Rivian Explains Why CarPlay Debate Will Become 'Completely Obsolete'

[quagmire]

That is all great, but, why not offer CarPlay as an option? Even if only 10 or 20% of Tesla and Rivian owners miss CarPlay, offering as an option would be a good choice, it's not really that hard to implement...

That I agree with.

I don't think Carplay or Android auto shouldn't be an option. It's definitely a make the consumer use their system for their own gain( subscription, data collection, etc) move. The Carplay takes over the whole car is definitely PR BS. It is up to the OEM whether Carplay has that kind of access. Carplay can only integrate into the car as much as the OEM allows for it to do.

 

[IIGS User]

"The challenge with screen mirroring solutions is that they take over every single pixel way to syphon off infromation we can collect and monetize in the car,"

Ugh. Heated seat subscriptions from BMW, no CarPlay in future GM offerings. Now this clown.

It's easy. No CarPlay, NO CAR. Manufacturers. I WILL NOT buy your car without CarPlay. This is a 100% total deal breaker for me as it is for a lot of people. So go ahead and take CarPlay out while visions of $100 bills dance in your head while people run for the exits and you don't sell cars.

It's hard enough to justify how much a car costs these days. I'm not laying down north of $50K to be your information vacuum. I'll take my money eslewhere.

 

[maruyama]

This is so annoying to me as a Rivian shareholder. I want this company to succeed, they have great products, but they perennially sabotage themselves over dumb stuff like this and the stock price reflects that.

 

[erikkfi]

The bigger picture here is that car companies are now inherently software companies. The ones that are going to do best at making software are going to have the greatest chance of long-term success. Outsourcing your software design to another company is arguably an irrational act in that light.

I have no idea what it's like to use a car with or without CarPlay because, thank goodness, I have a car from before the touchscreen hell era. But I understand why GM and Rivian are doing what they're doing.

 

[Antknee]

Yes, if it's one things customers want less of, it's options. 🙄

This is one of stupidest tech takes I've read in awhile. I don't even want to look at a car that doesn't offer CarPlay.

 

[nt5672]

We will probably buy the first car that offers a non-touchscreen UI. We've had touch screens for the last 10 years and are still annoyed by them because when you are driving there is no option but to take your eyes off the road.

Real button can be used by feel.

 

[starman111]

I love that Rivian keeps talking about this, again and again and again. Gosh, it's almost like they are trying to convince customers what they want, and are failing.

The only way that Rivian can have deep integration is if I give them full access to my recent locations, recent map searches, messages, calendar, contacts, HomeKit, and locations of friends. Yeah...there no way I'll give that info to any car company. Sorry Rivian, I won't purchase your products until you support CarPlay.

 

[Chet-NYC]

On the latest episode of The Verge's Decoder podcast, Rivian's software chief Wassym Bensaid explained why the EV maker still refuses to offer Apple CarPlay.

In short, Bensaid said Rivian does not want CarPlay to fully take over the software experience.

"The challenge with screen mirroring solutions is that they take over every single pixel in the car," he said.

Instead, Rivian prefers to offer its own interface with "end-to-end integration."

Bensaid added that "deep AI integration into the car" will eventually make the debate over offering CarPlay in vehicles "completely obsolete." He believes that Rivian owners will be able to access the core functionality of many apps through an AI agent, rather than needing to rely on CarPlay or Android Auto.

"I really believe that the way you interact with apps which are mono-threaded, single buttons, single icons, a lot of that will be now completely reshaped into a world where it will become an agentic integration that presents itself into a wholesome user experience to the user," Bensaid explained. However, he admitted that an AI agent becoming an "alternative solution" to CarPlay apps will take time to materialize.

Already, Rivian owners are increasingly less interested in CarPlay, according to Bensaid. He said that Rivian's internal statistics showed that more than 70% of customers wanted CarPlay when their vehicles first launched around five years ago, but he said a recent survey showed that figure is apparently less than 25% now.

"With the level of features that we have shipped to customers, with the level of end-to-end integration, with the level of convenience that we are bringing, CarPlay is, or Android Auto to that extent, is no longer the topic of discussion," he said.

Article Link: Rivian Explains Why CarPlay Debate Will Become 'Completely Obsolete'

I absolutely disagree with this.

