Common Myths About CarPlay

[COdogman]

I was very clear above where said that I thought “it’ll be fine,” but that I regret it and as good as the Rivian system is not having CarPlay is in fact worse than I expected. And that I won’t ever buy another car without it. As in It’s a deal breaker.

Got it. You didn’t realize just how in love with CarPlay you really were. You broke up, then realized you can’t live without it. So you complained to your rebound BFF about them not offering you a feature they said from day 1 would not be available.

We all have our own process

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[Ralph]

Probably Apple documentation of the software development kit. Here is the regular CarPlay documentation, but it looks like ordinary Joes like us don’t get access to the documentation for CarPlay Ultra SDK. OP claims to work in Design Operations for Microsoft.

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/CarPlay


https://developer.apple.com/carplay/

Microsoft is building a car with CarPlay Ultra!

FTFY -

 

[True Brit]

LOL, no, we don't.

I'm surprised that some capricious mod hasn't locked/deleted this thread. Myth #1 is the most stupid one, repeated by Rivian and then the fanboys assumed they weren't lying. But hilariously, just days after the lie, Mini showed their new UI with CP embedded, but NOT TAKING OVER. Duh.

I added CP to my Rivian, because it's 2025 and I shouldn't have to live with the ridiculously bad phone integration it has.

LOL, well, perhaps you should reconsider. Cheers.

Wireless CarPlay:

• Limitations:
  CarPlay, whether wired or wireless, is often limited to CD-quality audio (16bit/44.1kHz). This may not be noticeable to all listeners, but it can be a limiting factor for those seeking high-fidelity audio.
  

USB Sound Quality:

• Potential for Higher Fidelity:
  USB connections can support higher resolution audio files (e.g., 24bit/192kHz) if the car's system and the audio files support it.
  
  

 

[Hereforthesnacks]

I rely on a lot of CarPlay functionality primarily from apps that dont often get mentioned in these discussions nor are likely to ever be re-implemented by Rivian. I’ve moved on by just adding a 3rd party, 3rd screen to my dash which supports wireless CarPlay. The solution does have some shortcoming and may seem odd for a 7 figure car, but I get what I want, and Rivian doesn’t have to invest software development resources to support what the vast majority of the car industry is already on board with. I like the current Rivian UI as is. Having a third screen for CarPlay makes it such that they are not mutually exclusive nor is Rivian screen real estate reallocated.

You paid 7 figures for your car? Maybe Rivian will make it after all!

 

[Antonio]

I had car play in my Audi and hardly ever used it. I am someone who likes having a choice though, even if I know I likely won’t use it. If it’s out there, I want a choice.

 

[SomedaymyR1Swillcome]

I think we can all agree that playing your music from a USB drive would give the best sound/clarity available. We know it's not hard to do because so many other manufacturers have it available. We would not have the clarity loss from Apple or Android, nor from Bluetooth. We would not have the dead air spots from Tune In or Amazon.

Not to mention, should you head out on a trail and not have phone service or the car not have its connection, I guess then we should enjoy the quiet of nature? But then, shouldn't the noise speaker up front turn off? I know, Rivian only expects you to mall hop, the marketing as an adventure vehicle is just blowing smoke...somewhere. 2% may go beyond the pavement.

Lack of USB music playing is just stupid and annoying. Instead, I get orange interior lighting for Halloween and a stupid kids' graphic.

I am going to drive 15 miles to near the Irvine headquarters and the music from Amazon will die three times there and three times on the way back. On the 5 freeway in Orange County, with no tall buildings to block anything.

Sales pitch..."Man, we have a great Meridian Sound System. It just cuts in and out like 1970s AM radio. But when it's there, it's good, on and off."

The service centers' answer was "take a different route." Why didn't I think of that? Maybe that could be worked into ABRP, routes with no dead air space. Business idea.

Your missing USB Drive is your phone. I have hours of music downloaded. That selection of music can be automatically updated in the device that is always in my pocket. No dropouts. USB is not needed because its not 2004.

 

[edwjmcgrath]

Yes, wireless AP/AA is available and up to the automaker to implement. Supports the varying levels of integration identified above. Technically uses a combo of Bluetooth and WIFI, although the wifi connection is “invisible” to the user. You just hop into your car and CP/AA is active on the screen.

That IS how it is supposed to work, but having had cars with and without CarPlay, I can tell you that it doesn't always work. Bluetooth can be flaky. If you're driving somewhere and trying to bring up Carplay, pulling out your phone to check the bluetooth connection is a non starter. And the wifi connection is not always invisible to the user. If you park in your garage and your phone is connected to your home wifi, the transition over to the vehicle wifi is not always clean.

 

[HaveBlue]

Myth 6 "Rivian is creating all their own software."

Rivian runs Android Automotive.

The bottle neck for rivian is the BT connection. I have to drive 5 minutes before I can make a phone call because the contact sync takes so long. This even after eliminating one of my lesser needed 500 contact phone books.

No MAP API for messages.

