Lance Whitney/ZDNETFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.Siri typically serves as my voice assistant when I'm driving and my iPhone is connected via Apple CarPlay. And that's fine for interactive tasks such as playing music, getting driving directions, setting a reminder, and calling or texting someone. But Siri often stumbles with more complex or challenging questions, the type that you'd usually ask an AI.With Apple's new CarPlay support for third-party voice assistants, you're able to talk directly and hands-free with popular AI apps. So far, you can chat by voice in the car with ChatGPT and Perplexity AI just as you would at home or elsewhere. That means you can ask them questions, make requests, and engage in back-and-forth conversations.Also: Google Maps vs. Waze: I compared the two best navigation apps, and this one's betterThere is one barrier here. The ChatGPT voice assistant works with CarPlay, no matter your account type -- free, Go, Plus, or Pro. Perplexity, though, is another story. For this, you need the Pro version, which normally costs $20 a month. But there are a few tricks for scoring a free year of Perplexity Pro, as described in this article by my fellow ZDNET writer Artie Beaty.(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET's parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)Before we get started, here are some preliminaries.What you need to get startedFirst, you naturally need an iPhone and a vehicle that supports CarPlay. My 2025 Toyota Camry came with CarPlay, so I'm good to go. Otherwise, the bottom of Apple's CarPlay page reveals the cars and iPhone models that support CarPlay.Second, you must have the latest versions of the ChatGPT app and the Perplexity app on your iPhone. If you already use the apps, tap your profile icon in the App Store app, choose App Updates, swipe down on the screen to refresh it, then download the latest versions of both if necessary.Also: I let Chrome's AI agent shop, research, and email for me - here's how it wentThird, your iPhone must be running iOS 26.4 or later. This version added CarPlay support for third-party AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google Gemini, and Claude. The companies behind each AI need to take advantage of this new support, with OpenAI and Perplexity leading the way.Assuming you meet all the criteria, start up your car and make sure your iPhone is connected, either wirelessly or through Bluetooth. My Camry comes with wireless charging and synchronization, so I don't have to plug it into a USB port as I did with my previous vehicle.After your phone is connected, you should see icons for ChatGPT and Perplexity on the CarPlay dashboard screen. If not, go to Settings on your iPhone, select General, and tap CarPlay. Select your car and then tap Apps. You'll see a list of all the apps compatible with CarPlay. Among those should be ChatGPT and Perplexity.From there, you can move the two apps higher or lower in the list by dragging them by the three-lined hamburger icon. I moved both apps higher in the list so they'd be accessible from my main screen.To use ChatGPT, tap the icon on the CarPlay screen, then choose "New voice chat." Wait for the connection to kick in, as the text on the display changes from Connecting to Listening. You can then kick off your conversation, and ChatGPT will respond as it normally would.Also: Want Perplexity Pro for free? 4 ways to get a year of access for $0 (a $200 value)For Perplexity AI, tap the icon on the screen, then tap Connect. When the screen invites you to "ask anything," you can then start chatting.With everything set up on my end, I recently tried both ChatGPT and Perplexity to see how each performed. I gave each one similar questions and requests to see if I could declare a winner. Here are the tasks I threw at them and how they handled each one. Usually I ask Siri for driving directions, but I wanted to see if either ChatGPT or Perplexity could also provide them. ChatGPT can't serve up directions as it's unable to see my location. Perplexity, though, can tackle this task. In this case, I asked it for driving directions to Faneuil Hall in Boston. After requesting access to my location, Perplexity took me to Apple Maps with a map and the necessary turn-by-turn steps.Winner: Perplexity