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These Apple CarPlay Ultra Partners Now Say They Won't Support It
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Sure, I do get your point
. I mean, everyone should be able to have what they are most comfortable with.My trigger was actually Renault saying "Don’t try to invade our own systems"... and then they put Google's OS in their cars.
Both Apple and Google take a lot of data from users, but at least Apple is not selling them to whomever. I don't know what car makers do with our data, but I would much rather have a software company handle that (legally and technically) going forward with cars becoming tablets on wheels more and more. I sure don't trust Tesla with my data even though they do make a good software, albeit non user friendly while driving.
I have yet to see a car manufacturer handle their software like we are all used to in the computing and phone space (Tesla does have regular updates but those are still far away from how it should be).
I guess this is the transition period and we'll see where it takes us from here.
Well, they WERE on my list for next car - that's them off then, this is what I was waiting for before I pushed the button!
I love CarPlay, tho' sometimes I have to replug it for it to work, and mostly ignore the other display items apart from the level of my gas tank.
The fact that automakers ignore the product after they've shipped it out the door...
The fact that automakers ignore the product after they've shipped it out the door...
My guess is carplay ultra is a better experience than most infotainment systems. I remember how some MR posters thought Apple Pay was going to die a slow death. For the most part don't underestimate Apple.
We've a BMW i4 with Carplay and it's fine for integrating an iPhone into the overall infotainment system but I wamt my BMW to remain a BMW, not some IOS device, so I don't want or need ultra. It is overreach. We also have a Renault 5e and Renault's comment is just a joke. They have already given away the farm to Google and let me tell you, what a lousy integration it is. The R5e is a wonderful little town car, the only thing wrong with it is Google. Some exec made a very stupid strategic decision by putting it under the covers. BTW, the R5e has Carplay too, thank goodness, but not connected to the car's range and routing requirements. Which doesn't really matter because Google, which is integrated, always gets it wrong AND tries to force you to use THEIR favourite charging providers.It's a dog.
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They're saying the quiet part loud: They don't want CarPlay Ultra because they want to be able to gauge their customers with more monthly subscription services for things like Heated Seats, Maps, and every other basic feature that cars 10-15 years ago just had from the factory. I will never EVER pay for any in-car services. Ever. When I buy a car, I expect it to work and everything I paid £10000s for to be included. I will never buy a car that paywalls its features.
And not for nothing, the Auto manufacturers own infotainment systems have always been laughably ****. Just garbage software that's sluggish, ugly, and designed and programmed by people who have no idea about design or programming.
And not for nothing, the Auto manufacturers own infotainment systems have always been laughably ****. Just garbage software that's sluggish, ugly, and designed and programmed by people who have no idea about design or programming.
I agree with the comment regarding infotainment systems. Paying for stuff that’s already in the car. Do manufacturers reduce the price if you decide you don’t want to use it?
I rented a late model x5 in December for two weeks. What we had on the screen was CarPlay not the native navigation app. CarPlay is ubiquitous and works well.
The manufacturers have always charged for navigation map upgrades but standard CarPlay already fixed this. I don’t know anyone who uses manufacturer nav these days if they have CarPlay. CarPlay Ultra won’t change anything here. Also regarding heated seat subscriptions, CarPlay Ultra wouldn’t prevent this. Not sure why you think it would. Better idea is just not to ever buy a BMW again.
And I will say yet again, don’t conflate the infotainment system with the instrument cluster, etc.
Nah, no where close. Backed by Geely, close to Volvo. They had a bad 2024, but 2025 has been good - certainly in no worse of a position than Tesla was in 2016, with a better selection of cars.
With CarPlay google tracks you apple
Maps doesn’t, at least not like google.
With manufacturer infotainment your pii used to be safe, not any more. It’s collected and dissected and in some cases can be used against you or your fellow drivers.
I read it as:
“if you use Google Maps on CarPlay Google [still] tracks you; Apple Maps doesn’t.” And “with the manufacturer’s infotainment system your data used to be safe, but now it’s not.”
Got it ..
Even worse, many of our cars are uploading driving telemetry right to insurance companies (apparently).
It's getting really difficult to opt out of a lot of this garbage.
Meaning Android Automotive, not Android Auto, correct?
The latter is the Android version of CarPlay, while the former is the OS (AAOS)
Are you referring to the premium connectivity service? That's for much more than streaming (real time traffic data, weather, yelp reviews and closing times for destinations, over the air software updates, etc...) and it's only $99 for the whole year. I don't pay extra for streaming services, I just simply log in to my existing Apple music account.
What would CarPlay give you that the Tesla doesn't have? Maybe because I'm not from the generation that lives with their phone in one hand constantly looking at it I don't understand.
Biggest is iMessage support. If you're in group threads you absolutely can't respond in the car. My family pretty much lives in group message threads.
Other nice to haves: MLB App for radio baseball games, Overcast for podcasts, Apple Maps for directions (This is less of an annoyance because I find Tesla's GPS pretty good, but occasionally I need routing to non-supercharger charging stations and it'd be nice to have them built in). Wife would really like Waze, but I don't use it.
Yes AAOS. I use the Google maps in AAOS because it also factors in my battery level into directions.
I don’t really care which happens, either add battery level support to car play maps or bring Apple Music to AAOS. As of now I switch between the two systems, one for maps and the other for music. The “Hey siri/google” confusion is starting to get to me.