No real AM or FM radio in the R2

[electruck]

some of us are lucky to have great local radio stations. listener supported, no ads, great music. sorry you don't.

hey, if that works for you, great! but in my 54 years, ads and talk radio aside, I have never found a radio station that plays the breadth of music I enjoy - music spanning 60+ years and numerous genres. last time I checked, which has admittedly been decades, radio stations tend to be very narrowly focused or have very limited blocks of time where they branch into different genres (eg, 1 hr on Sunday night). Over the years, streaming has provided me exposure to so much music and artists that you will never hear on local broadcasts let alone on a regular basis.

now, I will admit that streaming has its limitations in terms of cellular data connectivity, network congestion, etc. so even though I would rarely use it, there are times it would be nice to be able to shuffle play hi-res music from a usb drive.

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[KineticKev]

I'm cancelling my R2 reservation because it doesn't have a CD Player, I Love listening to my Gospel Church CD's while driving in the mountains with the heated seats on

Why would such a new age digital car get rid of such analog features like an FM/AM tuner in favor of digital based radio .

 

[LevelHeaded]

I'm cancelling my R2 reservation because it doesn't have a CD Player, I Love listening to my Gospel Church CD's while driving in the mountains with the heated seats on

Why would such a new age digital car get rid of such analog features like an FM/AM tuner in favor of digital based radio .

FM radio broadcasts are digital these days. Stop using words that are too big for you to understand.

Fun fact for the less educated: CDs are also digital.

 

[RivianRocks25]

FM radio broadcasts are digital these days. Stop using words that are too big for you to understand.

Fun fact for the less educated: CDs are also digital.

HD FM is digital

And yeah, the CD is digital lossless, 20-22khz range, 96 dB dynamic range , and DRM free, so you own it and can make whatever digital format you want. Lots of good stuff comes with CDs.

 

[KineticKev]

FM radio broadcasts are digital these days. Stop using words that are too big for you to understand.

Fun fact for the less educated: CDs are also digital.

If you would like to be thorough, FM broadcasts are generally both. Shall I dare use the word hybrid.

And no worries, my intent is not to insult anyone's education level. The reality is if anyone opts not to purchase R2 over FM radio, it's their choice. Maybe it's just the tipping point.

Whatever happened to the cool phone manufacturers with the FM radio?....

 

[RivianRocks25]

If you would like to be thorough, FM broadcasts are generally both. Shall I dare use the word hybrid.


Whatever happened to the cool phone manufacturers with the FM radio?....

Did see HD radio is kind of a Hybrid both where the main channel is analog and the subs are digital.

The phone radios with FM tuners use to have terrible reception. Used the headphone cable as an antenna and probably the wrong length to do well. And that's the problem: if don't have cell coverage, problably pretty remote from radio also so need a vehicle based receiver with a good tuner and properly engineered antenna to pick up weak signals. An in-cab 3rd party solution is probably not going to pickup signals very well.

 

[RivianRocks25]

No radio, what is this, a fricking cheap-azz SLATE for $58k?

Single digit usage? This 2025 report says radio at 56% across all brands. Then Sirius at 13%, then Spotify at 6%... Apple Music at 3%... Trying to broaden reach past R1 owners? You have to look at all users. So let's make this bad for over 1/2 possible customers? https://www.westwoodone.com/blog/20...opping-85-share-of-in-car-ad-supported-audio/

Kind of pizzed about this whole thing. 150% Enshitification at its finest. Other makers say a Front Trunk is rarely used so they do a crappy engineering job and it's tiny or missing.

Also the spare tire is rarely used so others (most) are omitting it.

Not Rivian, nice big Front Trunk and optional spare tire. But off road brand that leaned into CELL coverage for radio? Bad idea.

An example of how cell reliance is bad on even R1: if leave home and leave wifi THEN route to destination in R1S, I have to wait for cell coverage 8 minutes later before I'll get a 'charge % and distance remaining at dest' to appear. Since this Calc isn't done in-car, I get nothing. Guess in R2 I can sit in silence waiting for this data and the 'radio' to appear.

Yeah, probably IS a deal breaker. Just because Tesla removed radio in the cheapest version, DON'T COPY THEM!!!
If I wanted a stripped down, minimalist (cheap) interior, I'd go back to Tesla.

