Rivian CEO Defends Decision to Exclude CarPlay, Citing Future AI Integration

Rivian says 'customers will appreciate' lack of CarPlay eventually - 9to5Mac

Rivian's CEO RJ Scaringe was the latest guest on the Decoder podcast, and during the interview he vehemently defended the company's decision to not support Apple CarPlay. Here's what he said. CarPlay is a recurring topic on Nilay Patel's Decoder podcast, and the latest episode centered around one of the few major automakers that doesn't support CarPlay at all. Here's how Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe defended its 'no CarPlay' stance: We've made the decision, which I'm very confident about, that in the fullness of time, customers will appreciate, which is that we wanted to have a seamless digital experience. To not have the need to jump between CarPlay, which feels obviously like CarPlay, and so it feels the same in every car, and then what we create as a Rivian environment. So if you don't like the lack of CarPlay now, then "in the fullness of time" Rivian is confident you "will appreciate" it. It's a bold statement. What did he say to back it up? In large part, his reasoning had to do with AI. Scaringe mentioned how Rivian offers its own ecosystem of apps and integrations like YouTube, Apple Music, and Google Maps, which will prove key with the rise of AI. You can have all those integrations. But for us to hold the glue for putting that all together, this becomes even more important as we start to integrate AI into the vehicle. Over the next 18 months, we're going to see a lot of new features that, by necessity, are performing tasks or making decisions to connect different applications. And so, knowledge of "what's the vehicle state?" Knowledge of "is it in drive, or is it parked? What are the conditions outside the vehicle? What's your driving history? What are your preferences?" Knowledge of all of that at an ecosystem level allows us to present a richer, better experience for you as a driver or occupant of the vehicle. It's hard to argue with a claim about something that hasn't taken place yet. Rivian, it seems, believes that supporting CarPlay would make it impossible to offer the same AI advantages that it apparently soon will. Before turning away the conversation from Apple, Scaringe does mention having "a great relationship with Apple." He says, "We have a bunch of integrations that are coming soon." One he explicitly references is car key support, which we already knew was imminent. Messaging is another integration mentioned, but no details are given as it was mainly prompted by Patel -- but Scaringe affirmed it was coming. What do you think of the Rivian CEO's comments on its CarPlay decision? Let us know in the comments.

Rivian says drivers will 'appreciate' losing CarPlay in time, I beg to differ | Stuff

Rivian's in-car AI advances will eventually have drivers asking CarPlay who? I'm far from convinced Auto manufacturers are slowly putting smartphone-based infotainment systems Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in the rear-view mirror, and one of the newer companies on the starting grid reckons drivers will eventually thank them for it. While General Motors has controversially transitioned to its own in-car software and two of the major EV makers Tesla and Rivian have never offered it in the first place. Many other luxury brands have backed away from Apple's long-in the-works CarPlay Ultra platform. The school of thought is that it's far more beneficial for car manufacturers to gobble up driver data, rather than allow the Big Tech giants to continue to do so. However, Rivian believes drivers who're currently put off by the omission of the iOS-based software will eventually come around. Essentially, the company is saying it's for our own good. "We've made the decision, which I'm very confident about, that in the fullness of time, customers will appreciate, which is that we wanted to have a seamless digital experience," CEO EJ Scaringe told the Decoder podcast (via 9to5Mac). "To not have the need to jump between CarPlay, which feels obviously like CarPlay, and so it feels the same in every car, and then what we create as a Rivian environment." The boss says feature integrations in the next 18 months will make all the difference and, no prizes for guessing, that it's all about AI and the ability for an integrated homegrown solution to have a more innate understanding about the state of the vehicle. Saringe added: "Over the next 18 months, we're going to see a lot of new features that, by necessity, are performing tasks or making decisions to connect different applications. And so, knowledge of "what's the vehicle state?" Knowledge of "is it in drive, or is it parked? What are the conditions outside the vehicle? What's your driving history? What are your preferences?" Knowledge of all of that at an ecosystem level allows us to present a richer, better experience for you as a driver or occupant of the vehicle." Seeing will be believing on that front. Perhaps the decision will be fully justified eventually? But, currently speaking, when considering a car purchase, having no access to CarPlay would be an absolute dealbreaker for me.