Carplay? Next?

[Scoiatael]

I would be happy with an Apple Music app. That’s really my key ask for CarPlay/Apple related on Rivian.

I would be happy with text message support of some type.

Sponsored

 

[Sgt Beavis]

I wouldn't expect them to open up an Android VM, because then your could run a carplay app in that VM

I don't know the particulars. I'm just saying allow a few apps in. Isn't Carplay/AA more of a feature to the base OS instead of a downloadable/installable app?

 

[Sgt Beavis]

I would be happy with an Apple Music app. That’s really my key ask for CarPlay/Apple related on Rivian.

What do you think of USB for music support? That would at least get you higher quality sound from the Apple Music app. It sounded like that's something Rivian is putting on their roadmap.

 

[dsmithsalinas]

What do you think of USB for music support? That would at least get you higher quality sound from the Apple Music app. It sounded like that's something Rivian is putting on their roadmap.

Eh. That's fine. Seems pretty old school though. Seems easier to just integrate the Apple Music App. Otherwise, I'll just play music via BlueTooth.

 

[Sgt Beavis]

Eh. That's fine. Seems pretty old school though. Seems easier to just integrate the Apple Music App. Otherwise, I'll just play music via BlueTooth.

Oh, I agree. Just having a fall back.

 

[Obioban]

What do you think of USB for music support? That would at least get you higher quality sound from the Apple Music app. It sounded like that's something Rivian is putting on their roadmap.

Sucks to have to plug in, when CarPlay can do lossless wirelessly…

 

[Obioban]

I don't know the particulars. I'm just saying allow a few apps in. Isn't Carplay/AA more of a feature to the base OS instead of a downloadable/installable app?

You can run CarPlay as an app within android. “CarPlay” is just basically a remote display/touch interface, with everything actually running on the phone. CarPlay apps for android just turn the android device into a remote iPhone display.

This is the exactly how I run wireless CarPlay in my older BMWs— android head unit that lauches the CarPlay app every time the car turns on (so I rarely even interface with the stock UI of the head unit).

 

[SoCal Rob]

Um, yeah that would go over great with the 600 person deep software team at Rivian that believed they were part of something unique and different in joining them to create something of their own. RJ walks in, hey guys keep up the great work. Oh, by the way, we're going to implement a fully integrated Car Play feature so owners can completely ignore everything you're doing/creating. Cheers.

What a kick in the nuts/ovaries.

It sure would help the 5% labor downsizing they are reportedly planning. They would get that number just in software engineers quitting, saving them tons in severance packages.

It wouldn’t be the first time a technically superior solution or product loses out in the marketplace to a lesser technology which has a lower cost and/or more widespread adoption. I’d be willing to bet that many early adopters on this forum could list multiple examples of products they bought or wanted to buy which ultimately lost to something which seemed worse to people familiar with tech.

I would hope that if RJ walked in and delivered a message like you envision, he would be a good enough leader to tweak it a bit. Like this:

Hey guys keep up the great work! Oh, by the way, we're going to implement a fully integrated Car Play feature so many owners and most reviewers will stop raking us over the coals for leaving out what they consider to be a basic feature. (rolls eyes for effect)

We have a large enough display that we can allow screen projection to run in a window. This leaves as much of your fine UI work as possible to keep our vision intact. Look, we’ve all heard of the better solution losing out to the more popular solution because consumers may not share our priorities. We will eventually show them why they are wrong by delivering a far better UX with most of the functionality that most of our customers want. Some people have oddball needs or can’t handle change and they can use screen projection, even though we all know it‘s worse. The important thing is that we continue gaining market share and stay on a path to profitability so you can continue to develop the best solutions in the business. Cheers!

 

[SoCal Rob]

I think the main problem with this endless debate is that each side uses a completely different scoring system,…

I’m pretty sure the main problem is that people who don’t care about a feature seem hell-bent on convincing other people why they also shouldn’t care about the feature.

I wouldn’t write a post to try to convince someone else that a feature they want which is typical for the class of vehicle is not needed because the other person will probably dismiss me for telling them what they need when I have little to no insight into their past experiences or present circumstances. In general, we will not convince someone that they don’t want what they want because we don’t see the value in it.

