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Rivian CEO Doubles Down on Decision to Not Offer Apple CarPlay
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Refuses carplay for their vehicles. Also cherry picks apple support agents to support their customers.
Zero monthly cost. I own a cellphone. Maybe if they let you tether to your phone. You pay and that price can change at will.
I just pay for the self driving and the data with my company card. The self driving is $100 a month and the data is $12. You can tether your phone, I was using a hotspot before I just decided to add the data as it was a slicker system then just having to connect to my phones hotspot every time I went out.
I would miss being able to start a music playlist on YouTube in the house and having it auto connect to CarPlay and start playing automatically in the car when I start it up.
Really love that.
Wouldn’t miss anything else though. My version of CarPlay looks awful, totally ruins the interior vibe when it’s displayed.
Rivian R3X looks cool as heck. Really hope they get it to the UK in 2027. So bored of Audi/BMW badges here. Too stuffy looking.
Really love that.
Wouldn’t miss anything else though. My version of CarPlay looks awful, totally ruins the interior vibe when it’s displayed.
Rivian R3X looks cool as heck. Really hope they get it to the UK in 2027. So bored of Audi/BMW badges here. Too stuffy looking.
Uh, have you heard of the "App Store"? Apple does let apps decide what their UIX looks like while they're using the app. So why can't Rivian do the same? CarPlay is basically an app. Let people decide if they want to run it. If Rivian, indeed, provides an excellent UX, nobody will.
But, of course, that won't happen. Rivian will never have access to the wealth of information people have in their iPhones or Android smartphones. So there will always be a reason to jump into the CarPlay (or Android Auto) app for something Rivian's UX falls short. So this isn't about wanting to please the user - it's to please Rivian's future income streams.
As somebody rooting for Rivian (and who owns a little bit of RIVN), this makes me shake my head. Why not offer people the choice if it meant even a fractional increase in sales?
If they think their future business model depends on subscriptions, a) that’s a problem for a car company and b) just put CarPlay access behind a subscription and see how many people want it.
If they think their future business model depends on subscriptions, a) that’s a problem for a car company and b) just put CarPlay access behind a subscription and see how many people want it.
I am aware of that. But I can control how much AI is used on my iPhone. This is also about data harvesting by automakers. I will do everything in my power to avoid that and hamper it when possible.
Because it is Apple, and for many they think Apple can do no wrong and cannot accept that somethings Apple does is mediocre or does not really look great. Think Different.... unless it is different than Apple.
Simple, Apple doesn't allow auto manufactures to monetize using CarPlay. If they have their own system they could.
Do I wish Tesla (which I've owned both a Model 3 and currently have a Model Y) and Rivian (which I have a reservation deposit down on an R2) would allow CarPlay? Absolutely. But I certainly understand why they don't.
I also find it a bit "interesting" people complaining about Tesla and Rivian essentially doing what Apple is infamous for and have spent probably hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars over the years fighting for - keeping their system closed! On top of that Apple has received BILLIONS of dollars from Google to make their search the default etc but people reject that Apple should pay auto manufacturers anything and that them just offering it for "free" should be sufficient.
Back in early 2020 I was deciding between a Model 3, Chevy Bolt and the newly re-designed Nissan Leaf.
I ended up ruling out the Model 3 since it lacked CarPlay and was pricey (like $45K+ at the time -- and Tesla had run out of tax credit qualifications). I worked at home and we had 2 other cars, so I had no plans on needing the vehicle for road trips and did not need the range nor did I need to pay for a big heavy battery that I would rarely use.
I considered the Bolt EV, but it was a fairly new vehicle from Chevy at the time and I was new to electric cars so I was leaning towards something more "proven" just because of my own uncertainties of switching.
I chose the 140-mile range Nissan Leaf SL because the Leaf had CarPlay, "leather", self-driving tech, and a remote app to do things like unlock and start the A/C -- and the redesign looked so much better than the original Leaf -- and it was very reasonable for the top-trim level of the car.
That car became the most popular vehicle in our family. My wife and three daughters drove it whenever they could. All three of my daughters learned to drive on it (preferring it to my stick-shift Honda Accord that I had planned for them to inherit). I bought it new from a dealer that was located in a rather remote small city -- he gave me a big discount to get it off his lot since his buyers needed more range and he even delivered the car to me for free.
The car at this point has nearly 100K miles and has essentially been free to own:
- Original cost was $35,000 (below MSRP of $37,500)
- Less tax credit of $7500
- Nissan gave 5 year 0% financing, so used my cash in-hand to pay off HELOC loan that I got for my solar panels and saved $9,000 in interest over 5 years.
