It’s fine that they have their own solutions for things like Apple Music, but he’s leaving out one essential thing — MESSAGES. CarPlay messaging is the safest way to communicate through your phone while driving, hands down. Leaving out a solution to that is just not safe. And BT messaging ALWAYS sucks.
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Rivian CEO Doubles Down on Decision to Not Offer Apple CarPlay
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Just another vehicle maker I won't consider. Look I'm glad these automakers have their own infotainment systems but you gotta give folks a choice in the end that will provide the long term ROI.
However, Rivian, along with GM Tesla and others and heck many companies (not even those in the vehicle industry just in general) can't look past their noses at that long term ROI. They want that quick instant gratification of the short term and in this case with Rivian and others they want their own so they can use it to track and gather data on their users/customers to exploit. People are waking up to that BS to thats why its no longer a long term ROI strategy but a short term one.
However, Rivian, along with GM Tesla and others and heck many companies (not even those in the vehicle industry just in general) can't look past their noses at that long term ROI. They want that quick instant gratification of the short term and in this case with Rivian and others they want their own so they can use it to track and gather data on their users/customers to exploit. People are waking up to that BS to thats why its no longer a long term ROI strategy but a short term one.
Arguments about native car vs carplay apps (e.g. Spoltify) are a red herring.
CarPlay's value is in allowing me to access and interface with my phone. Rivian does not allow me to do that in a first class manner.
Seems like he's ok with me not being a customer, so I won't be. Too bad, I was so close.
CarPlay's value is in allowing me to access and interface with my phone. Rivian does not allow me to do that in a first class manner.
Seems like he's ok with me not being a customer, so I won't be. Too bad, I was so close.
This is ********. It’s all about the money and Rivian wanting to charge customers a subscription for something they already have. I already have Apple Music, Spotify and Audible and my own F*ing data service, so let me use it without charging me another fee for the same thing! This is why I prefer my Kia EV9 over the Rivian R1S.
They could of course offer it, and then allow people to choose. If their system is truly a better experience people would then choose to use it instead of CarPlay. But people would choose CarPlay so they don't offer it. No matter how nice they design their own, it can never compete with the endless integrations the App Store offers. This is a losing battle that the CEO will someday "evolve" on, or their replacement will come with a "fresh" approach on the idea. Fortunately like Tesla if they continue to offer a great car, many people will continue to buy "in spite" of it not having CarPlay but not because it doesn't of CarPlay since of course if a car offers you in no way have to use or enable.
I think the only thing this shows is that Apple is difficult to work with, and not any sort of referendum on CarPlay. The fact that VW went with Rivian software and Rivian went with Google Maps instead of the better UI of Apple Maps shows that Apple is not very good at collaboration, which is a pity.
Have you seen the software on different cars? It's essentially giant Android phone screens in a dash. High-end cars are pretty notorious for having clown software interfaces. That's why CarPlay is so popular, because people don't want to look at whatever hideous and unusable UI their automaker cooked up.
Years ago would not buy a car without apple car.
Now I don’t even connect it. The phone in a stand is enough. Car is to go from A to B, not a portable computer
Now I don’t even connect it. The phone in a stand is enough. Car is to go from A to B, not a portable computer
Because they’d rather lock you into renting access to THEIR ecosystem instead of just picking one you prefer.
just asking, don't want to cause a fire fight here, is rivian a viable company? what is their sales outlook going forward. I really think this is not worth posting about. But you might feel differently.
The real question is - are the built in apps solid replacements for the CarPlay apps? I think Rivian is getting there. It's been awhile since my test drive, but the built in Apple Music app I thought was better than CarPlay's. Now, they're probably the only one I saw that made me think twice about CarPlay. Every other car - CarPlay is better (which isnt saying much).
Apart from a slightly different interface, Apple Carplay is a 2016 software. No additional features, lack of innovation, no customization, no car branding, no apps, no widgets. Apple missed the train.
Yeah I can understand if they didn't want to implement the messy and buggy Carplay Ultra. Standard Carplay or Android auto is just a no-brainer otherwise.
Why not allow buyers to choose the UX they want. And I’d like to have a back-up system anyway.
Depends where you are. I think Google Maps has gotten better but for a long time rural addresses that started similar to N5555 Somewhere Rd, Google very happily dropped the pin in the dead center of Somewhere Rd because it didn't know where N5555 was. Not exactly great on a road that might span an entire county (or more).
