RJ on CarPlay (Autoblog Post / Stratechery Interview)

[JM.]

Believing that CarPlay is equally important as the invention of lighting, the radio, or the automobile also explains a lot

Absolutely, so I'd never say that. It's amazing that you can't stick to the thread's actual words, even the ones you typed!

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[Supratachophobia]

I’m as big an Apple fanboy as you will find out there and I really think CarPlay is bad. I’ve owned 3 vehicles that had it and rented countless others and IMO it’s probably the worst product Apple offers. It’s buggy and I find most of the CarPlay “apps” are poorly adapted versions of the apps I have on my phone - none of which I need to use while I’m driving.

If I want to order food to pick up on my way home, #1 I shouldn’t do that while trying to drive #2 I would rather do it on my phone than my vehicle display.

Waze has given me bad and/ or inaccurate directions just as often as my pre-Google Rivian navigation did. And as fun as it is to crowdsource traffic alerts or speed traps, it’s not safe to be doing that while driving.

I won’t open the voice texting can-o-worms again, but the studies are clear on that as well.

Apple is trying to fill a gap left by lazy automakers who don’t want to put in the work to make good software and UIs. I think it’s more important to push them to do better than let them off the hook by accepting bad CarPlay because it’s slightly better than their trash OEM effort.

Truth.

Just had to use it on a rental Odyssey and I'm looking at it trying to figure out what the hell has people's wires in a twist about not having it. Classic example, your location on the map is dead center when you are moving. Why would you care about seeing the map behind you and waste the screen real-estate of a better, more complete, view of what's ahead of you?? Especially at low speeds, it's arguably a safety issue as you have delayed time to judge upcoming turns.

 

[JM.]

Why would you care about seeing the map behind you and waste the screen real-estate of a better, more complete, view of what's ahead of you??

Total situational awareness that is easier to see and keep oriented in your mind. UX 101 really. Particularly when zoomed in and trying to find your way around unfamiliar places.

 

[COdogman]

Absolutely, so I'd never say that. It's amazing that you can't stick to the thread's actual words, even the ones you typed!

Except for some reason you used all of those as examples of things as useful or specifically necessary as Carplay

CarPlay is only ultra-specific in the way that having a radio at all would be, or having basics like interior lights.

Yes, how did we survive before radios in cars? Hell, how did we survive before ... cars?

Saying that if there are multiple great choices and having deal-breakers is logical and reasonable.

 

[JM.]

Thanks, now you've figured it out. I said interior lights, not Edison inventing bulbs and Tesla inventing the modern power grid. GOOD WORK!!!

 

[COdogman]

Thanks, now you've figured it out. I said interior lights, not Edison inventing bulbs and Tesla inventing the modern power grid. GOOD WORK!!!

So you do think having CarPlay is just as important as having “interior lighting” in your vehicle? And you believe that is a “logical and reasonable” position?

You know what - forget it - I’m not playing this game with you again. It’s FSD all over…. You say something ridiculous, pretend that you didn’t say what you clearly said, then gaslight indefinitely. Merry Christmas

 

[JM.]

You know what - forget it - I’m not playing this game with you again.

Learning again, good work!

It's correct that CarPlay obviously can't be compared to interior lighting, since it's far more useful and important. I carry a flashlight at all times.

 

[Dave Cundiff]

Everyone has the right to determine their own "deal killers."

I prefer NOT to have CarPlay. Others feel the opposite.

When they work right, markets give us lots of choices.

Best to all!

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Every example mentioned, is either the auto company deployment of Apple's second screen or the App Mfr trying to figure out what can be ported from a page-rich app to a single second screen projection.

Please don’t try and defend Rivian. They ship compromised infotainment software. 5 yrs in and CP still a big ask. It won’t go away. And the more Rivian ignores better integration, the less Apple has to do to keep improving CP. Meaning, fanboys are hyped enough without any more improvement needed.

We all suffer.

CarPlay sucks.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Why are we still discussing CP on here. There IS a solution already, buy an EV Play and stop whining.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Amusingly, you're only seeing the people that are annoyed by carplay, but not the deal breaker people.

I didn't get a Rivian because of lack of CarPlay.

