Apple CarPlay Ultra First Look

[iforbes]

Honestly, every time I drive a rental with CarPlay, a-it’s nice cause I don’t have to learn a whole new system , but more importantly b-I miss my Rivian software. Still growing pains and room for improvement blah blah, but still pretty great.

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[MountainBikeDude]

There's a fan theory that the reason the Borg have yet to fully assimilate humanity, is because they need their spirit of invention, and drive to evolve and learn. The Borg can only learn by assimilation, they are incapable of growing.

Apple is the Borg, Google/Android is humanity... hehe

 

[mikehmb]

Honestly, every time I drive a rental with CarPlay, a-it’s nice cause I don’t have to learn a whole new system , but more importantly b-I miss my Rivian software. Still growing pains and room for improvement blah blah, but still pretty great.

I feel the same way. Had a rental recently, was thrilled it had CarPlay because the native UX was going to be terrible.

In my wife's GV60, I could go either way, but the native UX is pretty nice.

In the Rivian, I much prefer Native.

 

[CrazyOne]

I don't think Rivian uses the AI Compute for the Infotainment computer.

Tesla uses an entirely separate computer for the infotainment than the HW4 (or wherever they're at) computer that does the AP/FSD. I imagine Rivian does the same.

ChatGPT thinks that it does. Also, AI chips are very similar to GPU chips.

 

[CharonPDX]

I doubt Rivian will ever support Carplay but the fact that there is the ability to punch through native UI (example in Aston Martin demo included adjusting Bowers and Wilkins setting) without having to back out of the Carplay software seems like it could really be a best of both worlds kind of scenario... Of course this could partially negate the need for Connect+ but not entirely since you would lose hotspot functionality and Google casting functionality as well which could still be worth purchasing the monthly subscription. Rivian has been pretty good about sending out regular software updates to improve bugs/functionality.

The one thing that annoys me about CarPlay on my Mach-E is that it can't control the AM/FM radio, and doesn't even show it in CarPlay mode. "CarPlay Ultra" should fix that. The inability to have both CarPlay going and use the vehicle hotspot is also slightly annoying. If I'm in my car that I have hotspot in, I'd like to use the hotspot. You'd think it could connect to the hotspot then talk for CarPlay over that WiFi connection, like AirPlay does to my TV at home.

I just hope Ford adds it to existing vehicles with an OTA, like they implied would happen when Apple first announced it years ago.

 

[Zoidz]

Not trying to reopen a sore subject. Just FYI what the new CP can do and looks like.

ChatGPT thinks that it does. Also, AI chips are very similar to GPU chips.

ChatGPT is only as good as the LLM. ChatGPT never hallucinates.

 

[CrazyOne]

ChatGPT is only as good as the LLM. ChatGPT never hallucinates.

It's not bad. Usually better than one person's opinion.

 

[edwjmcgrath]

Apple has been promising something like this since 2023. CarPlay will be the default on cars that don't have a software team. Rivian and Tesla will likely always do better. Rivian needs to support Messages and Podcasts though.

 

[s4wrxttcs]

ChatGPT thinks that it does. Also, AI chips are very similar to GPU chips.

The Gen 1 Rivian uses the XMM1 infotainment chipset, and the Gen 2 uses the XMM2 Infotainment chipset.

The infotainment chipset it kept separate from the autonomy to avoid issues where the infotainment glitches and reboots.

https://www.rivianwave.com/news/258...e other,XMM2 infotainment chipset a highlight.

 

[s4wrxttcs]

ChatGPT is only as good as the LLM. ChatGPT never hallucinates.

In this case I don't think it hallucinated. It simply didn't know the difference between the autonomy computer and the infotainment computer. There just isn't a whole lot of information about the infotainment computer in a Rivian.

What I found says it uses the XMM2, but what in the world is an XMM2? Rivian doesn't make their own processors so its probably some NVidia part.

 

[NeedSumCoffee]

Looks incredibly functional

 

[s4wrxttcs]

ChatGPT thinks that it does. Also, AI chips are very similar to GPU chips.

