new Istio data plane mode that’s designed for simplified operations, broader application compatibility, and reduced infrastructure cost. For more details see the <a href=/v1.22/blog/2022/introducing-ambient-mesh/>announcement blog</a>.</p><p><strong>Note</strong>: Ambient Mesh is currently in alpha and is not recommended for production use.</p><h3 id=gateway-api-support-improvements>Gateway API Support Improvements</h3><p>Istio 1.18 improves support for the Kubernetes Gateway API, including support for ex