Three years after it was first announced, and following two missed launch promises, with no comment from Apple on when it would actually show up, CarPlay 2 will finally be available in a matter of weeks. And now, it’s called CarPlay Ultra.
Aston Martin has announced it will be the first car manufacturer to actually deliver Apple’s long-awaited next-gen in-car experience, with any of its vehicles ordered in the US and Canada from today shipping with CarPlay Ultra installed as standard.
Current Aston owners will also be able to get the Ultra update from their dealerships in June, however the car must be running the marque’s most recent infotainment system to make the switch, which launched back in 2023. Owners will also need an iPhone 12 or later, running iOS 18.54 and later.
The first look at Apple CarPlay Ultra in the driving seat in Aston’s DBX.
Current cars that meet this criteria include the Aston Martin DBX SUV, alongside its core sportscar models—Vanquish, Vantage, and DB12. This update will also be for US and Canadian owners only for now, but a full market rollout is expected over the next 12 months.
As we saw when it was teased at WWDC in 2022, CarPlay Ultra will see Apple’s ecosystem extend from the main infotainment screen to the instrument cluster, merging with the automaker’s design language for a more consistent look and feel across the board.
Drivers can finally have their iPhone nav directions appear in front of them as the new CarPlay interface stretches across multiple screens.
Photograph: Aston Martin
It means that along with core car features such as Aston Martin’s on-screen speedometer and tachometer dials, you can also have your Apple Music playlist or Google Maps directions in front of you as you drive. Things like tire pressure monitors and air-con controls will also at last be able to sit within the CarPlay interface.
This is all supposedly fully customizable though, from the instrument cluster theme down to the color scheme, offering both car brands and drivers the ability to build and curate their own multi-screen setup for the things that matter most to them while driving.
The new software displays speed, gear selection, rpm, tire pressures, and more on the driver screen.
Photograph: Apple
Of course, if you prefer physical buttons, they’re still available for functions provided the car in question has them already, of course. Siri will again be on hand when you prefer to bark commands at a voice assistant. However, how next-generation Siri will precisely work in CarPlay Ultra, as Apple’s AI tech develops, remains unclear—but from launch, essentially, the tech mirrors the phone experience. That means if you have ChatGPT-powered Apple Intelligence enabled on your iPhone, the in-car UI will ask for a voice command to shunt a query to Open AI’s model or stick with on-device Siri.
Conversely, in what could be seen as unfortunate timing for Apple, Google beat the news of CarPlay Ultra to the punch, with the announcement of Gemini for cars just a few days ago—and we’ve already got more detail on how Gemini will enhance the driving experience than we have on Siri at this point.
This includes helping you craft text messages on the go, find good restaurants en route, and even help you brainstorm on the way to a meeting. Gemini will roll out to Android Auto cars over the next few months, likely appearing in myriad car brands well before CarPlay Ultra.
Core car controls now sit within the CarPlay Ultra experience, such as the car’s HVAC system.
Photograph: Apple
As for CarPlay Ultra, it had been confirmed a while ago that Aston Martin would be one of the first manufacturers to feature Apple’s next-gen experience, with Porsche expected to follow next. Audi, Honda, Jaguar Land Rover, Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis, are also thought to be on board to take the tech. However, Mercedes-Benz has remarked that handing over control of its cockpit head unit to someone else “was a no.”
As CarPlay fans await confirmation from more manufacturers as to roll out dates for Ultra in their vehicles—not to mention finally getting to see it in action—it’ll be interesting to see if Mercedes-Benz bows to consumer pressure and becomes one of them.
