The Built In Navigation Solution

[r1vlife]

Hey everyone,

If you're looking for a not so positive post from me about the R1T you've come to the right place.

I've had more driving time in the R1T and I can honestly say the built in navigation is less than ideal. In fact, it sucks. I think that's my biggest gripe with the vehicle so far.

I've found that it always tries to route you on carpool only exits and recognizes partial lane tolls on 405 as a "toll road" thereby completely disabling Driver+. It can't find a location name or addresses as well as Google Maps. The travel eta is also amazingly inaccurate. On surface streets, it has been too late in telling me when to make the next turn after I miss a turning it has to recalculate.

I understand software is difficult and Google maps wasn't built in 2 years. I tried to give Rivian the benefit of the doubt when I first saw the truck and spoke to their engineers at Fully Charged Live in February 2020. Where they believed they could do better than Google, hence why no Android Auto or Apple Carplay, and where one of the software engineers from ABRP spoke with them to work on integrating ABRP into the Rivian ecosystem.

Frankly I'm surprised by the lack of progress on this front. We currently don't have a "better than Google Maps" solution nor do we have the ability to send ABRP routes to the R1T. I think having a robust navigation solution is a key strategy to make this product successful. Entertaining alternative navigation solutions while they developed their own Rivian solution would also have been a wise solution.

As someone who's new to the Seattle area, driving around with an essentially dumb navigation system is not ideal. I also haven't found a good place to mount my phone to use Android Auto. I'm sure as more of us take our Rivian's to places we aren't familiar with by following their "Keep The World Adventurous Forever" slogan/motto, we will feel that the Rivian navigation solution is woefully inadequate. And we will wish that they implemented Android Auto and Apple Carplay.

The navigation bar they have to meet is awfully high and I hope they will be able to succeed. And when they do, how much time will have passed and at what cost?

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[ironpig]

I don’t understand how anyone would think they could be better than google or apple who have been doing this for over a decade. That’s doesn’t make any sense.

Tesla GPS directions got better over the years. Rivians will probably also.

Until then, there’s always the Thomas Guide.

 

[C.R. Rivian]

Hey everyone,

If you're looking for a not so positive post from me about the R1T you've come to the right place.

I've had more driving time in the R1T and I can honestly say the built in navigation is less than ideal. In fact, it sucks. I think that's my biggest gripe with the vehicle so far.

I've found that it always tries to route you on carpool only exits and recognizes partial lane tolls on 405 as a "toll road" thereby completely disabling Driver+. It can't find a location name or addresses as well as Google Maps. The travel eta is also amazingly inaccurate. On surface streets, it has been too late in telling me when to make the next turn after I miss a turning it has to recalculate.

I understand software is difficult and Google maps wasn't built in 2 years. I tried to give Rivian the benefit of the doubt when I first saw the truck and spoke to their engineers at Fully Charged Live in February 2020. Where they believed they could do better than Google, hence why no Android Auto or Apple Carplay, and where one of the software engineers from ABRP spoke with them to work on integrating ABRP into the Rivian ecosystem.

Frankly I'm surprised by the lack of progress on this front. We currently don't have a "better than Google Maps" solution nor do we have the ability to send ABRP routes to the R1T. I think having a robust navigation solution is a key strategy to make this product successful. Entertaining alternative navigation solutions while they developed their own Rivian solution would also have been a wise solution.

As someone who's new to the Seattle area, driving around with an essentially dumb navigation system is not ideal. I also haven't found a good place to mount my phone to use Android Auto. I'm sure as more of us take our Rivian's to places we aren't familiar with by following their "Keep The World Adventurous Forever" slogan/motto, we will feel that the Rivian navigation solution is woefully inadequate. And we will wish that they implemented Android Auto and Apple Carplay.

The navigation bar they have to meet is awfully high and I hope they will be able to succeed. And when they do, how much time will have passed and at what cost?

See Mounting a cell phone. Has anyone done it? | Rivian Forums - R1T & R1S Owners, News, Discussions, RIVN Stock for an idea. Also, you could look at the Rivian map and listen to the google directions from the phone on the Qi charger.

 

[Gator42]

See Mounting a cell phone. Has anyone done it? | Rivian Forums - R1T & R1S Owners, News, Discussions, RIVN Stock for an idea. Also, you could look at the Rivian map and listen to the google directions from the phone on the Qi charger.

Yes, I hear OPs concerns. All the criticisms of Rivian's navigation could be said about the Land Rover Pivi Pro system as well...

