CarPlay Ultra: What Ford doesn't like
Apple is only slowly managing to convince car manufacturers of the new CarPlay Ultra. Now the head of Ford has spoken out on the subject.
CarPlay Ultra in an Aston Martin vehicle.
(Image: Apple)
Anyone who is not currently driving a current Aston Martin (and initially only the US version) cannot yet try out CarPlay Ultra. Car manufacturers are slow to implement Apple's deeper iPhone integration. This is rarely for technical reasons; it is more about economic aspects and brand building. And if you believe the head of Ford, this is unlikely to change any time soon – even if cheaper brands like Hyundai want to come out with the CarPlay successor soon.
Fear of Apple "takeover"
Jim Farley, current CEO of the US car manufacturer, said in an episode of The Verge podcast "Decoder" that parts of the current implementation of the Apple software bothered him. Although he feels very inclined towards Apple, "we are not satisfied with the implementation in the first round of Ultra". He has therefore spoken to Apple CEO Tim Cook "many times". Ford apparently fears that Ultra will give Apple "control of the entire in-car experience". This sounds similar to announcements from other car manufacturers.
However, since CarPlay Ultra is about exactly that, for example, the ability to control vehicle systems directly(er) and also feed the dashboard broadly –an agreement is likely to be rather difficult. However, Apple is offering the vehicle companies the opportunity to integrate their own instrument cluster, which Aston Martin, for example, has done extensively. But that doesn't seem to be enough for Ford and other car companies.
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Branding again and again
Another problem Ford sees, according to Farley, is the necessary integration between Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and entertainment technology, which CarPlay Ultra would supposedly prevent. "We simply believe that the integration of ADAS with the entertainment system is critical when you're speeding down the highway with your eyes off the road." However, Ford is not planning to expand this technology for another three or four years.
But Farley is also mainly concerned with branding. "How far should the Apple brand go?" he asked in the podcast. "Should the Apple brand start your car? Take care of speed limits? Or manage the car's access control?" It will now be interesting to see what happens with CarPlay Ultra. Apple itself seems to have little to worry about: The company already has plenty of experience with the introduction of CarPlay. Even the original CarPlay service was initially only available in selected vehicles – but cars without CarPlay are now in the minority.
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