Poll: Should Rivian offer Apple CarPlay?

[Alice]

Heard it from my sales rep at the showroom.

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[geo]

At the very least, I would like SMS integration that allows messages to be read (voice or text) and allow reply by dictation, as Tesla offers as a feature. I would also like calendar integration, including automatic navigation to my next appointment, also an Tesla feature. Also the option to replace Alexa (which I hate) with Siri. And I would like improved built in navigation.

With the hotspot, full CarPlay integration is less important, especially for music & infotainment. But it would be nice.

 

[White Shadow]

Likely because the market has overwhelmingly moved away from user-managed MP3 libraries toward streaming music and Rivian doesn’t have any cars from 2011, or older, that had legacy support they could just pull forward into new models.

It's such a simple thing to do. Legacy support isn't necessary. And literally every other new car you can buy in 2024 allows it, as far as I know. Streaming is fine, but USB playback is the modern day CD or if you're older, mixed tape collection of music.

 

[LiamM]

I have had a long career in tech, software, startups, and development. There is a common falacy that "we can do it better and cheaper."

<Narrator voice>
It took three times as long and double the cost.

There is also the "not invented here" syndrome which definitely infects Tesla and their narcissistic five year old in charge.

I also have a long time working in tech. 100% this

 

[mcclajb]

No plus don't care exceeds yes. So so much for overwhelming!

This didn't age well.

 

[Proxy]

Lots of people will not click on ANOTHER Apple Car Play post. So, the results are probably a little biased towards yes.

 

[mung]

Maybe a little late to the post, but I vote strong no. The moment Rivian allows something like Carplay into their car is the day they are relinquishing full control over their software. Their tech advantage is their bread and butter, their differentiating factor over legacy auto manufacturers and what allows Rivian to be compared to the likes of Tesla who also consider themselves 'more than a car car company'.

 

[Sgt Beavis]

Seeing all the improvements coming in the next update, I’ve changed my vote to impartial. The only thing I‘m really missing is Waze. The OEM Nav has improved to the point that I use it regularly and just have Waze for police and traffic reports. I guess getting Apple Music was one of my sore spots I’m happy to get resolved. Getting either Waze or Waze data on Rivian’s Nav would be frosting for me.

 

[dgennetten]

This didn't age well.

Still, far from 'overwhelming' support! Especially when you consider that the likelihood of a yes voter contributing to the pole is much larger than a no or don't care voter!

 

[mcclajb]

Still, far from 'overwhelming' support! Especially when you consider that the likelihood of a yes voter contributing to the pole is much larger than a no or don't care voter

Just messing with you to keep it lighthearted. I always find it comical (and somewhat depressing) how mad people get at the folks that want this capability. The premature victory laps just brightened my day a little, so I appreciate it.

As for your claim that it isn't overwhelming, I think I disagree there. I went through this thread and saw that for the first couple days, "don't really care" wasn't an option, so many indicated they voted "no" simply for that reason. When factoring that in, and considering it's a field of three options, 50% of the votes in favor of this feature, with another 14%+ for "don't really care" is pretty strong.

All of that to say, it doesn't matter. We know the reasons this will never be a possibility. Rivian wants to sell our data themselves and have us pay for it via subscription as well. Giving people options, and having many of them opt for CP/AA instead of paying a connectivity subscription to Rivian, hurts the company's ability to create a never-ending source of revenue. I want the company to do well financially, but I don't want to pay them to mail it in when it comes to updates and providing features. You can't honestly think that having the same sad stack of media apps after two years is acceptable, and more importantly, that Mapbox is a viable option for navigation...right? I think having some kind of competition is healthy for innovation. Otherwise, there isn't much incentive for Rivian to make meaningful improvements (as we've seen). We'll just have to pay for the privilege to use a subpar system. But it's ok because RJ says that's what's best for us, and he's not biased at all.

 

[a76marine]

This didn't age well.

50% is still hardly overwhelming.

 

[a76marine]

I missed the chance to vote, but I'm mostly impartial. What I have heard that might make me a no is that the CarPlay 2.0 wants to control the whole vehicle. It wants to unlock the doors, start the car, etc.

For Rivian to relinquish control of the whole software stack simply so some Apple users can be appeased seems like a bad idea.

 

[BigE]

Would the VW ever occurred if Rivian hadn’t pursued their own software development? Doubtful

 

[mcclajb]

50% is still hardly overwhelming.

The response you are quoting said nothing about overwhelming. The only time I have mentioned that term was in my later response to @degennetten, who agreed with your take that it wasn't overwhelming. You can view it any way you want, but I think the goal of a simple poll like this is to see where the majority lies. If we relied on "overwhelming" or absolute domination as the measure of success, then nothing would get accomplished. And to be clear, I still think this kind of poll doesn't move the needle with Rivian. It's really just an entertainment/educational poll to see how the community feels on this issue.

On that note, I just found it interesting that the results swung so sharply in favor of adding the feature after the early results showed most were not. I think it also debunks the myth around here that the people asking for CP/AA are the most eager to jump on any post mentioning it. The timeline of responses seems to suggest the most emotionally charged people on this topic are the ones fighting against it.

 

[mcclajb]

I missed the chance to vote, but I'm mostly impartial. What I have heard that might make me a no is that the CarPlay 2.0 wants to control the whole vehicle. It wants to unlock the doors, start the car, etc.

For Rivian to relinquish control of the whole software stack simply so some Apple users can be appeased seems like a bad idea.

Yeah, this level of integration would take some thought. I don't know how the two systems would interact and co-exist. It certainly makes it easier for Rivian to reject it going forward and to justify its previous stance, even though the initial decision had nothing to do with the new, yet to be released, version of CP. The more intrusive, or seemingly intrusive, CP gets, the less likely it will ever see a Rivian screen.

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