Apple CarPlay Ultra is finally here. Available first on Aston Martin cars in the US and Canada, the infotainment system brings Apple's interface to the instrument cluster for the first time.
Running on the iPhone 12 or later and iOS 18.45 or later, CarPlay Ultra now includes climate controls and replaces native navigation.
After years of waiting – and five months since it missed its most recent deadline – Apple has finally launched the next-generation of CarPlay.
Apple first announced a new version of CarPlay back in 2022, and later showed how the iPhone-powered interface would span multiple dashboard displays at once. In 2024 the demonstrated how CarPlay could look on the displays of cars from Aston Martin and Porsche, and how it would let drivers control the car’s climate system.
Now, finally, CarPlay Ultra has arrived – but there’s a catch. At launch, the system is only available on the latest models of Aston Martin, and only for drivers in the US and Canada. This will change, of course, and other manufacturers will jump aboard the CarPlay Ultra bandwagon soon. But for now, only Aston Martin’s DBX, Vantage, DB12 and Vanquish model ranges can access the new software.
The iOS-style home screen looks familiar, but there are several new applications exclusive to CarPlay Ultra. These include Climate, which brings native control of your car’s cabin air temperature to the Apple interface. There’s support for multi-zone climate systems too, so you can use CarPlay to change the driver, passenger and rear temperatures, or adjust the fan speed and turn on the recirculate function too.
Also new is how CarPlay Ultra now runs on the instrument cluster. In Aston Martin’s case, this means the screen behind the steering wheel includes dials styled and branded by the British sports car maker, but with software by Apple. This brings CarPlay media and navigation apps to the driver display for the first time, and means when running CarPlay you’ll no longer see the car’s own map behind the wheel.
It’s also now possible to control the car’s radio from within Apple CarPlay, instead of either using a streaming app or jumping out of CarPlay and into the car’s own media player. The system can be controlled by the car’s touchscreen and switchgear, or by speaking to Siri. Aston Martin says its cars will also retain physical controls for heating and ventilation, as well as gear and drive mode selection, and overrides for the chassis, stability control, exhaust and lane-keep assist systems.
Drivers can pick between several designs of speedometer and tachometer, each with Aston Martin branding, and pick from different wallpapers and colour palettes.
“iPhone users love CarPlay and it has changed the way people interact with their vehicles," said Bob Borchers, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing.
"The next generation of CarPlay gives drivers a smarter, safer way to use their iPhone in the car, deeply integrating with the vehicle while maintaining the very best of the automaker. We are thrilled to begin rolling out CarPlay Ultra with Aston Martin, with more manufacturers to come," he added.
Apple has since confirmed that CarPlay Ultra will be coming to many other carmakers, including Hyundai, Kia and Genesis. The electric cars of those three companies all share the same E-GMP platform, which will likely make it simpler to roll out the new Apple software integration.
Aston Martin may seem like an unusual first partner for CarPlay Ultra, but the timing makes sense. Aston finally binned its outdated infotainment system with the launch of the DB12 just a couple of years ago, replacing it with an all-new platform that has since rolled out to a whole new generation of cars.
This clean-slate approach was likely the perfect jumping-on point for CarPlay Ultra, since it requires far deeper integration with a car’s own systems than the previous version. It’s unclear who will come next, but Porsche is a likely candidate given it also featured alongside Aston in a round of next-gen CarPlay news in 2024.
Aston says CarPlay Ultra will come to all global markets “within the next 12 months”. CarPlay Ultra requires an iPhone 12 or later running iOS 18.54 or later.
