Rivian CEO says Apple CarPlay isn’t going to happen…

[Ralph]

Interview on The Verge confirming a bit more of the reasoning for not doing full Apple CarPlay integration… but talks about a few features that they are working on….

https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/22/24203609/rivian-apple-carplay-support-rj-scaringe-decoder

Some pertinent quotes…
“We have a great relationship with Apple,” he said. “As much as I love their products, there’s a reason that ironically is very consistent with Apple ethos for us to want to control the ecosystem.” CarPlay isn’t “consistent with how we think about really creating a pure product experience,” Scaringe said.

“We recognize that it’ll take us time to fully capture every feature that’s in CarPlay, and hopefully, customers are seeing that. I think it often gets more noise than it deserves,” Scaringe said in the interview. “The other thing beyond mapping that’s coming is better integration with texting. We know that needs to come, and it’s something that teams are actively working on.”

Thanks for the heads up and link. Perhaps the most informative interview that RJ has given in some time. Kudos to the interviewer as well.

Not great news for those interested in CP, but overall a great read as to where Rivian in now and how RJ currently sees the company's future re: VW etc. A good amount historical perspective thrown in.

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[bd5400]

This comment about the trunk was insane to me:

"One example given by Scaringe includes CarPlay’s inability to “leverage other parts of the vehicle experience,” which would require Rivian customers to leave the app in order to do things like open the vehicle’s front trunk. “We’ve taken the view of the digital experience in the vehicle wants to feel consistent and holistically harmonious across every touchpoint"​

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The user experience to open the frunk would virtually be unchanged with Apple Carplay. Hit park, tap the car icon and then hit frunk. I would gladly have this 1 extra step to get to the frunk if it meant I had carplay. Also, I almost never open the frunk from inside. It's always with the physical button at the front of my car...

Like savethemanuel said, Stop trying to develop worse software and just integrate carplay. If Porsche, BMW, and Mercedes are down with, you can be too.

I can’t speak for RJ, but he may be specifically referring to the vehicle control fly-out window in this specific example. CarPlay may be technically easy to implement, but there is a separate certification process where Apple can exert control. Apple has to approve of any native UI overlays that temporarily obscure the CarPlay interface, meaning that Apple would need to approve the vehicle control menu that pulls out from the left (assuming full screen CarPlay). If Rivian doesn’t want to give Apple control over the appearance and behavior of that window, users would be forced to exit CarPlay in order to use that window and access the frunk controls.

I would also assume that anytime Rivian decides to change that window they would need to resubmit for approval to maintain CarPlay certification.

This is not to say that this is the ONLY reason they won’t add CarPlay. But I do often wonder if the certification requirements are an issue for Rivian, especially since they are more likely to update their software compared to legacy automakers who, on the whole, don’t modify the UI of cars that are already in customer hands.

 

[rkalbiar]

Just Gimme native WAZE and Apple Music. I B HAPPY.

 

[hekhl00]

To the best of my memory, we’ve received one new native app since the R1 was released and that was Tidal. At that rate it’s gonna be a very long time before we get even close to the functionality that CP could give us in one fell swoop. It’s just a shame that RJ won’t relent on this and put resources to better use.

 

[beatle]

I had AA in my Lightning and I didn't find it that useful. I used it for Spotify, but I still used Ford's navigation to get me where I wanted to go. Unless I used ABRP to navigate, I could not tell how much battery remaining was predicted at my destination. For as good as ABRP is at route planning, it was terrible at navigation. This was 2 years ago so maybe it's better now.

AA and CP are great for vehicles that otherwise have terrible or non-existent infotainment (like my old Ridgeline), but Rivian (and Tesla) infotainment are first class if you asked me. Onboard infotainment also doesn't drain my phone's battery or use my plan's data. I just Waze on my phone with the display off and just listen for notifications. I know that's a crutch, and having some kind of hybrid onboard with Waze notifications would be ideal, but that's not even AA/CP.

I guess since I use Spotify for music, my bases are already covered for entertainment. I know not everyone uses Spotify or Tidal so I hope they continue to add more streaming services.

 

[COdogman]

 

[CrazyOne]

Fine, give me high quality USB audio playback. But there is no money to be made there.

 

[Rivdog]

After yet another rental car experience where CarPlay was super frustrating and didn’t work well, I’m officially off the “we need CarPlay” train anyway. I was longing for Rivian’s infotainment by the end of the trip. Rivian’s mapping isn’t perfect, but Google Maps isn’t either, as I learned yet again.

 

[Rudylake]

Hey RJ, maybe get me the parts to fix my R1S. We are about to go on 3 months waiting for Rivian parts.

 

[lefkonj]

The statement that CarPlay doesn't have this or that function is just silly. Sorry.

We own a I4M50, and it has CarPlay. For the car services like opening the trunk, charging etc etc you click home and the BMW apps are all there. For phone/nav/entertainment you use CarPlay. Pretty simple and straight forward. I love my Rivian but I just don't get the anti-Carplay/AA. It isn't licensed and reduces development time for Rivian as Apple/Google take over entertainment, leaving Rivian to focus on the vehicle part of the vehicle.

 

[ohseedee]

It's the right call in the long run. if you want to be a software centric car company focused on driver's experience, you don't outsource your experience to a 3rd party. Having both screens and all car features work in harmony is very much ideal.

 

[iansriv]

The R1 is my first EV. All my previous cars were stuck with what I got at the time of purchase. Remember those days? So, my expectations were quite low when I got the R1. It did not come with CP and that was the deal made between me and RJ. It's amazing to me to get OTA updates every few weeks. My ecosystem is Apple at work and home so, I would like CP but I also made a purchase fully knowing what I was and was not getting.

 

[SASSquatch]

But still no reason Rivian couldn't offer both for those that want CP features.

Agree it probably isn't going to happen at this point but the reason RJ is giving for not including it is BS. It all has to do with $$

Pay the man!

 

[atebit]

Rivian (or anyone else, for that matter) will never have the app ecosystem that AA & ACP have. LiveOne will never create an app that runs on Rivian’s platform, for instance. The notion that “as long as there is <x> app available, that’s all Rivian needs” is ridiculous, because tomorrow there will be a brand new app for Android & iOS that’s in demand, and the infotainment versions on those platforms require minimal, if any, extra development work. The lift to get that new app onto Rivian’s platform is an entirely separate effort.

It’s not about “control/taking over”, it’s about scale. Rivan’s the TRS-80 of infotainment…all the good apps are available for Apple, Commodore & IBM on disc. Sorry, there’s no cassette version for 4K Level I BASIC.

 

[Chewy734]

So is this the latest CarPlay venting thread? Just want to make sure, because I’ve lost count.

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