What is Apple CarPlay Ultra, which cars will get it?

If you have an iPhone and you’ve bought a new car in the last decade, you’ve probably used Apple CarPlay in your vehicle. It integrates your phone with the vehicle’s infotainment system and allows you to access things like music, text messages and podcasts without touching your phone. Last month, the next-gen Apple CarPlay Ultra debuted, but it probably won’t end up in most vehicles.

So, let’s dig into this new CarPlay system and talk a bit about which cars will – and won’t – get it.

What is Apple CarPlay Ultra?

In the simplest terms, Apple CarPlay Ultra (formerly known as Apple CarPlay 2) essentially becomes the vehicle’s software. So, instead of an app that you can access from the infotainment screen, it becomes more of a total in-car experience, and it controls everything from your gauge cluster to your climate controls to your music.

“This next generation of CarPlay gives drivers a smarter, safer way to use their iPhone in the car, while deeply integrating with the car’s systems and showcasing the unique look and feel of each automaker,” said Bob Borchers, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing in a press release on Apple’s website. 

Essentially, Apple CarPlay Ultra will provide all the content for all the driver’s screens, and drivers will be able to customize what they see. This includes how maps as well as native car functions such as tire pressure gauges will appear in the cluster.

The idea is to create a more cohesive digital experience in the vehicle with tailor-made experiences. Each automaker will be able to customize the exact design with a look and feel that their specific customers would expect. So, not all CarPlay Ultra integrations would look the same. Furthermore, similar to the current CarPlay, drivers will be able to personalize colors and wallpapers.

CarPlay Ultra will work with iPhone 12 or later running iOS 18.5 or later.

Which automakers will/won’t get Apple CarPlay Ultra?

The very first automaker to get Apple CarPlay Ultra is Aston Martin. Initially, it will be available in the automaker’s core lineup in the U.S. and Canada with the goal of expanding globally within the next 12 months.

Apple’s press release states Hyundai, Kia and Genesis have also committed to CarPlay Ultra.

When Apple announced the next-gen CarPlay in 2022, there were a number of brands who said they’d support the platform, including Acura, Audi, Ford, Honda, Infiniti, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, Nissan, Porsche, Polestar and Volvo. Interestingly, though Porsche showed a demonstration of how the new CarPlay system would appear in its vehicles back in 2023, it was not included in the Apple press release as a “coming soon” automaker.

One automaker we know for sure won’t get the new Apple CarPlay Ultra: General Motors. We’ve seen the brand start to phase CarPlay out of its electric vehicles, and we know it is currently planning to phase it out of its gas vehicles, too. Two other automakers that won’t get it: Rivian and Tesla. Neither of these automakers have ever included CarPlay in their vehicles, and we don’t expect them to start offering it now.

Why wouldn’t an automaker want Apple CarPlay Ultra?

Though GM cites driver distraction and improved owner experience as the reason for ditching Apple CarPlay, we’ve concluded that the bigger reason is data and money.

Let’s start with the data. If you’re using Apple CarPlay, or even Android Auto, for navigation or music, how you are using these things is collected by Apple or Google – not the automaker. As a Motor Trend article points out, car companies then lose out on intelligence that could help them improve their own infotainment systems. Not to mention the fact that there’s the potential for the automaker to monetize the data it collects on you.

So, now on to the money. If you are only able to use a native system, you become a captive audience. You depend on the native system not only for your music but also your navigation. While GM is offering these things for free for 10 years at the moment, there will eventually be a subscription fee associated with using these things that you’re used to having for free. GM is banking on the fact that you won’t be able to live without these things and will shell out $8 to $10 (or more) per month to retain access. This becomes a new and stable revenue stream. Maybe you don’t think this is problem because you get a new car every three or four years, but the average American keeps their cars for 8.4 years, and the average age of vehicles on the road is 12.5 years. And once people start to buy into the subscription model, the free trials will likely go away.

Our take

We haven’t seen Apple CarPlay Ultra in action, but we like the idea. Being able to integrate your phone and car more seamlessly seems like it would be less distracting. Plus, since we give a lot of data to Apple anyway (we also have an iMac, Mac laptop and Apple Watch), we’d rather not also give it to Google and whatever automaker is making the next data grab. But maybe that’s just us.

TBD on how we really will feel about when we get the chance to test it, but the Magic 8 Ball says: “Outlook good.”

Apple CarPlay Ultra in Aston Martin

Editor’s note: All photos on this page courtesy of Apple.