projects".
With the release of iOS 27 and the official debut of Siri AI, the AI assistant ecosystem on the CarPlay platform will become even richer. How Apple balances the relationship between its own Siri AI and third-party AI chatbots will become the focus of the next stage of the automotive AI track.
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