Rivian Explains Why CarPlay Debate Will Become 'Completely Obsolete'

[wonderings]

Why the Rivian stance is so stupid, is that they just ask their own customers. Not the millions of POTENTIAL customers that are not buying certain cars because of missing features.

What is it really missing? I have never been in a Rivian but looked up screen shots of various parts of their UI. It looks nice to me and more refined then CarPlay in my opinion. Looks like it does everything other than Messages which is a common complaint for the Tesla UI. Not everyone cares about messaging while they drive or group messaging. The design of the Rivian UI looks more mature and sleek compared to the big buttons in Apple CarPlay that certainly have a childish look to it. Now if Apple opened things up for you to adjust your UI like you are wanting a CarCompany to open up and accept CarPlay you might have something. Imagine if Rivian or any other manufacture could add skins or design elements to fit their car how they want it rather then forcing you to use the childish colour themes and huge buttons for everything. Below are images I found for CarPlay on the left and Rivian on the right. Much more slick design

 

[visualseed]

you're thinking too small, give it a year or two and everyone will have their own MCP that will allow them to retain context across any AI agent. and the AI agents will be good enough that you won't know if you're using Claude or Gemini, or ChatGPT. The Rivian also has a brain that processes 1600 TOPs, while your latest iPhone has 35. so whatever your iPhone can do the rivian will be able to do faster.

"Just wait. It will be great!"

Meanwhile, I need to do things today. Like use apple maps and listen to podcasts. I (and a lot of the public) buy or don't buy things based on what features are shipping now. Some of these features may never materialize or will be so late they only benefit the second or third owners of the car. (FSD, Anyone?)

 

[visualseed]

What is it really missing? I have never been in a Rivian but looked up screen shots of various parts of their UI. It looks nice to me and more refined then CarPlay in my opinion. Looks like it does everything other than Messages which is a common complaint for the Tesla UI. Not everyone cares about messaging while they drive or group messaging. The design of the Rivian UI looks more mature and sleek compared to the big buttons in Apple CarPlay that certainly have a childish look to it. Now if Apple opened things up for you to adjust your UI like you are wanting a CarCompany to open up and accept CarPlay you might have something. Imagine if Rivian or any other manufacture could add skins or design elements to fit their car how they want it rather then forcing you to use the childish colour themes and huge buttons for everything. Below are images I found for CarPlay on the left and Rivian on the right. Much more slick designView attachment 2634294

No one’s complaining about the UI, but all the skins and themes in the world won’t move the data I need on my phone to the dashboard where I can actually use it. I recently upgraded our old Mercedes with an Android head unit, and it’s awesome. Beautiful built-in apps, themes, highly extensible, and I can install almost anything from the Google Play Store. But 99.9% of the time, it’s connected to our iPhones for CarPlay. Why? Because that’s where our data lives, and that simple, straightforward interface with big buttons and minimal customization is easy to navigate and consistent across all our vehicles. The last thing I want is to dig through a flashy UI hunting for a feature that isn’t where my muscle memory expects it to be while driving.

 

[wonderings]

No one’s complaining about the UI, but all the skins and themes in the world won’t move the data I need on my phone to the dashboard where I can actually use it. I recently upgraded our old Mercedes with an Android head unit, and it’s awesome. Beautiful built-in apps, themes, highly extensible, and I can install almost anything from the Google Play Store. But 99.9% of the time, it’s connected to our iPhones for CarPlay. Why? Because that’s where our data lives, and that simple, straightforward interface with big buttons and minimal customization is easy to navigate and consistent across all our vehicles. The last thing I want is to dig through a flashy UI hunting for a feature that isn’t where my muscle memory expects it to be while driving.

In your previous post you listed podcasts, there is native Apple Podcasts built into Tesla and for maping not sure why you need specifically Apple Maps, you can easily send directions or addresses from your Apple device to a Tesla super easy though from any mapping software.

Now the Rivian does not have Podcasts but it does have Apple Music. Tesla has native Apple Music and Apple Podcast. It does not get simpler then that, or faster as it is natively being powered by the cars computer and no streaming anything anywhere. So instead of a laggy CarPlay experience you have a smooth UI that is laid out very smartly.

 

[Thehangmn]

"Just wait. It will be great!"

Meanwhile, I need to do things today. Like use apple maps and listen to podcasts. I (and a lot of the public) buy or don't buy things based on what features are shipping now. Some of these features may never materialize or will be so late they only benefit the second or third owners of the car. (FSD, Anyone?)

