Tesla needs more iPhone users to update to iOS 26 before they can release CarPlay.

From Chance Miller at 9to5Mac (originally from Mark Gurman’s PowerOn Newsletter):

The report explains that Tesla discovered several “compatibility hitches” between Apple Maps and its own first-party mapping platform used for autonomy features.

“Specifically, the turn-by-turn guidance from Tesla’s maps app didn’t properly synchronize with Apple Maps during autonomous driving,” Gurman explains. “That could create a confusing experience for users, who could theoretically have both applications open side by side.”

Tesla reportedly asked Apple to “make engineering changes” to improve the compatibility between its own software and Apple Maps.

“To address this, Tesla asked Apple to make engineering changes to Maps to improve compatibility. The iPhone maker agreed and implemented the adjustments in a bug fix update to iOS 26 and the latest version of CarPlay. But here’s the catch: Adoption of iOS 26 has been slower than with previous releases. That meant, in Tesla’s view, too few users had the updated Maps changes by the end of last year.”

As Gurman notes, Apple released the first iOS 26 adoption numbers on Friday, revealing that 74% of all iPhones released in the last four years are running iOS 26. However, this doesn’t mean all of those people have necessarily updated to the later version of iOS 26 that includes this CarPlay bug fix.

I think 74% is a healthy number for iOS 26 adoption. People who are going to buy an all-electric vehicle are already more tech savvy, and are more likely to already be on iOS 26. Considering the software update is already public, there is no excuse to blame iOS 26 adoption. Tesla probably has more kinks to work out on its side.