According to Gizmodo, the project, known as “IronHeart,” seeks to extend CarPlay beyond music and navigation apps to allow users to control more of a vehicle’s systems. IronHeart mirrors the company’s other efforts to consolidate apps into a comprehensive system, similar to Apple Home and Health. As it currently stands, CarPlay works by connecting an iPhone to a car’s internal display to control information and entertainment apps, and even offers a hand-free way to send texts. In the new iteration, Apple seeks to include control over a car’s internal climate, speedometer, seats, armrests, and sound system. The new functionality is also expected to control a vehicle’s sensors, although the company didn’t say exactly which ones. The IronHeart project is still in its early stages and will require cooperation from car manufacturers to make it possible. More than 600 different car models currently support CarPlay. Over the past several years, Apple has been hard at work to expand its reach into the world of automobiles. A rumored Apple Car was in the works with Hyundai for some time, but the deal between the two companies fell through. Another vehicle, dubbed Project Titan, has been in development since 2014 with no concrete release date in sight. Numerous executives from Project Titan have left the company to work at other manufacturers, as Apple continues to struggle with cars.
