Wassym Bensaid DECODER interview: AI Rivian Assistant, Apple CarPlay, VW Joint Venture

[therealcmj]

You should aim all this anger at Wass for being a lying, gaslighting douche. People would get over these things much faster if he just tells the truth in that interview rather than thinking we are all dumb

Remember: execs don’t always know the reality. And even when they know reality they won’t always tell the truth - about the situation or what they really think. Part of any exec’s job is presenting the company’s position. And these interviews are carefully managed to do exactly that.

I’m absolutely certain that some of the Rivian insiders have EVPlay installed. And some have CarPlay “hacks” installed. And some have internal dev versions of the software that have CarPlay built in… both because developers gonna be developers, and because the JV with VW will ship with CarPlay support, so they’re definitely working on it and testing it.

But “Wass” isn’t going to admit to any of that. Not because he’s stupid or because he thinks you and I are dumb or believe him. But because the company’s position is “no CarPlay needed or coming.”

And a real journalist doing a real interview (rather than a puff piece) would ask about that.

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[SwampNut]

Please keep talking, I need a few laughs this morning.

I've had a number of add on C

Man, if you don't like Wassym, you really should sell your Rivian and move on from the brand.

“Don’t like” is very different from the proven fact that he’s a liar. Same with Musk, and I love/need my Starlink.

 

[Ralph]

Please keep talking, I need a few laughs this morning.

I've had a number of add on C

“Don’t like” is very different from the proven fact that he’s a liar. Same with Musk, and I love/need my Starlink.

Although this comment contains a grain of truth, I'll just throw it in the "false equivalency" file for what I hope are obvious reasons.

 

[Cycliste]

This thread reminds me of the Cybertruck full of popcorn that I've seen posted here a few times.

I can’t find that. I’m hoping the Cybertruck Full of Popcorn is like this

The Cybertruck does kinda look like a Jiffy Pop

 

[NY_Rob]

I take ANYTHING Wass says with a massive grain of salt. He’s the Elon Musk of this company.

Right there with you Sgt! Wassym says lots of things... only believe about 1/4 of it. He's pretty slick!

 

[Gen(R3)Xer]

Voice is *TERRIBLE* when driving. Sure, in some situations it may be "fine." But if you're in a car full of noisy kids, there isn't a quiet moment for the voice recognition to isolate you properly.

I have this same problem in my Model 3 when I’m driving with my wife and one of our friends. I hit the mic button to route us the our next destination and it starts picking up their conversation and displaying it on the screen! Then it says it doesn’t understand the command and I end up having my wife put it in manually as I drive.

The mic almost needs to be put in the seat’s headrest or something. Similar to what some vehicles do with speakers. This would help with sleeping passengers in the vehicle too, as not everyone in the cabin wants to be woken up by the turn-by-turn directions.

 

[SwampNut]

Yet another win for CarPlay; I am often shocked at how well Siri tunes into my voice and not the rest of the noise in the car. Music, podcasts, or people. I guess the reason is obvious; when you set up a new iPhone, it leads you to create a voice print so it can differentiate you from others. This is EXTRA ironic since the mic for my CP unit is a small crappy one in the back of the device.

 

[Bob70533457973917]

In my Subaru outback, my Android Auto only uses the map-window rectangle on the infotainment screen (maybe half of the whole thing). I have a section above it and a larger section below it that are all multi-purpose touchscreen windows, displaying car info, climate controls, etc. "Every pixel" is Wassym lying.

 

[NY_Rob]

In my Subaru outback, my Android Auto only uses the map-window rectangle on the infotainment screen (maybe half of the whole thing). I have a section above it and a larger section below it that are all multi-purpose touchscreen windows, displaying car info, climate controls, etc. "Every pixel" is Wassym lying.

Yeah, it was a ridiculous statement, even in my 2024 Jeep.. one finger tap on any of the left side or even top row icons instantly brings you right back to all the built in Jeep screens/features. Hardly a screen takeover

Would be nice if one of these "interviewers" actually called Wass out on his constant BS instead of continual softball pre-arranged "questions".

 

[tate16t]

In my Subaru outback, my Android Auto only uses the map-window rectangle on the infotainment screen (maybe half of the whole thing). I have a section above it and a larger section below it that are all multi-purpose touchscreen windows, displaying car info, climate controls, etc. "Every pixel" is Wassym lying.

I owned an earlier BMW x7 with Apple CarPlay and I’m pretty sure it consumed the entire screen. You had to exit CP to get to iDrive. This likely changed now for most vehicles. Perhaps this is what Wassym experienced?

 

[SwampNut]

I owned an earlier BMW x7 with Apple CarPlay and I’m pretty sure it consumed the entire screen. You had to exit CP to get to iDrive. This likely changed now for most vehicles. Perhaps this is what Wassym experienced?

It has always been an option to do this, and lazy manufacturers did. I don't believe it was ever a requirement. Several years ago when Wassym/RJ first lied about it, I posted some examples of non-takeover implementations, so it's been possible for quite some time.

BMW had such shit infotainment for a long time. We had a 2013 high-end BMW that had a laughably 1999 system.

Perhaps this is what Wassym experienced?

There is ZERO excuse for the head of engineering to not know what is possible and is in other cars.

 

[tate16t]

There is ZERO excuse for the head of engineering to not know what is possible and is in other cars.

I disagree but you believe you.

 

[SwampNut]

LOL! You think that the head of engineering should have such basic knowledge gaps? WTF? The Rivian excuse-making is so strong here sometimes. Like that other CP thread going on with people claiming that anyone who doesn't like the infotainment system isn't a Rivian owner. Pretty funny, but sad.

 

[tate16t]

Anger management - take deep breaths, it’s not that serious.

 

[therealcmj]

There is ZERO excuse for the head of engineering to not know what is possible and is in other cars.

He knows. He's lying. Because the company wants that to be the message.

The Decoder interviewer did a piss poor job calling it out. But that was probably part of the ground rules of getting the interview in the first place.

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