CarPlay Ultra in Aston Martin: Sometimes the instrument cluster goes out

CarPlay Ultra, Apple’s improved iPhone vehicle integration, finally arrived in the first vehicles last May. The problem: It is an extremely exclusive thing, because only Aston-Martin vehicles in the USA and Canada initially received the technology. The first testimonials are accordingly thin. Much more than one almost 18 minutes long video of the BBC show “Top Gear” So far there has been no. Now the IT blog ARS Technica CarPlay Ultra succeeded in a DB12 Volante for at least a week to test. The result shows that there are still some weaknesses in the exchange between the vehicle and the Apple technology.

More data for Aston than for Apple

The set-up process takes significantly longer than you are used to by CarPlay without Ultra. It took at least one or two minutes longer, said the tester Michael Teo van Runkle. In addition, various screens with data protection information must be nodding. Apple itself wants to have only a few information- such as engine and speed status, brand name of the vehicle and multimedia fos- but Aston Martin himself approves the “online mode” necessary for CarPlay Ultra.

This includes, for example, diagnostic and error data, but also location information (for navigation and traffic updates) and sensor data. In addition, “specific data” can be shared with “trustworthy partners such as service providers, insurers and authorized dealers” in order to “assume” requested services and guarantee obligations “. After all, Aston Martin does not sell data for marketing purposes.

Works well as long as it works

In practice, CarPlay Ultra usually works well, which also applies to special situations. This is important, since the iPhone with the new system now also supplies information in the dashboard, such as speed and speed. For example, if you switch off the iPhone while driving, the regular display will appear again a few seconds later – also in the entertainment system. However, switching off can lead to the fact that you have to connect the iPhone to a completely new one.

In terms of speed, CarPlay Ultra should react faster than the traditional car play-there should hardly be an interruption when “booting”, and the CarPlay-Ultra instrument cluster can also be seen immediately. In practice, however, it was disturbing that there is obviously a certain latency in the CarPlay Ultra UI in the dashboard if you accelerate or turn up the engine. In the native UI, this should not happen whether it is due to Apple or Aston Martin, remains unclear. The battery consumption for CarPlay Ultra should be relatively low, with most users to charge their iPhone at the same time. CarPlay Ultra can also be operated offline. During the week with the system there was a complete failure of the display in the dashboard. This lasted 30 seconds. What triggered him remained unclear at first. The problem then took care of itself, but the driver drove the time over “blind” when it comes to speed.