CarPlay Ultra: What Ford doesn’t like

If you don’t drive a current Aston Martin (and initially only the US variant), you can’t try CarPlay Ultra. Car manufacturers only slowly convert Apple’s lower iPhone integration. This rarely has technical reasons, it is more about economic aspects and brand formation. And if you believe the boss of Ford, that shouldn’t change so quickly-even if more cost-effective brands like Hyundai will soon want to come out with the car player successor.

Fear of Apple “takeover”

Jim Farley, current CEO of the US car maker, said in one Episode of the The-Verge podcast “Decoder”It disrupted parts of the current implementation of the Apple software. Apple feels very inclined, but “we are not satisfied with the implementation in the first round of Ultra”. He had therefore spoken “often” to Apple CEO Tim Cook. Ford apparently fears that Apple with Ultra “gets control of the entire experience within the car”. That sounds similar to the announcements from other car manufacturers.

However, since CarPlay Ultra is about – such as the possibility of controlling vehicle systems directly (ER) and also having the dashboard wide – an agreement should be rather difficult. However, Apple offers the vehicle companies that they integrate their own instrument cluster, which Aston Martin has extensively made. But that doesn’t seem to be enough for Ford and other automotes.

Always branding

Another problem that Ford sees, according to Farley, is the necessary integration between assistance systems (Advanced Driver Assistance System, ADAS) and entertainment technology that CarPlay Ultra would supposedly prevent. “We are simply convinced that the integration of AdAs into the entertainment system is of crucial importance if it is driven by a view from the street.” However, Ford is only planning to expand this technology in three or four years.

But mainly Farley is also about branding. “How far should the Apple brand go?” He asked in the podcast. “Should the Apple brand start your car? Take care of speed restrictions? Or manage the access control of the car?” It is now interesting how it goes with CarPlay Ultra. Apple itself seems to worry: The company already has a lot of experience with the introduction of CarPlay. The original CarPlay service also initially only reached selected vehicles-but now cars are in the minority without car play.