It’s been more than a decade since Apple unveiled the original version of CarPlay. In that time, the system has become indispensable for countless drivers all over the world. But while new iterations of iOS have introduced user interface tweaks and some additional customization features, its basic functionality hasn’t advanced much since that announcement back in March 2014. This changes with the introduction of CarPlay Ultra.
First shown at WWDC 2022 and now available on any iPhone 12 or newer that’s running iOS 18.5 or later, CarPlay Ultra is designed to deliver greater integration with the vehicle itself, offering not only the ability to have CarPlay on multiple displays within the vehicle but also the option to adjust things like climate controls and drive mode settings from within the CarPlay interface. Much like the original version of CarPlay, CarPlay Ultra has had a protracted gestation period and is finally making its debut in Aston Martin’s high-performance SUV, the DBX707.
The fact that Aston Martin is the first out of the gate with support for CarPlay Ultra illustrates just how much the company’s approach to technology has evolved in recent years. Like many low-volume auto manufacturers, Aston Martin has a history of partnering with other automakers in order to gain access to technologies that are simply too expensive for the British outfit to develop by itself. That’s why models like the DBX707 and Vantage sports car are powered by a 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8 that’s supplied by Mercedes-AMG and then further tuned by Aston Martin.
That’s certainly not a bad thing, though — with 697 horsepower on tap and an exhaust note that sounds like Beelzebub gargling a mouthful of nails, the DBX707’s powertrain dishes out performance and character in equal measure. But the downside of this technical partnership, which was established in 2013, is that Mercedes-Benz refused to provide Aston Martin with the latest versions of its infotainment tech, so the vehicle’s systems were effectively outdated before they even landed in showrooms.
Recognizing that the infotainment system has become an integral part of the driving experience and is something that an owner will likely interact with every time they get into a vehicle, Aston Martin recently struck out on its own and built one from scratch. But this development also raises a question: why give Apple more control of the in-car technology if you finally have an infotainment system worth touting?
An Aston Martin representative said that while offering more choice and personalization options factored into the decision, it ultimately came down to customer requests. They also noted that familiarity is a big factor: with a luxury brand like Aston Martin, many of its customers have multiple vehicles, and CarPlay removes some of the friction involved in reacclimating to a vehicle’s operating system each time they switch from one to another. That certainly makes sense, but what does CarPlay Ultra actually offer for the other 99 percent of us? Quite a bit, as it turns out.
Aston Martin said that the development process for CarPlay Ultra was a learning experience for both the automaker and Apple; the latter learned how to navigate the labyrinth of international safety regulations that dictate things like the required color palette for certain vehicle system readouts, while the former gained a better understanding of the tech giant’s approach to interface design.
The automaker also explained that Apple essentially provided a blank template that Aston Martin’s engineering team then populated with the functions that they expected drivers to use most often. Although there are still a few settings that are only accessible through the native infotainment software, other features that haven’t been given a proper CarPlay Ultra makeover — like the Sound and Stage settings for the DBX707’s Bowers and Wilkins audio system — can still be accessed within the CarPlay interface. In this particular instance, rather than requiring the user to navigate out of CarPlay to get into the native software to make a change and then jump back into CarPlay, the native UI’s menu just pops up in a window inside of CarPlay itself, thereby eliminating all of those additional steps.
There are also quite a few more personalization options available as compared to the standard version of CarPlay. Aston Martin developed its own bespoke CarPlay Ultra theme for the digital gauge cluster, and there are a number of other Apple-supplied gauge cluster “themes” to choose from, which can be further embellished with different colors and wallpapers. In the DBX707, the theme options and the choices for the information displayed in the center of the gauge cluster can be scrolled through using the small touchpad on the steering wheel. Despite the fact that CarPlay Ultra communicates with a vehicle wirelessly, regardless of whether or not the phone is plugged into a data port, its response to inputs was immediate and free of any unsightly hiccups or choppy transitions.
While there’s a sense that aesthetic continuity is the main attraction here, there are also some features that provide genuinely new functionality, as well. For example, with CarPlay Ultra, you can set it so that Apple Maps shows you navigation instructions on both the gauge cluster and the infotainment system with different visual orientations for each. So if a section of the route is unclear from the view on the gauge cluster, you can simply look over at the infotainment system display to see it from a different perspective. One of the few complaints we have about Aston Martin’s new infotainment system is that the text in the native operating system is often too small to easily be read at a glance, and that issue is comprehensively addressed by CarPlay’s large font sizes and oversized on-screen buttons.
Aston Martin said that the development process for CarPlay Ultra was a learning experience for both the automaker and Apple.
It’s hard to say whether or not CarPlay Ultra will eventually become as indispensable as standard CarPlay is now. Although the majority of automakers currently support the standard version and a number of them have expressed interest in bringing CarPlay Ultra compatibility to their vehicles in the coming years, some don’t seem eager to give Apple more control over their screens, while others are actually phasing out CarPlay support entirely.
It’s understandable that a manufacturer like General Motors would want to see a return on investment for the massive amount of money that it’s pouring into software development. On the other hand, most automakers still only spend a limited amount of time updating a particular infotainment system before turning their attention to whatever comes next.
With CarPlay on board, the system’s aesthetic and functionality are largely dictated by Apple’s development road map, so while the native infotainment software might get left in the dust after a few years, CarPlay itself looks just as fresh in a vehicle from 2016 as it does in a contemporary model. And if all goes according to plan, CarPlay Ultra’s ability to operate on all of a given vehicle’s displays should take this futureproofing concept several steps further.
Photography by Bradley Iger / The Verge