Overwhelmingly (95% of the time), what I listen to is podcasts. Having it on carplay is HUGELY important for podcasts, because it keep play positions, what you've listened to, etc, synced between different cars, walking, working, etc. Without that, if I take the M3 one day and complete a podcast, then get in the M5 the next day and it would show as unplayed and I'd have to manually delete it, then get in the land cruiser the next day and it would be unplayed and I'd have to manually delete it, and then go for a walk later and it would be unplayed and I'd have to manually delete it. Repeat, for every episode of anything you listen to. And, the issue compounds over time. E.g. I don't drive the M3 in the winter-- so come spring I'd have to delete hundred of episodes that it wouldn't know I've never listened to.

A podcast app unique to a car is a terrible solution. Having to manually redelete the same file across multiple platforms is user hostile.

Beyond that, using CarPlay, I get to use my preferred Podcast app-- overcast. It doesn't even exist on android, so there's no way the developer is going to make car specific versions of the app.

Further, eventually they are going to monetize this. Want to keep using the Rivian systems, which require internet access? That'll be yet another monthly subscription.

All told, no carplay means it's no car for me.

I need CarPlay for podcasts to not be horribly annoying in a Rivian, for the reason I explained in the post you quoted.

... and all my cars have their modem's cell phone antenna's disconnected, because i don't want any car makers having that kind of access to me.

Anything non standard falls apart without CarPlay.

E.g. I use overcast to listen to podcasts, and podcasts 90% of what I listen to when driving. With CarPlay, my podcast library synced between all my cars (which are made by different car companies), and when I'm walking, and when I'm listening do them at my desk.

Without CarPlay, everything about that breaks down, which is basically everything I listen to while driving.

And there's all kinds of things like that. I have Home Assistant triggers activated via CarPlay. My calendar/address book is loaded up, with no extra effort, including my upcoming destinations. I can take Teams calls. On my older, sportier (less reliable) cars, I can use it to pull engine codes if I have issue. At the race track I use it to control Harry's GPS Lap Timer (data acquisition software).

For me, no CarPlay just means I won't buy that car. It is irrelevant how good the cars built in system is, as it'll lock me out of interoperability with my other cars.

PLUS...
For most companies, this is really just a strategy to long term lock the cars infotainment behind a subscription paywall. Or, sell your driving behavior. Or, both. Really, I don't trust any of the car companies-- any cars I own with cellular hardware have had their antennas unplugged so they can't call home. I don't trust IoT devices in my house to have any internet connection, so why would I trust one that can actually kill me (a car).

... and bluetooth streaming is a crap ass solution that I have no interest in.

Holy delusional. I got some bad news for you pal, Apple is ALSO monetizing your data so using CarPlay is doing the same thing that using Rivian's native system is doing. Why would you spend the money to buy a car thats central feature is based around connectivity and software then disconnect it?

Save yourself some money and buy a car from 1985. It won't have any connectivity at all so nothing to spy on you. Then make sure to connect your phone that will still steal all that data you're worried about leaking so you can pretend you're secure.

 

[JM.]

I prefer NOT to have CarPlay.

You prefer not to have the option to use it or just ignore it? Weird.

 

[Dave Cundiff]

You prefer not to have the option to use it or just ignore it? Weird.

I prefer not to use or see CarPlay. It took over the screen of our Bolts, and hid some of the car functions (such as outside temperature, which I consider a safety function). I didn't know how to remove it.

My point, in this context, was: I don't have to want what you prefer. You don't have to want what I prefer. I trust that a reasonably free market will sort this stuff out, MUCH more efficiently than us trying to convince each other to change our preferences.

Best wishes!

 

[tbinmd]

I like having options, it would be nice if Rivian added CarPlay. The Rivian infotainment is nice, but it's lacking in several area's. I found that surprising for a product that is now half way through Gen2, there are still things missing. The nav is better under google maps, but it's still lacking in features. Employ is not an option, the integration is ok, but not as streamed line as native support would be. Plus my R1T is leased and I'm not about to tear it apart with a 3rd party product. Instead I've added a phone mount, feels like I'm going back in time. But I can have Waze with speed camera/police alerts.

 

[mkhuffman]

You prefer not to have the option to use it or just ignore it? Weird.

Rivian can track where I drive and how I drive. While I am not a fan of any monitoring, Rivian's is a mere shadow of what Apple monitors.

The way you use CP, Apple can track where you drive, where you eat, where you sleep, where you hike, where you run, where you ride, where you do everything. Dude. It is much better to federalize your data so no one company has everything you do on their servers.

This is why I refuse to use any Google search or AI products. They already have my phone, which is a crap ton. Why give them more? I use Bing. And Grok. And avoid paying for anything using Google Pay.

Break you data into pieces across multiple different businesses. At least then you have some chance of privacy.

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