No real AM or FM radio in the R2

[Longreach]

My argument was ONLY on the concept quoted. The exact concept that they should " use the simple way that works." Whether they got it wrong or not, is another discussion. But Rivian would have lost at least us as customers if they did the old-think "way that works" like Ford did.

Rivian IS including all the new services you want, not restricting things to the “old way” as you put it. They have not lost you as a customer, but thats not good enough for you… you aren’t happy until others are forced to comply with your will, even thought the presence of a radio has no negative impact on you at all.

Maybe, but we've seen in this thread that a lot of people don't KNOW about the many other solutions. This is my life and career in tech; for decades of dragging people into modernity. Many simply haven’t tried new ways to do things.

It’s pretty clear that all the “other solutions” at this time are less convenient workarounds including pre rolls, commercials, costs, phone streaming, dongles, hot spots, external radios… Once again, you will never be happy until you have forced others to comply with your will regardless of their inconvenience. Claiming only you understand modernity is arrogance in the extreme.

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[Jeremy3292]

20 pages!

LETS GO

 

[SwampNut]

ut thats not good enough for you… you aren’t happy until others are forced to comply with your will, even thought the presence of a radio has no negative impact on you at all.

Totally false assumption.

It’s pretty clear that all the “other solutions” at this time are less convenient workarounds including pre rolls, commercials, costs, phone streaming, dongles, hot spots, external radios

Also false.

 

[GaryL]

20 pages!

LETS GO

If the O/U = 26 I’m reluctantly taking the under

 

[ksumnole]

I think this discussion is losing direction. Let me bring it back. Why not just include an FM radio in the R2? What's the cost saving $2?

Obviously some people here use it, including myself. If you use Rivian to adventure, you frequently lose cellular reception, get stuck in snowstorms, mountain passes, and deserts. What gives?

 

[racekarl]

I think this discussion is losing direction. Let me bring it back. Why not just include an FM radio in the R2? What's the cost saving $2?

Someone posted earlier that the BOM for an AM/FM/SXM receiver was around $35. Even if we assume SXM was more than half of that cost, an estimate of $2 is still off by an order of magnitude.

The other issue I haven't seen anyone mention is how completely awful Rivian's FM implementation is in the R1. It forgets what station you were listening to when the vehicle restarts, it fails to tune stations that are nearby and strong, it does not have a straightforward (or at least reliable) "favorites" function, etc. Perhaps Rivian looked at the current state of affairs and decided it wasn't only the material cost they could avoid, but the labor cost to make their FM implementation actually ready for primetime.

That said, I do wish R2 had an FM radio as I have been in a few situations in rural New England where it was all I could get working in the R1T when there was no cell coverage. The idea that you could "just use bluetooth" is a canard. That requires you to a) know in advance you're going to lose coverage so you can be sure you have offline media available and b) fiddle around with your phone while driving to cue up whatever app you used to store that media.

 

[ksumnole]

Someone posted earlier that the BOM for an AM/FM/SXM receiver was around $35. Even if we assume SXM was more than half of that cost, an estimate of $2 is still off by an order of magnitude.

The other issue I haven't seen anyone mention is how completely awful Rivian's FM implementation is in the R1. It forgets what station you were listening to when the vehicle restarts, it fails to tune stations that are nearby and strong, it does not have a straightforward (or at least reliable) "favorites" function, etc. Perhaps Rivian looked at the current state of affairs and decided it wasn't only the material cost they could avoid, but the labor cost to make their FM implementation actually ready for primetime.

That said, I do wish R2 had an FM radio as I have been in a few situations in rural New England where it was all I could get working in the R1T when there was no cell coverage. The idea that you could "just use bluetooth" is a canard. That requires you to a) know in advance you're going to lose coverage so you can be sure you have offline media available and b) fiddle around with your phone while driving to cue up whatever app you used to store that media.

The experience you described in the R1 FM radio is not mine for sure. Did you miss the "heart" icon where you can save a station? I can save favorite stations, and even when swapping users or rebooting the vehicle, the stations are still saved. It does also auto-tune when driving in and out of reception.

Let's agree the BOM is $35 and increase the vehicle price by $35. Anyone not willing to pay for that? The back end and integration into the UI is already there.

 

[racekarl]

Did you miss the "heart" icon where you can save a station? I can save favorite stations, and even when swapping users or rebooting the vehicle, the stations are still saved.

No I didn't miss it, but if the truck thinks it can't receive that station it hides it. It's admittedly been a while since I've tried to use FM in my truck because it was so frustrating so I was going a bit off of memory. I think my main complaint is that it automatically applies what used to be called "scan" or "seek" in older radios, and then only shows you what it thinks it can tune (which is often wrong in my experience). This is poor UX for FM (IMO), where the frequency remains fixed while the content and availability may vary with geography. The auto scan is unreliable, too. I would be listening to a station when I park the truck, and when I return to it, it would be tuned to a completely different frequency and the previous station was unreachable.

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

If Rivian won't give us FM radio, I'm going to pop on over to my local Radio Shack and pick up one of these bad boys.

 

[tivoboy]

The experience you described in the R1 FM radio is not mine for sure. Did you miss the "heart" icon where you can save a station? I can save favorite stations, and even when swapping users or rebooting the vehicle, the stations are still saved. It does also auto-tune when driving in and out of reception.

Let's agree the BOM is $35 and increase the vehicle price by $35. Anyone not willing to pay for that? The back end and integration into the UI is already there.

It’s a lot more than $35 all in

https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/no-real-am-or-fm-radio-in-the-r2.60060/post-1019566

 

[NY_Rob]

It’s a lot more than $35 all in

https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/no-real-am-or-fm-radio-in-the-r2.60060/post-1019566

Plus it needs an antenna somewhere, plus it needs a cable routed between the radio and the antenna.

 

[SwampNut]

Plus it needs an antenna somewhere, plus it needs a cable routed between the radio and the antenna.

And apparently, there's a support burden when they fuck it up like people say they did in R1. Rivian has stats on how many people used the FM receiver. They may just not care about the 5% or whatever.

If Rivian won't give us FM radio, I'm going to pop on over to my local Radio Shack and pick up one of these bad boys.

Hey, don't be a dummy, that one doesn't have AM/FM. Sheesh!

This is for sale on eBay right now!

 

[NY_Rob]

This is for sale on eBay right now!

Now all you need is that $29, 45 band, 1,000 watt EQ/Amp from Mustang/Pyramid from K-Mart

That will make people appreciate the "crappy" BT streaming in modern vehicles!

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Now all you need is that $29, 45 band, 1,000 watt EQ/Amp from Mustang/Pyramid from K-Mart

That will make people appreciate the "crappy" BT streaming in modern vehicles!

Oh yeahhh!

 

[Longreach]

Plus it needs an antenna somewhere, plus it needs a cable routed between the radio and the antenna.

Actually the antenna and cable are the only significant costs. A standalone radio chip is only $2, and even then it many not be needed since most cellular modem devices actually include the FM radio function on the die anyway, regardless of whether it’s used or not.

Either way it’s a pretty minor hardware cost overall.

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