CarPlay Ultra officially launched earlier this year, but one of the automakers who has so far said “no” to supporting Apple’s system—BMW—has just explained the reasoning for their decision.
CarPlay’s future at BMW doesn’t appear very bright
At a recent press event, BMW’s Senior Vice President of UI/UX Development, Stephan Durach, didn’t have very positive things to say about CarPlay Ultra.
Steven Paul writes at BMWBLOG:
“If you take a look at it, what I saw so far, it’s not so exciting,” Durach starts. He’s responding to a question about whether or not new BMW vehicles will ever offer CarPlay Ultra. “To be honest, we have specific screens, a specific screen setup,” Durach continues, ”and I’m completely convinced that our setup is much more capable.”
BMW is far from the only automaker who claims it can offer a better in-car setup than what Apple offers.
Saying BMW’s system is “much more capable” certainly seems suspect. I’m highly skeptical that BMW has built anything that exceeds CarPlay Ultra’s feature set. Though it seems to think so:
Features like Panoramic Display, personalized widgets, predictive routines, and deeply integrated vehicle functions aren’t things Apple’s ecosystem can replicate
Except…these sound a lot like existing CarPlay Ultra features to me.
Even if BMW’s own iDrive system can match CarPlay Ultra in base functionality, it certainly can’t replicate the benefits of Apple’s familiar ecosystem being extended into the car.
I’d definitely be fascinated, though, to learn if BMW owners agree with Durach’s assessment that CarPlay Ultra doesn’t offer much of value. J.D. Power surveys consistently peg CarPlay as the best infotainment system among drivers. Automakers’ own native systems don’t fare so well.
Top comment by Rene Schaetzl
Well wireless CarPlay is one of my minimum requirement, when buying a new car and I have that in my BMWs since it was available. I even once kept my older car longer, when BMW thought they can sell this for a yearly rental price (which BMW then changed back again).
CarPlay Ultra would be nice, but making that a choice at the moment is quite limiting (and I'm not yet willing to pay 250+KEUR for an Aston Martin, but tempted I admit).
Also I've seen the New Klasse Cockpit of the new BMWs in person (here at the IAA I could actually sit in a Neue Klasse BMW and play with the interface) and I agree, it wouldn't make sense with Carplay Ultra at the moment - unless Apple makes major modifications to their implementation. So I get where BMW is coming from.
Also don't forget, all those car manufacturers want to gain services revenue with their own interfaces, so they don't really want to have to implement Carplay.
Funnily enough, Durach also mentioned that he doesn’t believe people use CarPlay as much as they might think they do.
At the same press event, Durach even went as far as to say that drivers simply don’t use CarPlay as much as they think.
This comment was reportedly based on internal BMW data for what drivers are doing in the car.
All this to say, BMW owners shouldn’t get their hopes up for CarPlay Ultra support any time soon.
Will CarPlay Ultra make a difference at all in choosing your next vehicle? Let us know in the comments.
Best CarPlay accessories
- MagSafe Car Mount for iPhone
- 10-foot iPhone cable USB-C to USB-A
- FLYLEAD car charger with 2 USB-C and 2 USB-A ports
- Apple AirTag for tracking your car
- AirTag 4-pack for only $75
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments