Aston Martin has got first dibs on Apple’s new CarPlay Ultra infotainment system.
Ultra goes beyond phone mirroring and can operate car features like climate control.
It will be rolled out to other brands including Ford, Volvo, Hyundai and Porsche soon.
Apple’s CarPlay, along with its Android Auto opposite number, has helped us use our smartphones more safely on the move since 2014. But the original system was limited in scope and didn’t match up with the other screens and graphics supplied by automakers themselves. Enter CarPlay Ultra, a second-generation system that’s vastly more sophisticated but one only Aston Martin buyers in North America get to enjoy.
CarPlay Ultra, which was revealed in 2022, but has only now reached production cars, will be rolled out to plenty of other brands soon, including Ford, Porsche, Volvo, Kia and Hyundua, and to other countries. But it makes it debut on Aston’s lineup of SUVs and sports cars exclusively in the USA and Canada.
That’s a bit of a coup for a brand that for years didn’t even have touchscreens in its cars because supplier Mercedes wouldn’t sell it the latest equipment it was using in its own vehicles that cost less than half as much. Owners of late-model Astons running the company’s newest infotainment system will be able to add Ultra to their cars via a software update.
So what’s so good about CarPlay Ultra? One major upgrade is that it can now appear on multiple screens in a car, including the digital instrument cluster. Drivers can select apps to be shown on the gauge pack screen, choose from a variety of layouts and colors, and generally personalize their experience in a way that’s not possible in existing automaker-created setups.
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But the real advance is in how CarPlay is no longer a separate entity but fully integrates with a car’s electrical systems and can be used to operate things like climate control, either via familiar Apple-look digital controls or by using the tech company’s Siri voice assistant.
Naturally the visual presentation of CarPlay Ultra and the exact list of features it can control will vary from brand to brand. Mercedes, for instance, is refusing to let Ultra take over all of its car’s screens. And Aston points out that the DBX S still retains hard keys for frequently-used switches controlling its cars adaptive dampers, active exhaust system, parking sensors, lane assist and more.