Sending map destinations to the car sucks and works as unreliably as my ten year old Audi. I end having to retype the search in the car.

Seeing a hairline traffic indicator on the map is an unnecessary distraction.

My friends have carplay. It sucks too. It drops connections in calls back to the native BT. Your phone has to be plugged in even with wireless car play to keep it charged. Nothing's perfect...

 

[tbinmd]

Your missing USB Drive is your phone. I have hours of music downloaded. That selection of music can be automatically updated in the device that is always in my pocket. No dropouts. USB is not needed because its not 2004.

Sorry but the phone is a poor excuse for a storage device. I have limited space and will not buy a phone with more storage. I have 3 other cars (2018,2022, 2023 vehicles) that all support USB/SDcard storage. Iit's lame that Rivian does not support it. But then again the text support is lacking.

 

[SILVERR1S]

Coming from my Audi, I was a seasoned AA user. Did I like it? Sure. I used a small set of apps, but knowing that my R1S didn't have AA/CP didn't stop me from making the switch.

Compared to the Rivian UI design aesthetic, AA/CP present a dated look. They do NOT echo the design ethos of Rivian, and I'm OK with that.

I think what *COULD* be a happy medium, is to do what Google/Apple have done with AA/CP. Develop and SDK and guidelines for UI design and convince a small number of companies to build their apps to run on the Rivian UI. This is what Google/Apple do with 3rd party apps for AA/CP.

Would this ever happen? I doubt it. I don't see Spotify wanting to build the Spotify app for Rivian, and then have to maintain it going forward. If this were to happen, Rivian could spend Infotainment SW Engineering time and resources on the platform, the interaction with the vehicle systems, and a core app or two (three? ???) that aren't accessing outside services (Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, etc.)

 

[JM.]

LOL, well, perhaps you should reconsider. Cheers.

Wireless CarPlay:

• Limitations:
  CarPlay, whether wired or wireless, is often limited to CD-quality audio (16bit/44.1kHz). This may not be noticeable to all listeners, but it can be a limiting factor for those seeking high-fidelity audio.

USB Sound Quality:

• Potential for Higher Fidelity:
  USB connections can support higher resolution audio files (e.g., 24bit/192kHz) if the car's system and the audio files support it.
  

You went from a claim about a USB drive specifically to just general USB. Of course USB-connected CarPlay has better sound than wireless CP. I prefer wired, but realize I won't ever get that again. So wireless CP is for convenience, and direct streaming via Apple high bitrate is for excellent sound.

 

[jimbones]

In the end this will become another one of those “give us cp/aa” threads irrespective of your myth busting intent.

Since you took the time to do some research. Why not note where the data came from.

I have an opinion yes. But I don’t want my opinion to bias, hijack, or color the facts about CarPlay.

 

[jimbones]

Probably Apple documentation of the software development kit. Here is the regular CarPlay documentation, but it looks like ordinary Joes like us don’t get access to the documentation for CarPlay Ultra SDK. OP works in Design Operations for Microsoft.

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/CarPlay


https://developer.apple.com/carplay/

Microsoft is building a car with CarPlay Ultra!

We are? Hrmm. Not sure about that business strategy, but I guess Microsoft has done weirder things.

For the record, I work on MS Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint (feel free to check my profile on LinkedIn). Nothing related, dont claim to have ”insider info”.

And yes, all that information is widely available via Apple‘s developer documentation, WWDC training talks/videos, and other related sources. e.g. here is a good watch on the new CarPlay architecture and related documentation:

https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2024/10111/

 

[TexasBob]

We are? Hrmm. Not sure about that business strategy, but I guess Microsoft has done weirder things.

For the record, I work on MS Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint (feel free to check my profile on LinkedIn). Nothing related, dont claim to have ”insider info”.

And yes, all that information is widely available via Apple‘s developer documentation, WWDC training talks/videos, and other related sources. e.g. here is a good watch on the new CarPlay architecture and related documentation:

https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2024/10111/

No offense but I am pretty sure, according to the universal internet rules of UI and software commentary, when you acknowledge "I work on ... Sharepoint" you forfeit any right to critique anyone else's software or UI design for a minimum of two decades.

 

[sacramentoelectric]

lol. Zero is a number.

So is one. My wife won’t consider an R1S because she prefers the CarPlay in her BMW. She’s not the only one. When you’re in the business of selling cars, “buy another vehicle if you don’t like it” isn’t necessary the best strategy to increase sales. I don’t understand why people get defensive when they hear other people express their preference for a certain interface. Millions of people happily use CarPlay and some of them will choose another vehicle because of that preference. Is that really controversial? Either way, it looks like the market is going to mostly solve the problem. The evplay CarPlay adapter is supposed to come out next month. I’m looking forward to having Waze and onX off-road on the big screen. Between that and the Comma3x , we can solve some of the biggest competitive disadvantages Rivian has. Maybe I can convince my wife to switch to a R1S after seeing it. Just seems a shame to lose another sale to Hyundai or BMW over CarPlay.

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