APPLE CARPLAY: WE TRY OUT THE NEXT GENERATION OF IN-CAR TECH

CARPLAY IS GETTING A NEW LOOK AND WILL SOON BE ABLE TO PROVIDE EVEN MORE FUNCTIONALITY AND INFORMATION AT A GLANCE

- Tom Jervis [e-mail]

ACCORDING to Apple, CarPlay is used more than 600 million times per day. It’s no surprise, then, that the tech giant wants to keep evolving its in-car software. As such, Apple CarPlay Ultra is on its way, billed as a giant leap in terms of functionality.

Set to arrive later this year, CarPlay Ultra will, at first, only be available on Aston Martin cars, but more manufacturers have signed up and are set to bring it to their model ranges in the near future.

Before its release to the public, we've taken a deep dive to uncover what you can expect from this next generation of smartphone mirroring.

DIGITAL DIALS

THE headline feature of CarPlay Ultra is how the software now extends into the base car's instrument cluster, providing essential information directly into the driver's eyeline.

There are six layouts to choose from, ranging from a full-screen display for music or sat-nav maps, to minimalist line gauges, reminiscent of the Modular face on the Apple Watch.