Apple has moved further into the cabin of your car than ever before with CarPlay Ultra, which now takes over the instrument cluster – and even functions such as air conditioning and the radio.
The next generation of Apple CarPlay – a takeover of all in-car screens and functions, including the speedometer – has launched in the US in Aston Martin sports cars ahead of its Australian launch in the next 12 months.
It is due to expand to cars from more accessible brands, including Hyundai and Kia, at a later date, each brand’s version of CarPlay Ultra offering its own look and feel.
Today’s version of Apple CarPlay is an app within a car’s existing infotainment software, which houses maps, music, and other features linked to a connected iPhone.
CarPlay Ultra turns Apple’s reach inside the car to 11, placing a new skin on every screen in the car, and integrating controls previously forced into the car’s native infotainment system – provided you have an iPhone 12 or later.
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The technology will be tailored to each manufacturer, with the layouts and menus on offer to customers styled in collaboration between Apple and the auto brand to suit their design language.
Drivers can swap between multiple instrument display themes – from classic Aston Martin ‘analogue’ gauges to an ultra-simple Apple ‘bar’ design – showing usual details such as speed, RPM, lights, safety systems, and everything else normally in the gauge cluster.
Many functions previously reserved for the native infotainment system – such as the radio and climate controls – are now shown through the CarPlay interface.
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Physical buttons inside the car still work as usual, but their response when interacted with is now shown in an Apple style, rather than the car maker’s fonts.
It is highly customisable, with widgets for various functions powered by the iPhone – which can be connected wirelessly – and various wallpapers to choose from.
Not all features will be shown through the CarPlay interface in every car, such as the surround sound mode controls in Aston Martins, but its menu can be opened through the Apple system.
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It operates solely through a wireless connection, as it will need to work as soon as the vehicle is started.
The brief connection lag faced by the current version of CarPlay will no longer be present, at least for the core functions such as the instruments that need to operate immediately, Apple has suggested.
It requires the latest version of the Apple iPhone operating system, iOS 18.5, rather than iOS 16 as previously indicated, and requires an iPhone 12 or later.
Apple CarPlay Ultra was first shown in 2022, and later promised to launch by the end of 2024, but the deadline has been missed by five months.
The latest announcement has only confirmed Hyundai, Kia and Genesis for the system beyond its launch in Aston Martins.
However, earlier communication from Apple has suggested Audi, Ford, Honda, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Polestar, Porsche, Renault and Volvo are also signed up for the system.
Drive has contacted Aston Martin to confirm when Apple CarPlay Ultra will launch in its vehicles in Australia.
In the US and Canada, it will be offered on new Aston Martins ordered from May 15, 2025, and as a retrofit on current-generation models through a software update in the coming months.
The post Apple CarPlay Ultra revealed: New tech takes over all in-car screens, debuts in Aston Martins appeared first on Drive.