Will Ford Support Apple CarPlay Ultra

[Jimrpa]

Apparently, Apple has released CarPlay Ultra. Any indication whether Ford will support it?

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[garyd9]

They aren't even on Apple's list of car companies that have shown interest.

 

[Omen]

Likely not, certain manufactures even dropped CarPlay like GM. The reason is simple when you go through CarPlay and use music, nav, and other apps the car companies can't collect your data. But when you use their built in apps they can collect everything you input into it .....data mining and then selling is a huge profit for them.

 

[ReverendPete]

They aren't even on Apple's list of car companies that have shown interest.

When originally announced as "Next Gen CarPlay" back in '22, Ford was listed as "committed to supporting it", and it was discussed here many times. Here's a recent article that talks a bit about it, but it also points out that the "commitment" was a long time ago and that things might have changed: https://9to5mac.com/2025/05/15/carplay-ultra-automakers/

One would hope that Apple and/or the manufacturers would start chiming in again on where it might be supported. And even then, it remains to be seen if they would even be able to install it in older MME models. Seems like they should be able to, and I sure would love it. But my guess is that we won't ever get a "no" answer if Ford has decided not to be on board, and the only way we'd ever know definitively is if Ford or Apple officially announce it. And even then, I am guessing it would be a spate of OTA updates to a bunch of different modules, with the possibility of it breaking things and shutting down OTA updates, kind of like what happened with the BC 1.3 rollout last year. So at best, it would be coming Soon™, and we are all aware of what that process can be like!

 

[garyd9]

Here's a recent article that talks a bit about it, but it also points out that the "commitment" was a long time ago and that things might have changed: https://9to5mac.com/2025/05/15/carplay-ultra-automakers/

Ooops. I missed that article. Even still, I seriously doubt Ford will retrofit it into any "SYNC" systems. Ford and Apple can't even work together enough to get battery preconditioning working when using CarPlay navigation to a charging station. Ford also doesn't seem to allow Apple to access anything on the CAN bus. Even the battery percentages that Apple Maps gets are coming over cell data (and not internal buses.)

Note that I'm not saying that it's Ford blocking Apple or vice versa. It really doesn't matter who's to blame if they aren't working together: the result is the same.

 

[Jimrpa]

They aren't even on Apple's list of car companies that have shown interest.

I haven’t seen that list yet. Sad news, if true.

 

[Jimrpa]

Sounds like the answer is “nobody really knows”. Which, to be honest, is what I suspected.

 

[Mache_Nor]

Ford thinks karaoke is a better function than being able to precondition the battery or navigate to Tesla chargers in the native nav, thus I'm skeptical they want or let alone understand what this is.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

Ford thinks karaoke is a better function than being able to precondition the battery or navigate to Tesla chargers in the native nav, thus I'm skeptical they want or let alone understand what this is.

The preconditioning while navigating issue is limited to CarPlay and is 100% on Apple. The lack of a manual button is a separate matter. Ford navigation to Superchargers is a bureaucratic nightmare — changes need to be made by Ford, Here, and Garmin.

 

[Larry Paul]

In the video here at 34 seconds…it sure looks like a Mach E interface.

https://flip.it/r1rSiy

 

[garyd9]

In the video here at 34 seconds…it sure looks like a Mach E interface.

https://flip.it/r1rSiy

You could show me that screen on an actual Mach-E, and even have proof that it was running on a Mach-E, and I'd still doubt we'll ever get it. I seem to remember that when Apple demo'd the most recent major version of IOS, they showed someone starting their Mach-E using a Siri shortcut. And yet, here we are almost a year later, and it's still not doable.

That's an aspect of FORD's application, and not a limitation by Apple. Ford has only exposed two functions to siri/shortcuts: lock and unlock. That's it.

 

[Larry Paul]

You could show me that screen on an actual Mach-E, and even have proof that it was running on a Mach-E, and I'd still doubt we'll ever get it. I seem to remember that when Apple demo'd the most recent major version of IOS, they showed someone starting their Mach-E using a Siri shortcut. And yet, here we are almost a year later, and it's still not doable.

That's an aspect of FORD's application, and not a limitation by Apple. Ford has only exposed two functions to siri/shortcuts: lock and unlock. That's it.

I totally agree with you. It is a mockup as all the dashboards in that section of the video.

While Ford has eventually followed through with some upgrades (like getting to BC1.3), I am not holding my breath, on getting Car Play Ultra, BC 1.5 or other upgrades, but if Ford does not release these kind of OTA improvements for compatible vehicles- it does not make me lean to getting a new Ford when the time comes to replace my Mach E.

 

[Larry Paul]

We won't get BC 1.5 or CarPlay Ultra because the current Mach E simply doesn't have the hardware to support either one.

The 2025+ MME has the hardware to support BC 1.5

I have not seen any documents that say that older hardware will or won't support CarPlay Ultra or BC1.5. I am NOT surprised if they don't...but where has Ford said or it is documented that we absolutely do not have comparable hardware?

 

[ReverendPete]

We won't get BC 1.5 or CarPlay Ultra because the current Mach E simply doesn't have the hardware to support either one.

Where are you getting data about what the hardware requirements for CarPlay Ultra are?

 

[Sikkun]

Where are you getting data about what the hardware requirements for CarPlay Ultra are?

The only actually hardware requirement known is a iPhone 12 or higher.

Everything else is speculation, assuming it’s a full in vehicle replacement like Android automative, as opposed to running on your phone like CarPlay does now.

And do that I say….why does it require an iPhone 12 plus if it’s a full system replacement like Android automotive (which doesn’t require and Android phone).

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