Someone added CarPlay to their Tesla using a Raspberry Pi

Tesla Roadster (Image credit: Tesla)

What you need to know

Tesla cars do not support Apple CarPlay despite having a huge touch screen.
A developer has found a way to install a custom Android built onto a Raspberry Pi to push CarPlay to the Tesla's screen.
The required software will be shared when it's ready for prime time.

Did you know that you still can't use Apple's CarPlay It remains one of the strangest omissions from Tesla electric vehicles to date but where there's a will, there's a way. One developer has found a way to use Tesla's built-in web browser and a custom Android build to get things working.

The gist is simple — install the custom Android build onto a Raspberry Pi and use that as a go-between for your iPhone and your car's display. In reality, it's more complicated than that — but as this Tesla North report shows, it definitely works.

... one developer has created a hack to run Apple CarPlay in their Tesla. Polish developer Michał Gapiński shared his CarPlay hack, which runs in Tesla's in-car browser. We see the CarPlay interface, Apple Maps, plus working Apple Music that even plays in the background.

Steering wheel controls + current state of #teslaCarPlay on video. Next step is to improve Wi-Fi connection, the stream is 2x smoother when viewed on my laptop pic.twitter.com/0wFFUQQPkxSteering wheel controls + current state of #teslaCarPlay on video. Next step is to improve Wi-Fi connection, the stream is 2x smoother when viewed on my laptop pic.twitter.com/0wFFUQQPkx— Michał Gapiński (@mikegapinski) January 14, 2022 January 14, 2022

Gapiński says that we can expect this software to be made available to everyone once it's "polished" to a suitable level. That could be something for Tesla drivers to keep tabs on, although it probably isn't a solution for everyone!

Apple CarPlay is one of the best iPhone features that Tesla drivers don't get to enjoy and while it's fair to say that the Tesla in-car systems are among the best in the business, it's still an odd thing to leave out. Maybe Tesla will bring CarPlay to its cars one day in the future.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.