is carplay a subscription service?

No. Apple does not charge for it.

Several auto manufacturers have announced that CarPlay support in the vehicle will require an annual subscription fee, however...

BMW is among them.

We'll see if they actually go that route as they've really caught **** in the automotive press for this move.

Not very smart on their part.

Apple CarPlay - overviewhttps://www.apple.com/ios/carplay/

No, but your car has to support it.

One would think so... seems kind of tacky for the likes of BMW to charge an annual fee when manufacturers like Kia and Hyundai throw it in at no charge on even their low end models...

I suppose it depends upon whether or not a company figures they have to recoup the expense of doing updates to their software every time Apple bring out an iOS release. Would have thought this would be included in the co$t for BMW owners.