 

[KeithPleas]

I didn't care about Car Play until this past week. We rented a Nissan for a family trip to the Grand Canyon...navigated to Sedona via iPhone...and then I plugged a USB cable in to charge...and magically the Nissan had maps...then unplugged...couldn't find maps in the UI...and then I figured out it was Car Play. Then we were "off to the races" playing music, navigating, etc because everyone in the car including my 7yo and 10yo grandsons knows how Apple works.

Up until that trip I didn't pay any attention - now I'd have to say that it's pure hubris to believe that you can create something "better" than Car Play - nobody would prefer to learn a new UI for familiar every-day activities.

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

I didn't care about Car Play until this past week. We rented a Nissan for a family trip to the Grand Canyon...navigated to Sedona via iPhone...and then I plugged a USB cable in to charge...and magically the Nissan had maps...then unplugged...couldn't find maps in the UI...and then I figured out it was Car Play. Then we were "off to the races" playing music, navigating, etc because everyone in the car including my 7yo and 10yo grandsons knows how Apple works.

Up until that trip I didn't pay any attention - now I'd have to say that it's pure hubris to believe that you can create something "better" than Car Play - nobody would prefer to learn a new UI for familiar every-day activities.

Rental cars is honestly one of the absolute best use-cases for CarPlay. It should be mandatory for rental cars to include CarPlay, imo.

 

[Ralph]

It seems to me that many here are focusing on trying to convince other customers why they don't or do need CarPlay or Android Auto.

Shouldn't the focus should be on trying to understand why it might be that Rivian as a company appears to be bent on rolling their own? From Rivian's perspective, is it as simple as adding choice? Maybe, maybe not.....

As little a week ago, one Morgan Stanley analyst stated that Morgan Stanley's team believes that Apple will indeed be building a car and it will be a "game changer". But it will take a while and be fully autonomous - "No steering wheel." He points out that we spend 600 billion hours in our cars globally and touts that as possible motivation for Apple to move into another vertical market to drive growth.

He states that Apple needs to continue to get CarPlay into other manufacturers cars and "needs to expand CarPlay into other parts of the car as they showed at their Worldwide Developer Conference to train a neural network."

All this from one of the underwriters of Rivian's IPO (along with Goldman).

If I ran a car company, and believed that Apple was going to enter the market as a builder, I might not want to put my company in the position of being the target of an Apple advertisement that went something like, "Our tech is so good, 93% of all new cars implement some form it; including they companies."

Scroll list.....

I'm not saying this Rivian's point of view or direction with CarPlay. It is just food for thought. And at least somewhat offset by a slide during Apple's keynote at the developer conference that listed Ford, Mercedes, Nissan, Porsche, Land Rover, Audi, Acura, Honda, Lincoln, Jaguar, Volvo, Renault, Polestar, and Infiniti as car manufacturers that plan to support this "new vision of CarPlay."

 

[kurtlikevonnegut]

Apple has 60% of the total cell phone market share in the USA, but, of people who have enough money to buy a car new (which is what their quote cited-- new car buyers), they're MUCH higher-- likely >95%.

With all due respect, that statement is worth less than a velvet painting of a dolphin and a whale getting it on. Are you saying that anyone who hasn't succumbed to the Apple ecosystem is poor? What evidence do you have to make such an outrageous statement?

 

[Obioban]

With all due respect, that statement is worth less than a velvet painting of a dolphin and a whale getting it on. Are you saying that anyone who hasn't succumbed to the Apple ecosystem is poor? What evidence do you have to make such an outrageous statement?

No, I'm saying Apple's marketshare goes up with wealth.

e.g. business insider:

Given that apple's overall smartphone marketshare is ~60%, pretty save to say that trend continues up curve.

or

https://www.fiercewireless.com/developer/report-ios-app-users-are-often-richer-than-android-users
^iPhone owners have a median income that's 40% higher than android users.

or

Here, you can clearly see that some of the high-income states — like Alaska, Hawaii, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Massachusetts — appear to heavily favor iPhone. In those states, iPhone has more than 50% of the market share. But in lower-earning states, like New Mexico and South Carolina, iPhone only has between 35% and 40% of the market share.

This certainly doesn't mean that all iPhone owners are rich or all android owners are poor, just that, as I said, their overall marketshare does not indicate their marketshare among people that can afford to buy new cars (especially $100,000 trucks that aren't designed to do real truck work).

 

[astonius]

Damn, @Obioban brought receipts, lol

Sponsored