While German luxury car maker BMW has previously avoided committing to Apple’s CarKey Ultra, it has now announced that it will not be adopting it.
BMW was among the very first manufacturers to adopt Apple’s CarKey system for unlocking cars from an iPhone, back in 2020. It was also quick to adopt CarPlay, although initially selling it as a subscription extra before even more quickly listening to customers and dropping that charge.
As far as CarPlay Ultra, though, BMW did not rush to support it, but never quite said that it wouldn’t — until now. In a statement reported on the unofficial BMW bloga spokesperson for the manufacturer said: “BMW currently has no plans to integrate Apple CarPlay Ultra.”
It’s still not a definite no, except that of course it is. Apple has been pushing CarPlay Ultra since unveiling it as a sneak peek in June 2022. The BMW blog claims that BMW was initially listed as a future partner, but it was not among the companies mentioned by Apple at its WWDC 2022 unveiling.
The closest the company appears to have come is in an announcement shortly after that unveiling, in which it seemed to be hedging its bets.
“Currently, we have placed a clear focus on further enhancing our iDrive user interface system and, as part of this development, will continue the seamless integration of Apple’s ecosystem,” BMW said at the time. “Integral to these efforts will be an evaluation of how the latest innovations announced at WWDC can be integrated into our solutions.”
Three years later, it seems optimistic to think that BMW might still be evaluating CarPlay Ultra. Unless it is, then it appears to have joined the rather growing series of car manufacturers who have rejected CarPlay Ultra as an Apple overreach.
