Ford CEO Jim Farley stopped by Decoder this week and told Joanna Stern that Ford isn’t thrilled with the first version of CarPlay Ultra.
He said the company doesn’t like the “round one” execution and that handing Apple control of every screen in the car means losing control of the driving experience.
That’s a very corporate way of saying Apple showed up with a better system, and Ford doesn’t want to admit it.
Let’s be honest: car software has always been bad. Every automaker has promised slick digital dashboards, but the reality is laggy touchscreens, awkward menus, and features buried three taps too deep.
Most drivers tolerate it for as long as they keep the car, and then forget about it the second they trade it in.
Apple knows this. That’s why CarPlay Ultra feels like such a big deal. It’s moved far beyond simply mirroring your phone.
It now runs the entire dash, from speedometers to climate controls to tire pressure readouts. If you already live inside iOS, this feels like your car finally catching up to your phone.
Farley argues that Ford’s advanced driver-assistance features require tighter integration than Apple currently allows.
That’s a reasonable concern, but it also sounds like a convenient excuse. Aston Martin is already shipping cars with CarPlay Ultra. Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis are on board.
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They’re betting that customers care more about a polished Apple interface than another round of clunky proprietary software. History is on their side here. When was the last time anyone bragged about the UX in their SUV?
The bigger story here is Apple’s slow but steady march into cars. The company doesn’t need to build its own vehicle to define the user experience. It only has to keep making the iPhone indispensable, and eventually, the dashboard follows.
CarPlay Ultra is Apple’s most aggressive step in that direction, and once drivers get used to their entire car looking like iOS, it’ll be hard to go back.
Ford can try to resist, but the trend line is clear. Apple’s software is already far superior to what most automakers can offer on their own.
CarPlay Ultra isn’t perfect, but it’s polished, consistent, and familiar. That combination is powerful. The longer Ford waits, the more out of touch it risks looking to the exact customers it wants to keep.
Apple doesn’t need every automaker on day one. It needs enough of them to make CarPlay Ultra feel inevitable. As of right now, it’s hard to see it any other way.
Your car, your rules: Should manufacturers adopt Apple CarPlay Ultra or keep proprietary software? We want your take!
