Lack of Android Auto / Waze is a reason to cancel

[kylealden]

To each their own, of course, but I'd much rather have a well-integrated, high-quality OEM solution rather than just tossing CarPlay in. As long as maps, nav, spotify, and basic calling/text read-aloud are there, I'm happy and won't feel the need to mount my phone anywhere.

Tesla (at least 3/Y) check this box competently enough that it's never been an issue for me. CarPlay/Android Auto are basically mandatory if we're talking about a Volkswagen or BMW infotainment system, but Rivian's ain't that.

I was slightly concerned that a few people mentioned UI choppiness. Far more than CarPlay, I care about the interface feeling responsive and fluid. (Which, incidentally, CarPlay does not when piped through an OEM's shitty resistive touchscreen...)

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[Rhidan]

You can disagree with me but yes I join to express my frustration when learning of this. Otherwise I don't feel the need to post to say nothing relevant.

Darkon, welcome to the forums. I get the frustration and your post was well-written. Maybe it is something to raise with Rivian customer service directly?

There was a point in time where random people would just join this forum to complain that X feature was not included:

https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/any-chance-for-real-leather.967/

I recall getting frustrated that all the posts were just complaints that none of us could fix. We even created several master "gripes" threads: https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/vent-b-tch-moaning-for-the-mis-guided.1231/

The Apple Car Play has been discussed over and over again. We've known for a while that the R1T would not ship with Carplay or AA. I think some of us are just frustrated that this topic keeps getting reposted. I don't view those services as an essential feature of a fully-electric truck.

 

[Darkon]

Do you have an EV right now? I'll give you my EV driver perspective on it.

The things that Android Auto restricts makes using it really difficult for EV purposes...

You are making a very good point that I did not think of. No I do not have an EV yet. I would hope as EV become ubiquitous, Waze will add EV charging as a trip option.

For now I use Waze mostly for traffic jam, and user reports of police activity.

 

[Darkon]

Darkon, welcome to the forums. I get the frustration and your post was well-written. Maybe it is something to raise with Rivian customer service directly?

I am sorry I did not mean it to bother. And I wrongly assume this was a sort-of-official forums for Rivian. I will contact Rivian directly.

 

[Dark-Fx]

If I were building a new car OS the first thing I'd do is support auto/carplay to fill in the gaps and shortcomings while taking my time to build a comprehensive built-in solution. Not having it feels like a strategic move that puts users second.

If I were building a new car, I would have the UI stuff completely ironed out before shipping the first one to a customer. I would have an entire team of engineers dedicated to absolutely nailing it with how it would work the best with the current state of EV charging. I

You are making a very good point that I did not think of. No I do not have an EV yet. I would hope as EV become ubiquitous, Waze will add EV charging as a trip option.

For now I use Waze mostly for traffic jam, and user reports of police activity.

I've gotten pretty good at pre-planning on trips so it's not generally a big deal, but if you encounter any sort of a problem that causes you to use more energy than expected, you might need to find a station earlier than you anticipated because they are really spaced out right now.

The charging curve in my Bolt makes it pretty important to run the battery to a lower state of charge before charging because it slows down significantly over 50%, and it's already slow before that. If Rivian can do 20-80% in 30 minutes, there's likely enough buffer range under 20% that you won't need to plan to run the battery that low between stations. 20-80% in the Bolt would be around an hour in optimal conditions, and it would be fewer miles. Doing trips today requires less planning than in 2018 when I first got the car. In my state you can cover most of it with fast charging whereas in 2018, there was a single station (and it was a slow DCFC) that had to be working in order to cross it. In another three years, you might not really even need to make plans, especially if the UI in the car is good about having stations and their status.

 

[crashmtb]

You can disagree with me but yes I join to express my frustration when learning of this. Otherwise I don't feel the need to post to say nothing relevant.

 

[SoCal Rob]

CarPlay seems like an "easy" way to satisfy most people... So I don't know why they won't do it.

As it is, I'm willing to give them a shot, but they're going to need to build more app integrations than just Spotify. We use Apple Music, and I want to keep using Apple Music. Give me tight integration with that and I'll probably be happy. Well, that and I want good Messages integration, as well. Volvo does a decent integration with Messages, so I know it's possible.

I agree. What I find self-defeating about the omission of Android Auto and Apple CarPlay is that it annoys some customers and it probably annoys the Rivian coders, too. I say that because by adding AA and CP they can focus on the core systems and not respond to a bunch of feature requests for things which are already out there and working fine via AA and CP. Implement AA and CP in such a way that they get a fraction of the main display and call it a day.

I completely understand that for long trip planning involving charging stops the Rivian navigation should be superior to most or all apps available via AA and CP. However, including AA and CP doesn’t preclude using the Rivian navigation for those trips which require it. I suspect that many people will never drive these vehicles more than 50% of their range in a trip and so they may not see any benefit from the Rivian navigation but people who are used to AA and CP will probably miss the features on every daily commute, shopping trip, school run, etc.

This decision is one of the more Elon Musk-like “I know better than you what you want.” behaviors exhibited by Rivian and, as such, I think it rubs a lot of us the wrong way. If you want us to know that the Rivian way is superior then give us the choice between the native system, AA, and CP so we can determine for ourselves what’s best.

 

[TAZ]

I've had Apple CarPlay in my past few cars and honestly it's just gotten more and more buggy over the past year. Podcasts all together stopped working and only use it for Waze and Amazon Music. I'm surprised that Amazon Music isn't currently being offered at launch since they have such tight ties to Amazon. Waze like other's stated I use for best routes daily, traffic and most importantly cops locations. What would be ideal, Rivian partners with Waze and overlays both maps' data onto the screen. I'm totally ok transitioning to Spotify since I've found it to be a better platform anyway, it's just odd that Amazon Music isn't currently available.

 

[Jamuso]

CarPlay seems like an "easy" way to satisfy most people... So I don't know why they won't do it.

As it is, I'm willing to give them a shot, but they're going to need to build more app integrations than just Spotify. We use Apple Music, and I want to keep using Apple Music. Give me tight integration with that and I'll probably be happy. Well, that and I want good Messages integration, as well. Volvo does a decent integration with Messages, so I know it's possible.

I would still like using apple music too - even if it's not thru car play. I know bluetooth is an option - but i want to take advantage of the power of the Rivian audio and bluetooth wont do that well.

 

[jjswan33]

I think it’s also worth noting that 20 reporters just drove these things for days and almost none complained about the lack of AA or CarPlay. Maybe it’s good enough or maybe they were just dazzled by the built-in flashlight….

Did you actually watch them? I watched most of them and many mentioned the absence so not sure what you're talking about.

 

[kvenom]

I'm quite frankly more annoyed at the lack of a true birdseye/360 camera, at least at launch. When BMW/Audi/Mercedes can do this from launch. A tech-focused company like Rivian should be able to do it as well especially given the size of the vehicle.

 

[Pherdnut]

I really don't get what's so hard about just running tunes from your phone.

 

[Diddy123]

I really don't get what's so hard about just running tunes from your phone.

This comment makes me think you haven't used AA/Carplay to it's full capability much, which is totally fine.

But 'tunes' are literally the least important function of the technology for me and most people.

 

[SANZC02]

I can't believe there is yet another thread discussing this, we've gone from beating a dead horse to the poor things skeleton...

 

[jjswan33]

I really don't get what's so hard about just running tunes from your phone.

Music quality over bluetooth isn't as good as in a native app

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