Car makers reject CarPlay Ultra as an Apple overreach

CarPlay Ultra on Aston Martin – Image credit Apple

Apple’s CarPlay Ultra faces a long road to becoming a widely-used feature, as car makers are pushing back on supporting Apple’s system in favor of their own solutions.

The shift from CarPlay to CarPlay Ultra is a big one for car manufacturers to make. Instead of occupying just the main infotainment system’s screen, CarPlay Ultra spreads out to other areas of the dashboard, as well as having more direct control over the vehicle’s various features.

While Apple introduced CarPlay Ultra as a concept three years ago, and finally became a reality in Aston Martin cars in May, consumers have even more of a wait before using it in other vehicles. To blame are the car makers themselves, resisting because they prefer their own creations.

Car manufacturers Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volvo, Polestar, and Renault told the Financial Times that they have no interest to include CarPlay Ultra support in their vehicles. The list includes manufacturers that Apple previously indicated were going to use the software.

A drive too far

The reasoning for the resistance is fairly clear. Car producers are not excited about offering up in-car screen estate and access to car functions to outside companies.

Rather than just providing features like an enhanced car stereo hooked up to an iPhone, the CarPlay Ultra experience is more integrated into the vehicle system. This includes replacing the instrument cluster in front of the driver with more customized and interactive versions.

CarPlay Ultra also has the capability to control in-car systems, such as air conditioning, or provides a way to access a manufacturer’s own controls in a pass-through mode. Despite this, car makers would rather stick to their own software, which consumers may not necessarily prefer over Apple’s designs.

One Renault executive reportedly said to Apple “don’t try to invade our own systems.”

While Volvo is among those rejecting CarPlay Ultra, chief executive Hakan Samuelsson did admit that car makers don’t so software as well as tech companies. “There are others who can do that better, and then we should offer that in our cars,” he insisted.

While design and interface discussions are the more obvious reasons for holding off from CarPlay Ultra, manufacturers also have another incentive. It is said that the infotainment system and in-car services are still a possible revenue source for car makers.

This was one of the reasons why GM ditched CarPlay in favor of its own system in 2023, due to the potential to sell subscriptions to drivers.

For some car manufacturers shying away from handing over control to CarPlay Ultra, they are stopping short of blocking Apple entirely. In most cases, the current limited CarPlay will still be offered, in tandem with their own systems.

BMW insisted that CarPlay will be used in its infotainment system. Meanwhile, Audi believes it should provide drivers “a customized and seamless digital experience” of its own creation, while still maintaining CarPlay support.

CarPlay Ultra’s still a good prospect

Despite the setback, there are still some manufacturers who are open to CarPlay.

Apple initially named 14 car producers who were interested in CarPlay Ultra back in 2022. Though not on that list, Hyundai and Kia were later said by Apple to be considering support for the software.

Porsche is also expected to add support to future models, Apple said to the report. However, Jaguar Land Rover, which was named on that brand list, said it was still working to evaluate CarPlay Ultra’s viability.

Ford and Nissan declined to talk about CarPlay Ultra to the report.

One element that should encourage manufacturers to use CarPlay Ultra is consumer demand. Consumers have frequently expressed that they want to have CarPlay in their vehicles.

In one 2024 survey, in-car infotainment systems had an approval rating of 805 out of 1,000 as an average. However, drivers who used systems with CarPlay support scored higher at 840.

As for why drivers disliked their infotainment systems, 25% complained about switching audio sources, and 23% were unhappy about menu structures. These are issues that CarPlay easily solves.

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