According to a report Tuesday (Feb. 17) from Apple-focused news website 9to5Mac, the tech giant had named 13 new carmakers who had signed on to add the car key feature soon. Now, Toyota has apparently been added to that list, the report said, citing a separate report from MacRumors which itself cited a Reddit user/RAV4 owner.
An earlier report had said Toyota had been added to Apple’s back-end database of vehicle brands that could support the feature, which lets drivers lock/unlock and start their vehicles using their phones.
9to5Mac said it’s not yet clear how many different Toyota vehicles support car keys, or which model years will offer support. PYMNTS has contacted Apple for comment but has not yet gotten a reply.
The news comes weeks after a report that Apple is planning to permit voice-controlled artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots from other companies to operate within its CarPlay vehicle interface.
Apple is working to support these third-party apps in CarPlay and plans to make this capability available to AI providers within months, according to a report from Bloomberg News. This will replace the current system, in which Apple’s Siri is the only voice-control option in CarPlay.
However, CarPlay users have been lobbying for the option to use third-party AI chatbots, as Siri’s capabilities are limited to managing music playback, sending messages and dealing with navigation, the report said. A third-party chatbot might be able to provide other features, such as offering restaurant recommendations at the driver’s request.
Recent PYMNTS Intelligence research found mobile wallet adoption has surged in part due to use of the Apple Wallet.
Usage of mobile wallets for in-store payments has surged, with 31% of shoppers employing them each week, compared to 14% in August 2024. Apple has led this growth, with 16% of shoppers reporting they had used the service in stores in the previous week, double the 8% share from 2024.
“Competitors are gaining ground rapidly. Google Pay usage more than doubled, while PayPal and Cash App both nearly doubled their in-store usage over the same period,” PYMNTS wrote earlier this month.
“Despite Apple Pay maintaining the largest user base, the accelerated growth of competing platforms is narrowing the gap.”