With a little bit of nudging I got a better answer from ChatGPT o4-mini-high

"The XMM2 is Rivian’s dedicated infotainment system-on-chip in the Gen 2 R1 vehicles. On Gen 1, Rivian split the cabin’s processing across three separate ECUs (including a Mobileye EyeQ4), which led to occasional UI lag and limited image-processing bandwidth. With Gen 2, those three ECUs have been collapsed into a single XMM2 chipset, which delivers about 3.3× the neural processing power of the old setup plus true 4K image processing—resulting in a much smoother, more responsive infotainment experience rivianwave.com.

Meanwhile, the dual NVIDIA DRIVE Orin SoCs in the Gen 2 R1T still handle all of the vehicle’s autonomy and advanced driver-assist workloads; the XMM2 sits alongside them purely as the “cabin brain,” powering the touchscreen UI, media streaming, navigation, and other in-car AI features. Future Rivian models (like the upcoming R2/R3 and eventual Gen 2.5 or Gen 3 R1 updates) will move on to the even more powerful XMM3 chipset, but for now XMM2 is what makes the Gen 2 R1’s infotainment so snappy and capable"

There is still a lot of wrongness with that answer.

 

[CrazyOne]

The Gen 1 Rivian uses the XMM1 infotainment chipset, and the Gen 2 uses the XMM2 Infotainment chipset.

The infotainment chipset it kept separate from the autonomy to avoid issues where the infotainment glitches and reboots.

https://www.rivianwave.com/news/258...e other,XMM2 infotainment chipset a highlight.

Any info on the infotainment chips? It's hard to believe that a full power chip is more powerful than a smartphon

With a little bit of nudging I got a better answer from ChatGPT o4-mini-high

"The XMM2 is Rivian’s dedicated infotainment system-on-chip in the Gen 2 R1 vehicles. On Gen 1, Rivian split the cabin’s processing across three separate ECUs (including a Mobileye EyeQ4), which led to occasional UI lag and limited image-processing bandwidth. With Gen 2, those three ECUs have been collapsed into a single XMM2 chipset, which delivers about 3.3× the neural processing power of the old setup plus true 4K image processing—resulting in a much smoother, more responsive infotainment experience rivianwave.com.

Meanwhile, the dual NVIDIA DRIVE Orin SoCs in the Gen 2 R1T still handle all of the vehicle’s autonomy and advanced driver-assist workloads; the XMM2 sits alongside them purely as the “cabin brain,” powering the touchscreen UI, media streaming, navigation, and other in-car AI features. Future Rivian models (like the upcoming R2/R3 and eventual Gen 2.5 or Gen 3 R1 updates) will move on to the even more powerful XMM3 chipset, but for now XMM2 is what makes the Gen 2 R1’s infotainment so snappy and capable"

There is still a lot of wrongness with that answer.

This is great to know. It's very annoying when someone comes in with a blanket statement that their Iphone is more powerful(hardware) than Rivian or anything in the world.

Firstly, it's made by TSMC and they will build for anyone willing to pay the money. Secondly, Apple has had the hardware lead for several years now(compared to Android makers) and it hasn't mattered much or at all in real life. It's all about the software.

Also, a critical realtime system like a car has much higher overhead than a phone downloading emails in the background.

Btw, I am all for opening up CP and AA, as long as they don't dictate what manufacturers can do with their car.

 

[Zoidz]

In this case I don't think it hallucinated. It simply didn't know the difference between the autonomy computer and the infotainment computer. There just isn't a whole lot of information about the infotainment computer in a Rivian.

What I found says it uses the XMM2, but what in the world is an XMM2? Rivian doesn't make their own processors so its probably some NVidia part.

That's what I was implying - when there's little training information avaiable, AIs can provide wildly wrong answers, I tend not to trust them.

XMM = eXperience Management Module. XMM1=R1 Gen1, XMM2=R1 Gen2, XMM3=R2.

 

[atebit]

I like Rivian's software more than CarPlay.

So, who’s writing the Plexamp app for the Rivian infotainment system?

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