It’s already great. My comment was specific to AI understanding context across platforms and agents. You can already use the Rivian maps and they are better than Apple Maps, you can listen to a podcast and control it with the steering wheel controls. Everything you’re asking for the car can already do. It just doesn’t have a little app grid that looks like your phone.

No one’s complaining about the UI, but all the skins and themes in the world won’t move the data I need on my phone to the dashboard where I can actually use it. I recently upgraded our old Mercedes with an Android head unit, and it’s awesome. Beautiful built-in apps, themes, highly extensible, and I can install almost anything from the Google Play Store. But 99.9% of the time, it’s connected to our iPhones for CarPlay. Why? Because that’s where our data lives, and that simple, straightforward interface with big buttons and minimal customization is easy to navigate and consistent across all our vehicles. The last thing I want is to dig through a flashy UI hunting for a feature that isn’t where my muscle memory expects it to be while driving.

again what data do you need access to while driving that you don’t already have access to?

 

[neilw]

Now the Rivian does not have Podcasts but it does have Apple Music. Tesla has native Apple Music and Apple Podcast. It does not get simpler then that, or faster as it is natively being powered by the cars computer and no streaming anything anywhere. So instead of a laggy CarPlay experience you have a smooth UI that is laid out very smartly.

I use Overcast, not the Apple Podcast app. Sorry, out of luck!
I found the Apple Music implementation in my Tesla to be frustrating to use compared to my phone (not that it's great there either). Sorry, out of luck!
I *definitely* don't like to be forced to log in to all these services again in my car. Sorry, out of luck!

I lived with it for 7 years in my Model 3. Now I have a car with CarPlay and am much happier.

Many people may be happy without it. But there are absolutely concrete reasons why many other people would want it, and why many of those other people *require* it. Discounting that is stupid.

 

[visualseed]

It’s already great. My comment was specific to AI understanding context across platforms and agents. You can already use the Rivian maps and they are better than Apple Maps, you can listen to a podcast and control it with the steering wheel controls. Everything you’re asking for the car can already do. It just doesn’t have a little app grid that looks like your phone.

again what data do you need access to while driving that you don’t already have access to?

I’m not cross-loading my podcasts into Apple Podcasts just to support one oddball vehicle or forcing myself to use Apple Podcasts everywhere else for the sake of uniformity. Just last weekend, I got a message to pick up the kids from soccer practice at a park I’d never been to before. I tapped the link, opened Maps, and was on my way. I rely heavily on travel time estimates for client meetings, with directions that come straight from my calendar and open in Maps as I head out. So why cater to another platform when I can simply buy a car that works with the system I already use and enjoy in my other cars? My phone and iCloud ecosystem already store and make contextual decisions based on thousands of personal data points that will never be shared with my car but I can easily leverage in CarPlay. And when I travel anywhere, I’m exclusively renting a car with CarPlay because everything I need comes with me in my pocket, and I don’t miss a beat.

 

[jole]

Now the Rivian does not have Podcasts but it does have Apple Music. Tesla has native Apple Music and Apple Podcast. It does not get simpler then that, or faster as it is natively being powered by the cars computer and no streaming anything anywhere. So instead of a laggy CarPlay experience you have a smooth UI that is laid out very smartly.

How much you have used both Rivian UI and a modern CarPlay implementation? I have both and can assure:
- Rivian implementation of Apple Music is very laggy compared to Carplay — one needs to sometimes wait for UI to update for many seconds after pressing a button
- Rivian Apple Music implementation only has _very_ basic functionality. Anything beyond that (like "save this to my library", or "show this artist" or "show this album" are not supported at all).


Just to be clear: If Rivian would have all the functionality and it worked butter smooth, I would absolutely prefer Rivian's own native UI that blends in with the rest of the UI. For a year pretty much every software update from Rivian is mentioning "improved Apple Music", but with this pace it will take them a decade to get where CarPlay is today.

 

[jimmy_john]

How much you have used both Rivian UI and a modern CarPlay implementation? I have both and can assure:
- Rivian implementation of Apple Music is very laggy compared to Carplay — one needs to sometimes wait for UI to update for many seconds after pressing a button
- Rivian Apple Music implementation only has _very_ basic functionality. Anything beyond that (like "save this to my library", or "show this artist" or "show this album" are not supported at all).


Just to be clear: If Rivian would have all the functionality and it worked butter smooth, I would absolutely prefer Rivian's own native UI that blends in with the rest of the UI. For a year pretty much every software update from Rivian is mentioning "improved Apple Music", but with this pace it will take them a decade to get where CarPlay is today.

