• Owen Wilson as Lightning McQueen
• Larry the Cable Guy as Mater
• Quinta Brunson as Ivy
• Bonnie Hunt as Sally Carrera
• Jenifer Lewis as Flo
• Cheech Marin as Ramone
• Lloyd Sherr as Fillmore
• Tony Shalhoub as Luigi
• Guido Quaroni as Guido
• Tania Gunadi as Lisa
• Ruth Livier as Louise
• Steve Purcell as Randy / Wraith Rod
• Matthew Yang King as Clutch Humboldt / Wraith Rod / Crew Pitty
• Kathy Holly as Speed Demon
• Masa Kanome as Noriyuki
• Toks Olagundoye as Margaret Motorray / Chiefess
• Gabby Sanalitro as Griswold
• Megan Cavanagh as Mae Pillar-Durev / Bella Cadavre
• Hayden Bishop as Kay Pillar-Durev / 1st AD
• Secunda Wood as Brakelight Pictures' producer
• Matt Lowe as Brakelight Pictures' crew members
• Zeno Robinson as Lance the Writer / Jeremy
• Dave Fennoy as Town Marshall / Justice Stern
• Tom Bromhead as Cap'n Long Leggy
• Debra Cardona as Squat
• Cristela Alonzo as Cruz Ramirez
• Dana Powell as Mato
• Oscar Camacho as Mateo
Red, Mack, Sheriff, Sarge and Lizzie make silent cameos in "Dino Park".

On December 10, 2020, Pixar announced on Disney Investors Day that an animated series starring Lightning McQueen and Mater traveling the country while meeting friends, new and old, was in development and that it would be released on Disney+ in the fall of 2022. It also announced that the series is written by Steve Purcell and produced by Marc Sondheimer, with Purcell, Bobby Podesta and Cars 3 director Brian Fee directing episodes for the series. According to Sondheimer, the directors worked together to maintain continuity within the series. On November 12, 2021, it was announced that the series would be titled Cars on the Road. Production for the series took place over 15 months. According to Purcell, a few concepts for episodes were unused, though he hoped to use them in a potential second season.
The filmmakers wanted a short-form series because they felt it was the best way to explore the concept of a road trip, while also exploring the relationship between Lightning and Mater, as the producers felt the characters lacked screentime together. Each episode features a different tone and genre. The concept for the series was suggested by Purcell as the producers brainstormed ideas, having been inspired by a childhood road trip he took with his family; he wanted to explore how Lightning and Mater react to finding themselves in different scenarios. Purcell also sought for each episode to have "a totally new sensibility" for which McQueen and Mater would react to. According to Purcell, the story for each episode was decided out of a basic scenario, after which the filmmakers pitched concepts that fit within the Cars world and had not been explored before. Concepts for the episodes include stories inspired by films such as Mad Max and The Shining. For Mater's relationship with his sister, Mato, Podesta drew inspiration from his relationship with his sisters. The writers were also deliberatedly vague on Mato's personality beyond her relationship with Mater until the final episode in order to create audience expectation.
On November 12, 2021, it was announced that Owen Wilson and Larry the Cable Guy would reprise their respective roles as Lightning McQueen and Mater. According to director Brian Fee, Larry and Wilson were allowed to provide suggestions while recording their lines.
According to Podesta, the series was animated under a shorter time frame than usual, with each episode taking 5 weeks to animate. One of the episodes features a flashback sequence to the prehistoric era. For the flashback, animators were inspired by the work of stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen, whose films Purcell watched in his childhood. For both the dinosaurs' movement and when Lightning and Mater's prehistoric counterparts are picked by the dinosaurs, animators deactivated the motion blur, which they did use for the rest of the sequence, to reflect the feeling of Harryhausen's films. The production designer also altered the lighting to further evoke his films. Other elements such as frames were also altered.
Following the trailer's release, it was revealed Jake Monaco composed the score for all nine episodes. Monaco also co-wrote the series' title theme song alongside director Bobby Podesta, with Bobby Hamrick performing the song. Each episode features a variation of the theme song to reflecting its style. The soundtrack, featuring Monaco's score and four songs, including two versions of the theme, was released on September 5, 2022.

Cars on the Road premiered on September 8, 2022 on Disney+, part of Disney+ Day and consists of nine episodes.

Additionally, all episodes were uploaded to the Disney Junior YouTube channel from September 5, 2023 to December 24, 2023. Disney Junior added a compilation of the entire show on January 7, 2024, too while the official Pixar Cars channel uploaded a compilation of the first five episodes on February 7, 2024 and of the remaining ones on March 14, 2024. Internationally, Disney Jr. Latinoamérica added all episodes to its YouTube channel from November 2023 to March 2024, Disney Junior España from January through February 2024 as well as a compilation on March 10, 2024 and Disney Junior Deutschland from October 2023 to February, 2024. Finally, Cars on the Road had its linear debut on the German Disney Channel on November 19, 2023.
The official trailer was released by Pixar’s YouTube channel on August 1, 2022. To promote the series' release, McDonald's launched its promotional campaign by including one of eight toys free with the purchase of a Happy Meal.