Ford isn’t rushing to adopt Apple’s latest in-car platform, CarPlay Ultra, with CEO Jim Farley openly questioning the technology’s current execution and scope.

Speaking on The Verge’s Decoder podcast, Farley said Ford is “very committed to Apple” but added bluntly: “We don’t like the execution in round one of Ultra.”

He said the company is taking a “wait-and-see” approach, signalling hesitation about letting Apple take deeper control over vehicle systems.

CarPlay Ultra, launched earlier this year with Aston Martin, expands Apple’s in-car integration, allowing iPhones to take over multiple screens, including instrument clusters, and control functions like climate, media and drive modes.

Porsche, Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis are also slated to adopt the system.

But Farley said Ford has concerns over Apple’s ambitions.

“How far do you want the Apple brand to go? Start the car? Limit the speed? Control access?” he asked, pointing to Ford’s own Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and fleet management features that require tight integration with vehicle hardware.

“If Apple wants to do that, we’re going to have a hard time.”

Farley stressed Ford will continue supporting the standard CarPlay and Android Auto experience, rejecting moves by rivals such as General Motors, which blocked phone projection in its EV lineup.

“We don’t think we should restrict that to make money off the customers,” he said.

Instead, Ford is focusing on its own Digital Experience platform, designed to work alongside phone mirroring and potentially offer additional services on top of Apple and Google systems.

Farley did emphasise that AI assistants are “very important” to Ford, adding that he believes “every customer should have an AI assistant in the car.”

He further suggested this assistant wouldn’t be just a voice, but “something specific”, such as a companion you can actually converse with.