Have you used Apple Music on the Mac or on iPhone? its a dumpster fire on all platforms

 

[jimmy_john]

I’m not cross-loading my podcasts into Apple Podcasts just to support one oddball vehicle or forcing myself to use Apple Podcasts everywhere else for the sake of uniformity. Just last weekend, I got a message to pick up the kids from soccer practice at a park I’d never been to before. I tapped the link, opened Maps, and was on my way. I rely heavily on travel time estimates for client meetings, with directions that come straight from my calendar and open in Maps as I head out. So why cater to another platform when I can simply buy a car that works with the system I already use and enjoy in my other cars? My phone and iCloud ecosystem already store and make contextual decisions based on thousands of personal data points that will never be shared with my car but I can easily leverage in CarPlay. And when I travel anywhere, I’m exclusively renting a car with CarPlay because everything I need comes with me in my pocket, and I don’t miss a beat.

I suppose everyone has one specific feature that they just can't live without, but I personally can't imagine basing a car purchasing decision on a podcast player. If that's the case just go get a Corolla and move on.

 

[visualseed]

I suppose everyone has one specific feature that they just can't live without, but I personally can't imagine basing a car purchasing decision on a podcast player. If that's the case just go get a Corolla and move on.

It’s more than just podcasts. On the other hand, the upcoming Corolla EV is pretty sweet and has CarPlay, while the last few generations of ICE and hybrid Corollas have been impressively solid as well.

 

[Thehangmn]

I use Overcast, not the Apple Podcast app. Sorry, out of luck!
I found the Apple Music implementation in my Tesla to be frustrating to use compared to my phone (not that it's great there either). Sorry, out of luck!
I *definitely* don't like to be forced to log in to all these services again in my car. Sorry, out of luck!

I lived with it for 7 years in my Model 3. Now I have a car with CarPlay and am much happier.

Many people may be happy without it. But there are absolutely concrete reasons why many other people would want it, and why many of those other people *require* it. Discounting that is stupid.

hey whatever you need to be happy.

It’s more than just podcasts. On the other hand, the upcoming Corolla EV is pretty sweet and has CarPlay, while the last few generations of ICE and hybrid Corollas have been impressively solid as well.

so confusing to me that a corolla is "impressive" and using anything but CarPlay is a bridge too far.

 

[visualseed]

so confusing to me that a corolla is "impressive" and using anything but CarPlay is a bridge too far.

Stay confused, I'll stay happy.

 

[Thehangmn]

Stay confused, I'll stay happy.

you'll have to keep driving the corolla around for the rest of time after CarPlay dies.

 

[norbinhouston]

Tesla stopped trying after the model y. They don’t have a roadmap for any new models outside of the 2 seater cyber cab.

You mean like the CyberTruck, Roadster, Semi, and CyberCab?

 

[jimmy_john]

You mean like the CyberTruck, Roadster, Semi, and CyberCab?

Is the CyberTruck still in production? I know Elon is forcing SpaceX to buy them to clear inventory

 

[norbinhouston]

Elon Elon Elon. lol.

 

[teh_hunterer]

I suppose everyone has one specific feature that they just can't live without, but I personally can't imagine basing a car purchasing decision on a podcast player. If that's the case just go get a Corolla and move on.

The overwhelming majority of people get a non-Rivian vehicle and move on.

Your desperation to re-frame every argument to show Rivian in a positive light is genuinely hilarious.

 

[jimmy_john]

The overwhelming majority of people get a non-Rivian vehicle and move on.

Your desperation to re-frame every argument to show Rivian in a positive light is genuinely hilarious.

Lmao.

I don’t care if people who’s #1 car buying criteria is whether they have to play their podcast through Bluetooth do not buy a Rivian. They are better off with the Corolla. Its certainly a lot cheaper.

It seems a lot of posters here are offended by explanations about why the vast majority of Rivian customers do not care about CarPlay.

 

[teh_hunterer]

Lmao.

I don’t care if people who’s #1 car buying criteria is whether they have to play their podcast through Bluetooth do not buy a Rivian. They are better off with the Corolla. Its certainly a lot cheaper.

Sounds like you care deeply given how quickly and vigorously you rush to their defence.

It seems a lot of posters here are offended by explanations about why the vast majority of Rivian customers do not care about CarPlay.

Most people are offended by low effort strawman arguments and obvious shilling.

 

[jimmy_john]

Sounds like you care deeply given how quickly and vigorously you rush to their defence.

It's been awhile since I've had an internet stalker. So honored!