“Does it have CarPlay?” It is one of many first questions anybody—driver, passenger, or purchaser—asks a few new automotive. The irritating menus, clunky person interfaces, and general poor expertise surrounding fashionable automotive infotainment techniques have pushed nearly all of individuals to Apple CarPlay (or Android Auto, Google’s native equal), which successfully mirrors your telephone on the infotainment show.
Since CarPlay’s introduction in 2014, it has been virtually solely for the middle show. Now, although, with the arrival of CarPlay Extremely, all the gauge cluster and dashboard flip into an Apple-mimicking iPhone projection. However after all, it is not with out a little bit of controversy.
Photograph by: Chris Rosales / Motor1
Fourteen automakers initially signed on for CarPlay Extremely when Apple introduced it again in 2022. However some, like Audi, Ford, and Mercedes-Benz, have since backed away from the deal, whereas Common Motors continues its assault on CarPlay fully. Genesis, Hyundai, Kia, Porsche, and Aston Martin, although, nonetheless welcome the brand new know-how.
On the floor, it is a debate between the recognition of CarPlay and the automaker’s potential to tightly management its person expertise. Beneath the numerous shopper layers, automakers are fearful about handing over person knowledge to Apple—knowledge that the automakers discover extraordinarily helpful.
If they don’t seem to be promoting your knowledge to insurance coverage firms, they’re promoting it to advertisers or aggregators in search of helpful particulars on shopper habits. Cluing Apple into that knowledge is not one thing automakers will do readily.
Within the case of Aston Martin, it acknowledged the recognition of CarPlay and made the choice “for [its] clients.” As a small-volume luxurious carmaker, Aston stands to lose if it would not get with the instances. For a lot bigger manufacturers, this is not as a lot of a problem.
Nonetheless, I received to pattern and stress-test CarPlay Extremely for a couple of hours in a 2025 DBX and frivolously grill Aston about how Extremely integrates into current techniques.
First and most significantly, CarPlay Extremely solely works with an iPhone 12 or newer working iOS 18.5. Upon first connection, the telephone uploads 50 MB of information to the automotive, principally a folder filled with graphical belongings particular to every automobile. Extremely runs alongside the automaker’s infotainment system as a kind of plug-in program, interfacing with the onboard techniques for superior driver help, air-con, radio, and drive modes so that the majority capabilities might be managed via CarPlay.
CarPlay Extremely doesn’t deeply interface with the automobile community. As an alternative, the onboard techniques supply the related data to CarPlay and nothing extra, at the very least based on Aston Martin. In nerd converse, CarPlay would not even talk on the controller space community bus (CAN bus) of the DBX.
Successfully, it is Apple graphics and UI over Aston’s techniques. It does run as a small working system inside the DBX, nevertheless it’s not a wholly new infotainment system, and it nonetheless operates as a telephone projection.
Photograph by: Chris Rosales / Motor1
Successfully, it is Apple graphics and UI over Aston’s techniques.
Curiously, Aston didn’t need to pay a licensing charge both. All of the automaker needed to do was foot the event prices on integration, and Apple merely offered assist. As Aston tells it, integration was comparatively painless, with Apple listening to suggestions from Aston and vice versa. However clients beware: Because the previous saying goes, “If the product is free, you’re the product.”
Nonetheless, the person interface is traditional Apple: Simple and intuitive. All main capabilities have been simple to search out below the brand new “Automobile” menu, with particular push notifications whereas utilizing bodily controls. For instance, clicking the ADAS off button on the middle console prompted a CarPlay notification confirming the system’s deactivation.
Even drive mode choices have been displayed when switching from Sport to Sport+, and particular drive mode settings have been obtainable deeper inside CarPlay, permitting changes to issues just like the dampers, steering, and engine tuning, amongst others.
The controversial piece, the gauge cluster, was additionally a spotlight. It ran quicker and seemed slicker than Aston’s native stuff, although that’s extra of an Aston difficulty than a CarPlay enchancment.
Photograph by: Chris Rosales / Motor1
Photograph by: Chris Rosales / Motor1
The flexibility to customise colours and backgrounds on a wide range of layouts was beautiful, and Aston’s collaborative gauge cluster was crisp, with the Apple-specific stuff current between the speedometer and tachometer. A full-screen Apple Maps projection additionally exists within the gauge cluster with turn-by-turn navigation.
It is all undeniably Apple, however extraordinarily good to take a look at and use.
There have been a couple of caveats, although. Extremely is wi-fi solely, which is tough sufficient for traditional CarPlay at instances. Utilizing Aston’s offered iPhone 15, it ran easily for the 2 hours I examined it. But, utilizing it with my private iPhone 13 Professional Max working iOS 18.5 was excruciatingly laggy and sluggish. I tried to make use of it for quarter-hour, nevertheless it by no means smoothed out, so I reverted again to the iPhone 15. That mentioned, it is nonetheless within the early levels, so there are most likely some bugs that want ironing out, and there’s a brand new switching menu to easily select between paired telephones.
At any charge, CarPlay Extremely is right here—and it is superb. Whereas the DBX does lose somewhat little bit of Aston Martin attraction, it nonetheless has an affordable quantity of brand name identification beneath the Apple onslaught. However even Aston’s new infotainment system, for nearly as good as it’s, advantages from legibility enhancements and extra ease of use. That makes CarPlay Extremely a simple win.
However what occurs as soon as Extremely goes up in opposition to Hyundai and Porsche’s glorious techniques? With automakers dropping out of Extremely and dragging their toes on integration, we must wait and see.