- At 96,000 miles and figuring 23 miles per gallon (optimistically) in my Honda Accord and the $4 to $5 per gallon gas prices over those first 3.5 years of ownership and we have saved like $18,000 in gasoline while it has been free to charge the car on solar panels (I still have a credit with the power company)
Putting that together: $35,000 - $7,500 - $9,000 - $18,000 = $500.00
(excluding annual registration fees and tires -- original brakes still good thanks to regenerative braking)
My brother-in-law owed 2 Tesla's and admittedly got me interested in electric cars. He had a Model 3 (since sold) and still has a Model X. We have traded cars on occasion and his thought was that maybe for around town they should have just bought something inexpensive like a Nissan Leaf -- he couldn't believe how sensible it was and how zippy it was drive around town. And the range is never a problem driving it around town.
As an aside, I highly recommend a plug-in hybrid for a second car and for road-trips. We have the 2024 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV and it gets 40 miles electric before switching to gas. Around town, we maybe put in $50 gas per month and get hundred of miles per gallon. And then when we need to road trip every couple of months it still gets like 23 to 25 mpg and we don't have to stop and charge, just fill with gas.
Makes a ton of sense.
As my schedule is pretty flexible, I've gone full BEV only as I don't mind the charging on road trips.
I do about 20k per year including lots of driving around WA/OR/ID, all in my Bolt EV.
LOVE IT so much!
(especially once I got a Comma C3X last year!)
Try asking your Rivian system for directions to your upcoming appointment. There's a bunch of information that most people have on their phones that Rivian's system doesn't have access to. Sure, some people are stup1d enough to upload their entire contacts database to a car (believing the car company or their car would never get hacked or their information sold for profit), but that's just one database. Calendars, playlists, etc. are more examples.
Judging so superficially (and, subjectively) by how pretty the icons are, may be fine for some. Some look a little deeper.
Subscriptions are not mandatory. But if you get one, Apple takes a cut, because it's their platform. Same thing applies to cars. I don't like this as well, but that's the world we live in.
I like the interface in our Teslas, and wouldn't give it up for CarPlay. I came from a 2017 Audi A4 with CarPlay and a 2017 Subaru Outback (w/o CarPlay) before we went all-in on EVs, and I prefer the all-integrated approach. I don't have to hop from one interface to another, and everything looks clean.
All of my charging stuff is integrated (Supercharger locations, preconditioning, available charging stalls upon arrival, and how long I'll need to charge) is all integrated into the OEM interface. Not only that, I have access to my Podcasts, Messages, Contacts, Phone, and Music (I use the native YouTube Music app, but they also offer Apple Music if you prefer). It even has calendar integration. For example, I had an appointment scheduled this morning at 11:30 to have new tires put on my car at Discount Tire. I hopped in the car at 10:45, and the vehicle had already read my calendar and plotted the destination to Discount Tire without me doing anything.
When I'm driving, about the only other thing that I have going on is my music playing in the background, and maybe responding to a text using voice control. I don't need a bunch of extra stuff competing for my attention. And all of my settings from my Model 3 are synced in the cloud anyway, so when I get in my wife's Model Y, everything is mirrored in her car and vice versa.
All of my charging stuff is integrated (Supercharger locations, preconditioning, available charging stalls upon arrival, and how long I'll need to charge) is all integrated into the OEM interface. Not only that, I have access to my Podcasts, Messages, Contacts, Phone, and Music (I use the native YouTube Music app, but they also offer Apple Music if you prefer). It even has calendar integration. For example, I had an appointment scheduled this morning at 11:30 to have new tires put on my car at Discount Tire. I hopped in the car at 10:45, and the vehicle had already read my calendar and plotted the destination to Discount Tire without me doing anything.
When I'm driving, about the only other thing that I have going on is my music playing in the background, and maybe responding to a text using voice control. I don't need a bunch of extra stuff competing for my attention. And all of my settings from my Model 3 are synced in the cloud anyway, so when I get in my wife's Model Y, everything is mirrored in her car and vice versa.
The Leaf is an excellent vehicle for local needs. All it needs is active cooling for the battery. I suspect the next generation will solve that and be much improved overall. Alas, I have no doubt that it will be much more expensive as well.
Totally the opposite for me. My Tesla software and integration is just leaps and bounds ahead of carplay. Carplay seems so basic in comparison.... I know people are very passionate about carplay, but tbh I really don't see the appeal...it's your phone UI blown up on the cars' screen, thats it.... until carplay ultra is more widely available there's no integration or additional functionality
Seems you haven’t used Carplay Ultra which to be fair is exclusively on very high-end tech cars right now
I have a Tesla and when I was getting it, I was worried that it didn’t have CarPlay now that I have it. I’m glad it doesn’t have CarPlay because the system works flawlessly. I’ve never driven a Rivian, but I assume it’s similar now if it was a typical car maker like GM or Ford CarPlay is going to be 1 million times better. These cars don’t need it