While it is true I don't need CarPlay's routing feature in my Tesla, I could use pretty much everything else. The phone and texting apps in the Tesla are simply terrible. There is no reason why car companies cannot offer CarPlay even if they limit certain aspects of it.

 

[bpb]

I don't need any "Agentic" whateverthe**** in my car. I want to be able to make/take calls, listen to music, and use maps. That's it. And I want that experience to be the carplay experience. Anything else can go pound salt.

 

[tekcor]

Interest only dropped because Rivian owners learned to live without it. Rivian has gaslit them into thinking they no longer need it.

I’m not willing to consider a vehicle without CarPlay.

 

[aidler]

So, 5 years ago, of 10,000 customers, 7,000 asked for CarPlay. Now they've lost 6,000 customers, and of the remaining 4,000, only 1,000 still ask for CarPlay.
Doesn't look good for Rivian.

 

[bigboy29]

I'm totally OK with Rivian (or any other company) taking this stance.

I am assuming that those companies are also OK with me going somewhere else to get a car; I mean - they should be, because that is the result.

Rivian and I do not have to intersect; it is not in the cards. I'm OK with that.

 

[MallardDuck]

Of his existing customers that’s probably true, of his potential customers big difference. Lack of CarPlay means that we will never buy one, because I’m not giving them access to my contacts phone numbers messages, and all the rest. There’s no way that I’m going to let them gather all of my destinations, by using their navigation system. The biggest piece of CarPlay is privacy, and the fact that he doesn’t get that tells me that monetizing customer data is a key part of his business model.

So Rivian is off the possible list which is a shame because we were actually considering one of their new models next year. We will buy a Toyota Land Cruiser instead.

 

[ort888]

I won't buy a car that doesn't have Apple CarPlay. It's really as simple as that.

 

[mattopotamus]

Hmm, ok, I'm having a difficult time placing your comment into a discussion of what opinions are regarding including or excluding CarPlay.... now.

Who knows what will happen in the future. This discussion is about now.

Also, MAYBE we won't need the Maps app, because the car will take care of the driving and routing. But there is still the... everything else. CarPlay isn't about the car itself for the most part, it is about your info/entertainment while IN the car. Being driverless doesn't change that.

Being driverless 100% changes that. My comment was geared towards, "I will never consider".

If you are driverless, why would you use a "gimped" version of ios instead of using your phone or mirroring it? That is a serious question.

 

[everlast3434]

He's right! I want AI to control my car and to use an AI agent 🙄

 

[JesterJJZ]

For me, the crucial thing about Carplay is navigation, specifically, using my phone to hit an address link or search on Google Maps and then have it show up on my car screen. Dealing with navigation on the actual dash screen has always been archaic in comparison.

 

[GDF]

I guess Rivian knows nothing then. I don’t need car mfg’s to tell me what I want or need. CarPlay makes any car better. Have a Tesla and miss CarPlay every day. Are other car has CarPlay and it is so much better.

 

[Starfia]

Right. Like how it turned out that everyone wants smartphones with hardware and software designed by their cellular service provider.

 

[k1121j]

When I carry a car in my pocket is the day when the car will be better then CarPlay.

 

[BGPL]

Another stubborn, out of touch exec. The difference between 75% of owners wanting CarPlay down to 25% now is just them giving up, and who knows where they got that data. He's been told a fairy tail about AI integration by his engineers and he has no idea what that roadmap looks like. Just offer it, if people really don't care for it like you say and your AI experience is better, people have the option to choose, right? This is pure aversion to Apple, nothing more.

 

[JustinKent]

"We're not giving you what you want, because at some point in the future, you might want something different."

 

[RaoulDuke42]

MOAR BUZZWORDS!

 

[Gloor]

Tesla's system is still superior to Carplay

Now that I've used CarPlay in my new car, I will never even consider a car without CarPlay.

 

[Robert.Walter]

Weird lopsided justification.

We aren’t offering what you want and know it drives some of you away but we will suffer in this hill because we know it is good for future customers because maybe if when AI does something it can’t do now it will prove us right someday.

Fact is, a salesman can only sell what he’s got, and sometimes what he will soon have (this is why Ford keeps talking about its small EV pickup bc they hope customers will wait).

But to those who are enticed to buy now based on this guys sales pitch, because it’s a vaporware theory concept of a possibility, the better question is: if I buy today do you guarantee that it will be compatible with this future AI interface?

(Answer will be 100 different kinds of no).