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ARS Technica - Everything we learned from a week with Apple CarPlay Ultra

Zoidz

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This is a fairly detailed review of Ulta in an Aston Martin DB12 Volante. IMO if this is how CP Ultra would integrate and function in a Rivian, Rivian has made the right decision to not support it. They have enough on their plate and don’t need the ”dual stack“ development and especially support woes. And one has to ask - if this is not adopted well by OEMs, how long will Apple support Ultra since it appears to be ‘free’ ?

This is the last paragraph of the story and serves well as a TLDR.

“It's unclear whether other automakers will find the advantages worthy of converting to Ultra, including Rivian, which offers neither CarPlay nor Android Auto, or GM, which skipped out on CarPlay for EVs. On the other hand, automakers may also decide to hesitate before handing over further control to Apple now that the Apple Car is officially dead. And in that regard, Ultra might just represent the final straw that inspires further improvements to proprietary user interfaces across the industry as well.”

Excerpts below:
ARS Technica

As a type of simple failure exercise, I turned my phone off while driving more than once. Doing so reverts both the gauge cluster and infotainment screen to Aston's native UI, the former almost instantly and the latter just a few seconds later. However, once I turned my phone back on, I struggled to reactivate either traditional CarPlay or Ultra until I forgot the device in my Bluetooth settings and started over from scratch. This held true for every attempt.
….
Apple might be skilled at making new tech easy to use, but it's hard to beat the power of millions of minds adapting to analog gauges over the past century or so. And in this case, Ultra's tach(s) showed a bit of latency or lag while ripping that 671-hp twin-turbo V8 up through the revs, something I never noticed in the native UI

Some specific functions do require dipping out of Ultra, though, including changing any audio settings for the spectacular Bowers & Wilkins sound system.

Plus, over the course of my eight days with Ultra, I experienced one moment where both the infotainment and gauge cluster went totally black.

For me, some disappointment arose from being unable to cue up either Waze or Google Maps in Ultra's gauge cluster navigation screens rather than strictly Apple Maps.

The center infotainment screen's integration with vehicular functions, therefore, stands out as much more of a pro for Aston Martins than Ultra's gauge cluster readout, enhancing the driving experience through a more intuitive UI that decreases time spent glancing away from the road.
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atebit

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Yes, it sure is a good thing that Rivian’s Gen 1 MVP didn’t have any issues with 12V batteries, crappy navigation, PaaK leaving you holding the phone, phantom braking, or crapping out while driving on the highway, or any other non-existent issues that I forgot.
 
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Zoidz

Zoidz

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Yes, it sure is a good thing that Rivian’s Gen 1 MVP didn’t have any issues with 12V batteries, crappy navigation, PaaK leaving you holding the phone, phantom braking, or crapping out while driving on the highway.
That's part of my point - Rivian has more than enough issues to deal with, let alone CP Ultra integration where they have limited control over the stack.
 

Scottski

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We wouldn't get CP Ultra anyways. Rivian's system is built on top of Android Automotive, CP Ultra would completely replace that and may have different HW spec requirements. It would be easier to just add CP (non-Ultra) to the current platform.
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