I swore off Waze after for the third time it directed me off the interstate to take ever smaller surface streets until I was dodging the recycle bins in an alley behind a condo building in the Roxbury area of Boston- Waze might as well have directed me to find a gas station and ask for directions ...

I think the hybrid solution of listening to google from your device while using the vehicle's maps is one that works well...

 

[SoCal Rob]

Yes, I hear OPs concerns. All the criticisms of Rivian's navigation could be said about the Land Rover Pivi Pro system as well...

Except Pivi Pro includes Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, right? Screen projection allows you to use several other navigation systems if you don’t like the one included with the vehicle. This is why so many of us have been repeatedly asking Rivian to do the same as every other manufacturer except Tesla.

edit: clarity

 

[Redline]

I would assume this will be an easy fix over time. I use navigation MAYBE once a week so its not a big deal for me. It'll be more important for charging purposes on longer trips.

 

[Gator42]

Except Pivi Pro includes Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, right? Screen projection allows you to use several other navigation systems if you don’t like the one included with the vehicle. This is why so many of us have been repeatedly asking Rivian to do the same.

That's right, they are, so if you can't live without seeing Google Map while you drive, then yes, you're unfortunately out of luck. I think the CarPlay interface is crap* compared to the Pivi and I'm used to checking more than one nav option before choosing the best option, so for me taking Google voice commands while using Pivi's wonderful sat maps is a decent compromise...

*I'd also add Pivi does an excellent job of integrating CarPlay with it's visual interface. It won't use your device nav with Pivi's map but it will make your streaming app appear like it's native to the vehicle....

 

[RivianuserR1T]

For people reading this that do not yet own the R1T/S, I actually really enjoy the navigation software. It's worked well for me in Northern California. The navigation and Spotify are VERY responsive with no noticeable lag.

We had a 2019 XC40 and the carplay rarely worked properly and the info screen was very laggy.

 

[frostbit3]

For reasons like this amongst many others, I plan on installing a cheap Amazon Fire Tablet much like this person did:
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/...true-with-simple-yet-clever-setup-153545.html
And using that for CarPlay. The only caveat being that I need Rivian to allow music to be played via USB and I'll be good to go.

 

[SoCal Rob]

I’d rather not have to tack on a display, clip on a garage door opener, and wire up a SiriusXM tuner in my $80K SUV, but this looks like an improvement over not having CarPlay at all. Assuming you’ve already sat in an R1T, where do you think you’d mount it in a Rivian?

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

We had a 2019 XC40 and the carplay rarely worked properly and the info screen was very laggy.

Probably needed a new/better USB/Lightning cable. Everyone who complains about buggy CarPlay on Volvos seems to have their issue resolved when using a new+quality cable. For some reason they're really picky, and cables that work fine for charging don't necessarily work reliably for CarPlay.

 

[frostbit3]

I’d rather not have to tack on a display, clip on a garage door opener, and wire up a SiriusXM tuner in my $80K SUV, but this looks like an improvement over not having CarPlay at all. Assuming you’ve already sat in an R1T, where do you think you’d mount it in a Rivian?

Agreed, it's not ideal by any means but it's a solution nonetheless. With that said, I haven't sat it one yet so my plan is only theoretical. My mobile first drive is in 2 weeks so I'll get a better idea for it then, but i'm still at the mercy of Rivian allowing music via USB so until then I'm dead in the waters.

 

[RivianuserR1T]

robably needed a new/better USB/Lightning cable. Everyone who complains about buggy CarPlay on Volvos seems to have their issue resolved when using a new+quality cable. For some reason they're really picky, and cables that work fine for charging don't necessarily work reliably for CarPlay.

Oh nice! That would have been helpful to know.

But as far as the lag I was referring to the non-carplay part.

 

[KeithPleas]

I would assume this will be an easy fix over time. I use navigation MAYBE once a week so its not a big deal for me. It'll be more important for charging purposes on longer trips.

To be fair, the OP said they just relocated to the PNW. It _appears_ the solution is to...never move or leave your home area so you don't _need_ navigation.

 

[Inkedsphynx]

For what it's worth, Google's nav in the Seattle area can sometimes be really shitty too. For example, there's a specific exit near Tacoma where even google maps ALWAYS tells me to take the left-side carpool exit instead of the right-side normal.

Plus side, getting lost in this area is really hard. Just keep yourself aware of which direction 5 and 90 are and you'll be fine.

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