Connect+.... I call bullshit

[AMPRVA]

Alexa works fine with tethering and no connect+

Hopefully the Spotify will as well. Having to squint to change music or podcasts on my (mounted) iPhone is dangerous enough to get the “keep both hands on the wheel” warning.

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[Partagas]

Hopefully the Spotify will as well. Having to squint to change music or podcasts on my (mounted) iPhone is dangerous enough to get the “keep both hands on the wheel” warning.

There’s a lot to unpack with your messages here. Class action lawsuits, squinting, Alexa being a safety feature.

Think of it this way. Connect+ is like p**nhub. It was free at the beginning but now you have to pay to get the juicy stuff. Sure, there are some with a vivid imagination that can get by with tethering and kudos to them. The rest will be left frustrated. You on the other hand my friend will probably need a full subscription to stop squinting but I doubt you’ll be able to keep both hands on the wheel. Does that help?

 

[TexasBob]

Hopefully the Spotify will as well. Having to squint to change music or podcasts on my (mounted) iPhone is dangerous enough to get the “keep both hands on the wheel” warning.

Spotify works perfectly for me. I do not use Apple Music so I have no comment on that, but Alexa, Spotify, Amazon music, nav, etc. all working without a hitch using my tethered iPhone. I do not know and do not care about any of the video services like youtube etc. I can imagine that connect+ would be super useful to people with little ones traveling in the back, but for me the tethering is a great option.

 

[AMPRVA]

Spotify works perfectly for me. I do not use Apple Music so I have no comment on that, but Alexa, Spotify, Amazon music, nav, etc. all working without a hitch using my tethered iPhone. I do not know and do not care about any of the video services like youtube etc. I can imagine that connect+ would be super useful to people with little ones traveling in the back, but for me the tethering is a great option.

I just tested the tethering and it seems to work well for Spotify & Alexa. Hopefully this will make Alexa more stable & require fewer reboots. It’s a shame losing the satellite nav maps & the gear guard live cam, but at least I’ve solved my most important features without having to pay for a subscription.

 

[White Shadow]

Google Maps is actually a paid service. Rivian has to pay Google for the Maps API usage that users incur. Back in the heyday of Web 2.0, that was free (Google was covering the cost). But as of 2016ish, it's actually quite expensive:
https://mapsplatform.google.com/pricing/

There are enterprise/bulk rates that I'm sure Rivian and Uber and Tesla are paying, for sure. But it's a fundamental mistake to assume that because you can access satellite map imagery for free from a consumer web browser, that the same is true for a developer like Rivian integrating Maps into their third party service.

Google Maps makes it's money through ads. It's actually very profitable.

 

[ElGuano]

Google Maps makes it's money through ads. It's actually very profitable.

You're thinking about your own consumer experience using Maps as an end user.

Developers leveraging Maps API for their own apps incur data/usage costs for Google, at scale for thousands/millions of users, and they don't show Maps ads. Google isn't shouldering that cost anymore, and it's why Google has a Maps enterprise model and developer pricing, linked above.

Lots of smaller devs got priced out of being able to offer Google Maps in their apps (particularly free apps) when Google started doing this. Google no longer relies on ads subsidies to enable free Maps API usage.

 

[Rivinski]

Google Maps makes it's money through ads. It's actually very profitable.

That is only one of multiple revenue streams for Google Maps. They 100% also charge application providers license fees for usage and features per vehicle/user.

 

[White Shadow]

That is only one of multiple revenue streams for Google Maps. They 100% also charge application providers license fees for usage and features per vehicle/user.

I know, but they make $11.000.000.000 (yes billion) from ad revenue. Crazy, huh?

 

[TexasBob]

Well, experiment over. Six days into the current billing cycle with ordinary use and I have already burned through 5GB of data! The Rivian is a little data hog. I am surrendering and subscribing to connect+. (The tethering does work fine, though!)

 

[Lisa & Bob]

As a shareholder I want Rivian to make money. Anyone complaining about $150 hasn’t gone to the theatre lately or gone out for dinner.

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