Finally, Apple’s comprehensive CarPlay version is available. CarPlay Ultra, which exports the Apple experience to all of the screens in the car, including the instrument cluster, will be available from Aston Martin starting today.
CarPlay Ultra will be standard on all new car orders for the DBX, Vantage, DB12, and Vanquish starting today. Within “the coming weeks,” Aston’s dealer network will upgrade current vehicles equipped with its most recent infotainment system, which was first introduced on the 2024 DB12.
As you can observe, Aston claimed to have collaborated extensively with Apple to develop a system that is “consistent with the brand’s unique design philosophy and remains instantly recognizable as Aston Martin.”
The tachometer and speedometer can have a variety of designs. For an immersive experience that keeps you inside Apple’s ecosystem—something we all really want—they integrate with full-screen maps and media in the instrument cluster. Additionally, drivers have the ability to completely customize the screen by choosing from a variety of cluster themes, colors, and wallpapers.
Ultra gives customers the ability to control features like the radio and climate control and lets them put Apple widgets on either screen. But for critical functions like exhaust, chassis, gear selection, heating and cooling, and more, there are redundant physical controls and override switches. To operate the car, you can use Siri, the conventional controls, or the touchscreen.
Apple first revealed CarPlay Ultra in 2022. Two years later, the company released a teaser, indicating that the system would be available in 2024. Apple remained silent about the missing deadline earlier this year, so that didn’t happen. The tech behemoth might have been occupied helping to finish Aston’s “entirely bespoke” version of Ultra. In any case, it’s at last here.
Apple named a number of companies it was collaborating with on CarPlay Ultra, including Aston. Porsche was another, but not all automakers are willing to give Apple complete control over the in-car experience.
Rivian was clear about wanting to keep control of the car’s digital ecosystems, while General Motors is infamously anti-CarPlay and has removed the capability from their cars. However, if you’re obstinate, there are ways to get around it. Ferrari, on the other hand, acknowledged that your smartphone was just superior and gave up on developing its own navigation system.
CarPlay will initially be introduced in the US and Canada before being made available in all international markets by the end of the year. CarPlay Ultra requires an iPhone 12 or later running iOS 18.54 or later.
If Porsche’s strategy is implemented, we’ll have to wait and see how other automakers respond. Like the original CarPlay version, it might spread throughout the industry and become the preferred method for consumers to interact with their vehicles if it is successful and well-liked.
Source: motor1