Everyone knows CarPlay: you connect your iPhone to the car screen to display (compatible) smartphone apps. CarPlay Ultra takes this idea and expands on it. It's still about presenting iPhone apps on the car screen, but in fact it sits comfortably on all the screens in the cabin with all kinds of widgets. They return information from the vehicle, such as speed, air conditioning, tire pressure, driving assistance, etc.
The iPhone merges with the car
In a sense, this new version of CarPlay is similar to Android Automotive; it's a kind of operating system for the car. But where Android Automotive is completely independent of a smartphone, CarPlay Ultra still relies on an iPhone. The latter is therefore an overlay that merges the iPhone with the vehicle's onboard systems.
CarPlay Ultra integrates with the car's infotainment screen, as well as other screens. The one below the screen can display all sorts of widgets, the design of which was developed in collaboration with Apple—this likely explains the delay in launching the first compatible vehicles. Because this new generation CarPlay was presented in 2022, and it was originally supposed to hit the road before the end of last year.
Apple had assured in January that the work was continuing. This was indeed the case, with the announcement of the launch of CarPlay Ultra at Aston Martin. Anyone who orders a vehicle from the very high-end brand in the United States and Canada from today will be able to benefit from this technology. Hyundai and its Kia and Genesis brands have also confirmed their support.
With each manufacturer having to work with Apple on the CarPlay Ultra widget interface, the adoption rate of CarPlay Ultra is expected to be extremely slow. But at least this second-generation CarPlay is no longer vaporware.
Source: Apple
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