With iOS 15 being showcased during the 2021 Apple WWDC, a few new CarPlay features were announced.
Driving Focus – Technically it’s new but think of it as an expanded Do Not Disturb mode when driving. You can set this mode to automatically turn on when connecting to your car’s Bluetooth or while CarPlay is active. So while driving you can only allow select people from your contact list to contact you, all others would receive a automatic text reply that you set.
Wallpapers – Pretty self explanatory, they are adding more backgrounds to choose from.
Siri Notifications – Upon receipt of a message you can choose to have Siri announce you have a new message. This feature will not be available upon launch but expect this feature to be available in the Fall.
CarKey – This has actually been out for awhile, your phone acts as a key fob allowing you to lock/unlock your car doors as well as start your car when the phone is in vicinity of your car. This requires support from car manufacturers so this feature isn’t available to all vehicles.
