Apple has just announced a bunch of new accessibility features coming to iOS18 later this year. And Apple CarPlay is getting some welcome upgrades as part of this push. 

According to an Apple press release, Apple's in-vehicle software has appeared, probably alongside iOS18, 3 new features: voice control, color filters, and speech recognition. These are billed as accessibility features, but I feel they can prove useful to all sorts of drivers. There are also new features for passengers that have nothing to do with carplay, which can help reduce the effects of motion sickness.

The idea behind voice control is to allow drivers to navigate the CarPlay interface and use voice to control the app. It's basic because it's a feature that sounds incredibly useful and I'm surprised no one thinks of it sooner. Apple doesn't go into much detail, but this should mean you don't have to fiddle with the car's touchscreen to get things done.

Touchscreens are a pretty scary way to control functions in a car because they are very difficult to use without seeing them. Your option provides zero haptic feedback, so you'll have to keep your eyes on the road at all times when you're driving, neither is particularly safe.

Voice commands give you extra options that can make your life easier while keeping you safer behind the wheel. 

Speech recognition is for deaf or hearing-impaired drivers. This feature is built to alert the driver about certain sounds like car horns or sirens and is displayed in CarPlay as a notification. I hope you can distinguish between real-world noise and sound effects used in music and radio ads.

Color filters are intended for color-blind drivers to make the CarPlay interface visually easier to use. The update also includes additional visual accessibility features, such as the ability to bold or enlarge text. This is useful for those who are struggling with the current CarPlay interface, or simply want to change things for their own personal reasons.

Finally, passengers will be able to utilize vehicle motion cues that use on-screen graphics to reduce motion sickness. Because staring at the screen of a moving vehicle is an easy way to make you feel nauseous. That's why iPhones and iPads can register vehicle movements and use animated moving dots to visualize vehicle movements and help reduce sensory collisions.

Expect to hear more about iOS6 and Apple's CarPlay plans at WWDC10 in 2024/18.