Rivian software Q&A w/ Wassym Bensaid (talks dashcam, bed camera, turn signal camera, etc.)

[AxelR]

Is that new? I never caught into Apple Maps due to it being terrible when it first launched.

I was a heavy google maps user but went to Waze for the notifications.

I switched over to Apple Maps when I moved to the Bay Area. It’s actually often better than Google Maps (not always). I stopped using Waze years ago when they were still selling your data to insurance companies and others (I’d think that now that they’re owned by Alphabet/Google).
The traffic feature is probably a couple of years old maybe less. It’s not as useful as Waze for now (GMaps is still the leader when it comes to navigation).

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[Kenmecca]

Hopefully Waze never gets integrated as the official nav. I know some people love Waze. In my experience, while the traffic notifications in Waze is cool, the nav directions randomly suck. I've had Waze do completely inexplicable things on multiple occasions i.e. exit an Interstate and get back on at the next interchange with absolutely no traffic impediments. Route me in a full 10 mile square instead of 1 mile direct. Never had these issues with Apple or Google Maps......

I'm not a huge fan of Wave, but I'll say using RivGPS in last few days has done some crazy things 1) it guided me to a house, the backyard that has no street and not down the street where the house is. 2) there is an on ramp where it's much easier to take 3 rights and loop onto the freeway, gps guides me to take a Uturn at a busy intersection with a light and get on the "closer" entrance probably by a few feet. I just took delivery 2 weeks ago so have very limited experience so far. I'm hoping it will learn the streets better with some OTAs

 

[duessell]

-apple watch as a key is actively being looked into/tested and is on the roadmap

Garmin watches have NFC, would fit well with Rivian's adventure image and works across phone platforms (both Android and iPhone).

 

[EzMev]

For the love of all things, did they mention anything about voice to text? What a GIANT miss...

 

[BoIsADog]

Garmin watches have NFC, would fit well with Rivian's adventure image and works across phone platforms (both Android and iPhone).

Hear hear, give my Garmin key access!

 

[MarkieSharkie]

nothing specific, he did say the UI is going through a re-design but that just might be the main screen.

I was just talking about this in the Discord. I've been a software designer for 12+ years and you can tell the mobile app was designed with very few features in mind (either they weren't on the roadmap at the time, or it wasn't conveyed to design).

A good example of this has been how they incorporated the vehicle controls (venting, tailgate, etc). Without tapping into that menu, you'd have no idea the state of those things (ex: are my windows currently vented?). They're starting to reach a point with features that it makes sense to do a redesign. Also, the tray design is rather odd.

Not to mention we can see their brand language evolving (check out the vehicle pages and even the vehicle studio UI). I'm fairly certain the designs will be made to scale with more features, look more like these new pages, and will probably even look closer to Tesla's app's main screen in terms of seeing more controls and their respective states on one screen (vs. tapping into menus).

 

[Honey]

I would love to see Amazon music app, hulu, netflix, YouTube, etc

 

[Throwdown]

Yes. The bed camera should be the back up camera when the tailgate is down.

Would be cool if it was selectable, I use a bike rack in my hitch and even with no bike on it it's hard to use the rear camera.

 

[Derek]

I wish bed camera was available even when not towing. The turn signal cameras will be nice too.

I have said this so many times. If I have a load in the bed of the truck, I would LOVE to be able to check the camera to verify that it's riding well.

 

[mindstormsguy]

For the love of all things, did they mention anything about voice to text? What a GIANT miss...

I generally agree, but I've also discovered something which you may find useful if you're not already aware (and if you use an iPhone). If you have Siri wake word detection turned on on your phone, and your phone is connected to Bluetooth, and you keep your phone outside of your pocket when you're driving, you can send texts by asking Siri. The wake word detection seems to only run on the phone itself, but the Siri interactions all go through the Vehicle/Bluetooth. I've sent many texts using the Rivian mic/speakers just by asking Siri. You just need the phone to hear the initial "Hey Siri" because it's not always listening over BT.

 

[connoisseurr]

We really need dedicated driver profiles for the infotainment system. Would be really nice to not not have to log out and login between Spotify and/or Tidal accounts.

 

[Thedude]

For the love of all things, did they mention anything about voice to text? What a GIANT miss...

Like the other guy mentioned - the hey siri/google voice prompt works fine to send texts. It also works to tell your phone to read any text message you receive. Not as good as carplay/Android auto but better than anything in cars from years before that existed.

 

[Smithery]

-navigation improvements are constantly being worked on, looked into multiple integration options including waze but waze doesn’t have an open api.

And this is a concrete, real world example of "CarPlay solves a real problem for customers"

But they don't care because they don't get to slurp their sweet, sweet data.

 

[Dark-Fx]

And this is a concrete, real world example of "CarPlay solves a real problem for customers"

But they don't care because they don't get to slurp their sweet, sweet data.

Customers just like inventing their own problems.

 

[drb19927]

Can somebody explain what the issues are with digital rights management and how that would slow the process? What's to stop them from implementing a web browser that allows you access video content directly from content providers?

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