Canadians and Americans will be the first people in the world to have a chance at experiencing Apple CarPlay Ultra in their vehicles.

But it will only be available to a fairly exclusive club initially as it is launching in Aston Martin vehicles.

As of today, the system is available on the company’s Vantage, DB12 and Vanquish cars and the DBX sport utility vehicle.

What is CarPlay Ultra?

The system builds on Apple CarPlay, which allows you to connect your vehicle’s infotainment system to your iPhone, giving you access to calling, messaging, music and other iPhone features but from the car’s infotainment screen.

CarPlay Ultra goes beyond just the centre infotainment screen and continues into the car’s digital gauge cluster, right in front of the driver.

This places the speedometer, tachometer, display maps, media and more in a customizable, multi-view screen setup directly in front of the driver.

On Aston Martin vehicles, drivers will be able to choose from a number of different instrument cluster themes that are consistent with the brand.

“iPhone users love CarPlay and it has changed the way people interact with their vehicles. With CarPlay Ultra, together with automakers we are reimagining the in-car experience and making it even more unified and consistent,” said Bob Borchers, Apple’s vice president of worldwide product marketing, in a news release.

“The next generation of CarPlay gives drivers a smarter, safer way to use their iPhone in the car, deeply integrating with the vehicle while maintaining the very best of the automaker. We are thrilled to begin rolling out CarPlay Ultra with Aston Martin, with more manufacturers to come.”

CarPlay Ultra requires a connection with an iPhone 12 or later, running on iOS 18.5 or later.

The system will come standard on new vehicle orders in Canada and the U.S. and will be available as an update for existing models in the coming weeks. The system will expand to all global markets within the next 12 months, the company said.

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