We did mapping once a year that used a Google Map to show a number locations for a one-day event. I had to manually look every single one of the rural addresses up in Apple Maps to find the correct location and put the pins in and manually correct the pin location. I hated that stupid event...
"We're really convicted [sic] that we want the Rivian navigation experience to be worse than the 4 inch CarPlay screen on the beat-up 2019 Camry that you rented from Turo."
KIA gives you the choice to use their interface, Apple’s or Android Auto.
The first best thing about CarPlay is that I get new features every year with my car that I bought 5 years ago. I can tell you that most car manufacturers are not concerned with making vehicles already sold any better.
The second best thing about CarPlay is if I rent a car that has CarPlay then I already know how to operate the infotainment system (especially Maps) when I am traveling.
Both of these points go for Android Auto as well. The smartphone should be the center of infotainment functionality because it travels with you.
GM/Chevrolet, Tesla and Rivian are all vehicles I will not purchase because of lack of CarPlay. I already passed on Tesla 5 years ago for this reason. I have switched vehicles with my brother-in-law on two occasions and driven his Model X on two day trips. Their infotainment system has some interesting features (like detecting when the car in front of you is pulling away and telling you when the light is green), but their Maps experience fell far short of Apple Maps two years ago -- and now it is probably an even bigger gap since Apple Maps keeps improving at rapid pace.
Personally, I cannot believe all the stink people made about Apple Maps and would then get in their Tesla and settle for Tesla's maps experience. Tesla Maps fells far short of both Google Maps and Apple Maps. If I am dropping $35K or on a vehicle, then I am darn well going to get a basic feature like CarPlay.
I will continue to vote with my wallet.
The second best thing about CarPlay is if I rent a car that has CarPlay then I already know how to operate the infotainment system (especially Maps) when I am traveling.
Both of these points go for Android Auto as well. The smartphone should be the center of infotainment functionality because it travels with you.
GM/Chevrolet, Tesla and Rivian are all vehicles I will not purchase because of lack of CarPlay. I already passed on Tesla 5 years ago for this reason. I have switched vehicles with my brother-in-law on two occasions and driven his Model X on two day trips. Their infotainment system has some interesting features (like detecting when the car in front of you is pulling away and telling you when the light is green), but their Maps experience fell far short of Apple Maps two years ago -- and now it is probably an even bigger gap since Apple Maps keeps improving at rapid pace.
Personally, I cannot believe all the stink people made about Apple Maps and would then get in their Tesla and settle for Tesla's maps experience. Tesla Maps fells far short of both Google Maps and Apple Maps. If I am dropping $35K or on a vehicle, then I am darn well going to get a basic feature like CarPlay.
I will continue to vote with my wallet.
You mean like the widgets, etc. added in iOS 26? Or all the branding and customization offered by CarPlay Ultra? And the Apps are up to the app vendors to create. I have a number of apps on CarPlay, and some I intentionally disable so they don't show up.
I would not buy a car that didn't offer CarPlay and Android Auto. resale purposes to appeal to the most people
Probably unnecessary to say, but I won’t drive a Rivian anytime soon. People who are bitter because Apple hasn't bought them and made them billionaires years ago are the worst.
2022 - Had a Tesla without CarPlay for 7 months, never wanted for it.
Jan 2023 - Bought a Bolt EUV with CarPlay, enjoyed it
Dec 2024 - Bought an Equinox EV, without CarPlay, have learned to live without it, actually like google's baked-in range estimates for driving an EV.
Sep 2025 - Picked up a used Leaf for my Husband with wired CarPlay, drove it back 500 miles from where it was purchased. Got back in the Equinox EV without it and still didn't want for it. It kinda looks like a Childs tablet, all the bright colors and gigantic bubbly buttons. To each their own, he is happy to have it as he previously did not in his older Leaf.
Jan 2023 - Bought a Bolt EUV with CarPlay, enjoyed it
Dec 2024 - Bought an Equinox EV, without CarPlay, have learned to live without it, actually like google's baked-in range estimates for driving an EV.
Sep 2025 - Picked up a used Leaf for my Husband with wired CarPlay, drove it back 500 miles from where it was purchased. Got back in the Equinox EV without it and still didn't want for it. It kinda looks like a Childs tablet, all the bright colors and gigantic bubbly buttons. To each their own, he is happy to have it as he previously did not in his older Leaf.