Chevrolet Kodiak Gets an iPad in the Dashboard Because CarPlay Is so Yesterday

The Cupertino-based tech giant has already promised a series of major updates for CarPlay, including support for new app categories, but as everyone already figured out, it takes a while until all of these go live.

In the meantime, there’s no better way to deal with all the limitations of CarPlay than to upgrade your car’s infotainment system to the full experience. And to do this, what you must do is install an iPad (or pretty much any other tablet) to be in charge of everything.

YouTuber Soundman Car Audio has recently performed such an upgrade on a 2010 Chevrolet Kodiak, all by building a custom dashboard trim panel that could serve as the home of an 11-inch iPad Pro. With a gloss black finish, the dash kit looks like factory equipment, and needless to say, the Apple tablet certainly offers upgraded capabilities to the driver.

In case you can’t find a reason why an iPad makes more sense than CarPlay behind the wheel, just think that iPadOS no longer limits you to a specific set of apps. Everything runs on the tablet just like it does when you’re in your living room, so you don’t just have to stick with apps optimized for driving.

Sure, that can easily become a double-edged sword, since the no-app limitation means you can also run the likes of Netflix and YouTube, but let’s assume you’re a responsible driver and you won’t just stare at the screen when you’re in motion. Just please run these apps when you’re parked and otherwise stick with distraction-free apps that would allow you to focus on the road.

As a matter of fact, these custom dash panels can be built for pretty much any car out there, as long as you have the know-how and resources to do it.