Apple CarPlay Ultra First Look

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

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

The fiasco with the latest Plex app is so much worse than anything I've seen with Rivian software. So far.

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[Joules Burn]

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.

I loved my Mach-E until the dealer broke it and Ford bought it back. Two things I miss. CarPlay and an AM radio! Static my A##. The Mach E had AM radio AND CarPlay. It is not rocket science. The Ford was glitchy but it worked.


My “lower class” Kia EV6 GT-L FE has CarPlay and AM Radio, HUD, a sunroof that opens, a port to play my mp3 files that I can’t plays in my Rivian, and an odometer and trip gauge on the driver screen. The R1S is an awesome vehicle but the obvious amenities are extremely lacking for no good reason.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

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

I don't use whatever that is, so it doesn't change my answer.

 

[ebarke]

So, does that mean if I have an android phone, I can't drive an Aston Martin?

 

[narmstrong79]

I don't care about Carplay / Android auto but for fuck sake give me phone and text integration and quality maps w/ navigation that doesn't suck.

 

[deejaid]

I don't care about Carplay / Android auto but for fuck sake give me phone and text integration and quality maps w/ navigation that doesn't suck.

I feel the same way. I read the threads that talk how Rivian expects to be full hands-off self driving and I think to myself “if they can’t figure out text to speech, how are they going to figure out self-driving”.

 

[narmstrong79]

I feel the same way. I read the threads that talk how Rivian expects to be full hands-off self driving and I think to myself “if they can’t figure out text to speech, how are they going to figure out self-driving”.

Not to be cynical BUT its because this focus on autonomy moves the needle for the stock and is something they can charge a subscription on . if they had a way to charge us for text messaging, this would be a feature by now.

 

[deejaid]

Not to be cynical BUT its because this focus on autonomy moves the needle for the stock and is something they can charge a subscription on . if they had a way to charge us for text messaging, this would be a feature by now.

The way I figure it, they already are charging for app integration with Connect+. $14.99 a month isn't great value for a dedicated Apple Music app that has no speech input function. It is much easier to use my iPhone and ask Siri to find my music than trying to type in a song name while driving. There is also no Apple Podcast app, so again, need to just stream from my phone.

I believe Connect+ would be a much better value proposition if they finally fully integrated Apple Music, Apple Podcast, and Text to Speech, and they would get more subscribers. I am using the two month free trail of Connect+ right now, but will not be paying $15 a month for the very limited functionality of the current Connect+.

 

[narmstrong79]

The way I figure it, they already are charging for app integration with Connect+. $14.99 a month isn't great value for a dedicated Apple Music app that has no speech input function. It is much easier to use my iPhone and ask Siri to find my music than trying to type in a song name while driving. There is also no Apple Podcast app, so again, need to just stream from my phone.

I believe Connect+ would be a much better value proposition if they finally fully integrated Apple Music, Apple Podcast, and Text to Speech, and they would get more subscribers. I am using the two month free trail of Connect+ right now, but will not be paying $15 a month for the very limited functionality of the current Connect+.

I see ZERO value in Connect+. I would happily give Rivian $150 a year if there was any value in it. Right now there's more value in not having it... let all those with connect+ be the early beta testers for new software rollouts to find the bugs before i get or install my update.

 

[CharonPDX]

I loved my Mach-E until the dealer broke it and Ford bought it back. Two things I miss. CarPlay and an AM radio! Static my A##. The Mach E had AM radio AND CarPlay. It is not rocket science. The Ford was glitchy but it worked.

Yep. I had to reprogram my old BMW i3 myself to add AM radio that BMW had decided was "too staticy to be useful." Because there are sometimes occasions when even the staticiest AM radio is better than no signal at all. Those "Tune to AM 1300 when light flashes" signs for example. Or when your team is in the playoffs and the only radio feed is AM.

 

[EV Play - Alex]

This is kind of where I'm eventually headed with EV Play - seamless integration between phone and car.

 

[Acoustic71]

I just want the Bowers and Wilkins sound system.

Had one on my XC90 T8 Hybrid. It. Was. Phenomenal.

 

[Riviaenz]

Honestly other than NAV in the dash I don't care at all for this. Apple needs to work on stability and getting things like EV charging integrated along with Webex/Teams/Zoom/etc. Don't become something you aren't

You mean like this?

It’s been SoC aware for a long time on CarPlay capable EVs. It also automatically adds charging stops.

What’s especially nice is it also gives you an idea of how much of a deviation a charger will be from your route if you’d like to add one or search for one on your route. Neither function is something Rivian does. You have to hunt and peck for your self to find and add chargers manually with Rivian Nav and lack of CarPlay support.

As for WebEx, Zoom, etc… that’s up to those developers. Microsoft has Teams in CarPlay, it even had Skype years ago on CarPlay. It seems a lot of people have dated views of CarPlay and haven’t stayed current either from lack of use from their Tesler experiences or never having used it with an EV (given Rivian is keeping it from us). Next time you go to a SC get an EV from Enterprise that supports CarPlay like a MachE, Lucid, Polestar and try it out. It’s EVEN BETTER with an EV than with ICE.

If you don’t like Apple Maps, perhaps you’d like to use Rivian’s ABRP which also supports CarPlay natively and has all of the same control and settings you’d manage on device.

Plus there are so many other great apps that support CarPlay including even National Parks Service’s app that provides guided tours and included podcasts for parks you may be visiting. They’re adding more parks. In keeping with Rivian’s Adventurous brand marketing, there‘s also Gaia, OnX, Roads (by Porsche and works with any CarPlay car), and so many more.

 

[ATLRivvy]

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.

This. Apple has been promoting versions of this for years now. None have ever actually gotten to scale. The CarPlay most people experience hasn’t really changed in 5 years

 

[ATLRivvy]

I feel the same way. I read the threads that talk how Rivian expects to be full hands-off self driving and I think to myself “if they can’t figure out text to speech, how are they going to figure out self-driving”.

The current functionality periodically attempts to yeet me across lanes of traffic for no reason, randomly decides it’s unusable because of “no road information available” and seems to decide which segments of the highway are “hands-free” completely at random.

Rivian needs to catch up to the level of a 2022 Mach-E before they even think about full self-driving

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