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Aston Martin debuts Apple CarPlay Ultra for iPhone users

Posted by MBWEQP@reddit | cars | View on Reddit | 10 comments

Aston Martin is the first manufacturer in the world to deliver CarPlay Ultra to drivers, bringing together the best of Aston Martin and the best of iPhone for the ultimate in-car experience.

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10 Comments

desf15@reddit

I don't see much of added value in this carplay ultra to be honest. Compared to regular carplay it seems to additionally take over gauge screen, and give options to control climate without exiting carplay. For the former: If these new gauges are in fact designed by AM (as they seem to indicate) and not generic Apple designed ones then what the hell do we need carplay for, and why don't offer it simply as other options for digital gauges WITHOUT carplay needed? One could argue that these gauges display music or maps from carplay, but I'm pretty sure other cars without carplay ultra can also do it (I think BMW with newest idrive can display carplay map in gauge screen, but I'm not 100% sure) For the latter: Given the fact that going to carplay climate screen will require basically the same number of clicks as getting to manufacturer climate screen, I don't really see point of it. And it gets even more pointless when you realize that all new Astons have very nice physical controls for most of climate control settings. Also, they specifically mention new cars in USA and Canada having it. Is it not available in other markets or is is just USA/Canada press release?
View on Reddit #56357700

SubjectRevenues@reddit

Apple Maps in the gauge cluster is nice though. A lot of cars with AAOS force you to use Google Maps for the cluster even if it supports CarPlay, and those that don't often only allow their on board nav. I know a lot of people still prefer Google Maps, but I really like how Apple Maps does lane guidance for exits compared to Google, so it would be nice to have it right in front of my line of sight.
View on Reddit #56376613

Fact0ry0fSadness@reddit

I'm still old enough to remember when Apple Maps was laughably bad compared to Google and everyone was mad for that short period of time there wasn't a Google maps app on iPhone. I'm guessing it's come a long way since then.
View on Reddit #56556751

lukers83@reddit

From a WWDC tech talk the same year they announced the new CarPlay, the gauges are heavily customizable by car OEMs in many facets, but the design language is rigid enough for Apple’s philosophy to show. I think that’s supposed to be the appeal, along with general integration with the apps in a predictable manner. Car software, and I say this gingerly, is historically trash, sans the outlier group (Tesla, Rivian, etc). Having Apple’s indirect input to how a car is supposed to be interacted with is their push to have a common design language across most of the tech one could interact with quickly and easily. I don’t think it’s going to make things less button pushes, per your example, but instead make the idea of screens for more functions as approachable as possible. Whether or not something like the climate should even be a touchscreen is another concern.
View on Reddit #56384656

ymjcmfvaeykwxscaai@reddit

Yeah I don't really care about all the customization. I have a car with carplay and one without. This would be a big improvement for me. Backing out of the carplay screen to get to other controls, or more importantly having the car not remember them(drive modes, climate settings) when my SO drives the car is a little annoying. It might not do this on every car but it's also not that fast on bootup/connecting when you get in, which this is also supposed to solve. Also in my other car I like being able to use the voice control to do things like change the climate or turn off the dome lights my kid turned on in the back. I don't use voice all the time but when I do it's usually for stuff that's difficult to do while you're driving. Now you can just use the same voice assistant for everything.
View on Reddit #56365747

That_Car_Enthusiast@reddit

With the issues I’ve had with CarPlay I’d be very sceptical of it, I’ve had CarPlay lock up so many times! Android Auto is no better either!
View on Reddit #56452339

TurbulentRepublic111@reddit

What is CarPlay Ultra? 👀
View on Reddit #56430078

tominski43@reddit

I drive a lot of rentals and if this becomes wide spread I’d like it a lot. Don’t have the money to rent Aston martins yet though
View on Reddit #56395233

yobo9193@reddit

I’m most excited for the ability to modify the gauge cluster; I’m curious if it’ll let you display oil and coolant temp if the OEM cluster doesn’t make that available from the factory
View on Reddit #56355273

MBWEQP@reddit (OP)

I believe the gauge clusters are still designed by the manufacturer. But each manufacturer has some degree of freedom to have their own design and features.
View on Reddit #56356035