Seriously, IX3 just got alot better looking. Or a Scout.

 

[Tony S]

It might be some random app on backend, but in the interface it just presents as "Radio"

Hat tip to @RivianTrackr having this up in his R2/RivianOS 2.0 video.

On my Polestar 2 there is a “Radio” app I use to access FM HD in my local area (part of Google Automotive OS).

 

[rfkxyz]

Seriously, IX3 just got alot better looking. Or a Scout.

Honestly, I don't need to be seen in a BMW. And I'm expecting to never use my Scout reservation due to current priority for EREV vs. BEV (although I do like the retro-modern design and physical switchgear, but don't need BoF, locking differential-axle whatevers, wider than wife's Grand Highlander, etc.).

All that said - no SiriusXM satellite antenna in R2? We do some remote drives away from cellular connectivity and its the only thing that works.

 

[Mos Eisley]

Honestly, I don't need to be seen in a BMW. And I'm expecting to never use my Scout reservation due to current priority for EREV vs. BEV (although I do like the retro-modern design and physical switchgear, but don't need BoF, locking differential-axle whatevers, wider than wife's Grand Highlander, etc.).

All that said - no SiriusXM satellite antenna in R2? We do some remote drives away from cellular connectivity and its the only thing that works.

It's a nice idea - but let's let Scout actually get a vehicle on the road so we all can complain about what they "promised" and what they actually delivered

 

[RivianRocks25]

Just tried iHeart radio. ZERO local stations that I use at home or at the cabin streaming. Zero. And looked for the biggest ones around, 95.5 WIFC for example is The local top 40 station for last 50 years.

So go to distant feed over cell and loose local news that matters to me for kids sports, weather, local events. No wonder community is breaking down, we don't have a shared local experience anymore. This doesn't help.

I would be in a Ix3 as that 800v charge is going to be faster and the range appears to be true 400 to almost 500 mile range. Since appears users don't want to roam where the cell isn't, the lack of rugedness shouldn't matter to except to the 'single digit' users.

 

[Mos Eisley]

Just tried iHeart radio. ZERO local stations that I use at home or at the cabin streaming. Zero. And looked for the biggest ones around, 95.5 WIFC for example is The local top 40 station for last 50 years.

So go to distant feed over cell and loose local news that matters to me for kids sports, weather, local events. No wonder community is breaking down, we don't have a shared local experience anymore. This doesn't help.

I would be in a Ix3 as that 800v charge is going to be faster and the range appears to be true 400 to almost 500 mile range. Since appears users don't want to roam where the cell isn't, the lack of rugedness shouldn't matter to except to the 'single digit' users.

WIFC is there:
https://www.iheart.com/live/95-5-wifc-9160

 

[r2fb]

They should release an option package that includes fm radio and powered sunshade

 

[Alan in Tempe]

An example of how cell reliance is bad on even R1: if leave home and leave wifi THEN route to destination in R1S, I have to wait for cell coverage 8 minutes later before I'll get a 'charge % and distance remaining at dest' to appear. Since this Calc isn't done in-car, I get nothing. Guess in R2 I can sit in silence waiting for this data and the 'radio' to appear.

I had not heard that route planning is cloud based in the Rivian. Seriously? If there is no cell service in the area, the Rivians cannot navigate? I spend a lot of time far from any cell service, but that has never been a navigation issue with my Mach-e. The nav is useful even when I am on unmapped roads and no cell service, using only GPS (when I should be in a more off-road capable vehicle like the R2). I have been in garages where there was no cell or WiFi service and even GPS was blocked, but the Mach-e can still use it's built-in maps and memory of last known location to plan nav routes just fine. Please tell me I got this wrong about the Rivians depending on the cloud for navigation.

 

[rfkxyz]

I had not heard that route planning is cloud based in the Rivian. Seriously? If there is no cell service in the area, the Rivians cannot navigate? I spend a lot of time far from any cell service, but that has never been a navigation issue with my Mach-e. The nav is useful even when I am on unmapped roads and no cell service, using only GPS (when I should be in a more off-road capable vehicle like the R2).

So to have a still-connected 'adventure' in R2 you must remain w/in cell service? No satellite GPS or radio? I can do w/out satellite internet from the factory, but the others? Really?

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