Carplay? Next?

[kurtlikevonnegut]

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).

So you go from "Apple owners tend to have higher income than Android owners" and extrapolated that to 95% (or greater) of new car buyers have iPhones? That's still an outrageous leap. Do you legitimately think a poll of members on this forum who either own or are buying a Rivian would result in 95% iPhone owners to 5% Android?

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[Obioban]

So you go from "Apple owners tend to have higher income than Android owners" and extrapolated that to 95% (or greater) of new car buyers have iPhones? That's still an outrageous leap. Do you legitimately think a poll of members on this forum who either own or are buying a Rivian would result in 95% iPhone owners to 5% Android?

I mean, only one way to find out-- run a poll and ask what phone people use.

I own/run NAM3forum.net (a forum for BMW M3s). iPhones access the site 11x more often than other phones. It's a cheaper car, so I'd expect a bigger spread here.

 

[SoCal Rob]

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

Also, people with multiple vehicles (more likely as you look at near-luxury and luxury vehicles?) may like having the familiar interface from AA or CP as they move from vehicle to vehicle.

 

[Trekkie]

Crazy thought but what if Rivian is a candidat for the new fully integrated CarPlay? Also, Lucid just added CarPlay to their cars? Maybe there is hope.

Polestar just added it as well, was an OTA, quite happy with it. needs bit more EV integration with their mapping but overall was happy with the update.

 

[KeithPleas]

Also, people with multiple vehicles (more likely as you look at near-luxury and luxury vehicles?) may like having the familiar interface from AA or CP as they move from vehicle to vehicle.

Also - I am generalizing but think I'm on pretty firm ground here - literally every female on the planet would prefer an Apple interface over whatever one-off thing Rivian engineers dream up. Maybe that's not relevant to the boomer alpha-males on this forum but when I'm driving with my wife she's the one doing the navigating, selecting music etc. I do get to have some "voice input" into that process.

 

[AdamUCF]

Even if Rivian didn't put Carplay or Android Auto support on there, they can still open up that Android virtual machine and run Waze or other navigation apps there. That wouldn't be perfect, but I'd at least be happy for the most part.

As much as I would personally love for Rivian to allow sideloading your own apps, it will never happen. Cars are super locked down for safety and regulatory reasons. Even cars running the "pure" Android Automotive OS can't just toss any ol Android app on their infotainment. The Play Store for Automotive has a much higher bar to clear than the relative wild west of the normal Play Store.

Beyond the technical aspects, because Rivian isn't using the full Google AAOS, they would have to work out licensing with each app maker. They can't just download the APK from the Play Store and start shipping it. I would think most companies that have existing AAOS apps would welcome Rivian to distribute their app but it's not as simple as it may seem.

 

[Mister Person]

Tim to RJ: "Hey, great cars, call me in 3 years when your cash runs out."

 

[SoCal Rob]

Also - I am generalizing but think I'm on pretty firm ground here - literally every female on the planet would prefer an Apple interface over whatever one-off thing Rivian engineers dream up. Maybe that's not relevant to the boomer alpha-males on this forum but when I'm driving with my wife she's the one doing the navigating, selecting music etc. I do get to have some "voice input" into that process.

I think anyone who tolerates tech, as opposed to those of us who enjoy tech for the sake of tech, can appreciate screen projection. Regardless of gender, age, economic status, etc. While some of us may enjoy learning every nuance of an interface by exploring every option and experimenting with it, there are a lot of folks out there who find that to be torture.

I think a lot of people who love tech lack empathy for those who don’t. I remember a helpdesk tech I managed once said to a normal (non-technical) employee, “You just have to delete your Outlook profile and create a new one to fix the problem.” I spoke to him and explained that to some people there is no “just” in that statement because they have no idea what you’re saying or how to accomplish it. It would be like a sculptor telling me, “You just have to remove the stone that isn’t David to make the statue.”

 

[trez63]

This CarPlay discussion ALWAYS reduces down to the naysayers having a fundamental misunderstanding of what CarPlay is. They somehow got the idea that it controls vehicle functions. It's simply an app (Just like Spotify currently install on the R1T) that can integrate with your phone to give you a more comprehensive media and navigation experience. You don't have to use it!

 

[CharonPDX]

This CarPlay discussion ALWAYS reduces down to the naysayers having a fundamental misunderstanding of what CarPlay is. They somehow got the idea that it controls vehicle functions. It's simply an app (Just like Spotify currently install on the R1T) that can integrate with your phone to give you a more comprehensive media and navigation experience. You don't have to use it!

The next version of CarPlay *WILL* have "controls vehicle functions", and be able to take over not just infotainment screen, but main instrument cluster screen as well; but I'm sure that will take even more work from carmakers to support. It won't just magically be available on all current CarPlay vehicles. (Apple even just says " Vehicle announcements coming in late 2023 " - so almost certainly it will be 2024 vehicles at the earliest that have it.)

 

[astonius]

The next version of CarPlay *WILL* have "controls vehicle functions", and be able to take over not just infotainment screen, but main instrument cluster screen as well; but I'm sure that will take even more work from carmakers to support. It won't just magically be available on all current CarPlay vehicles. (Apple even just says " Vehicle announcements coming in late 2023 " - so almost certainly it will be 2024 vehicles at the earliest that have it.)

Even then, it will still be optional. No requirement to use it if you don't like it. Native system will still operate perfectly fine.

 

[Ralph]

Even then, it will still be optional. No requirement to use it if you don't like it. Native system will still operate perfectly fine.

For as long as Apple says it is optional. And as long as Apple maintains a version of the Native system that can continue to be run in your vehicle of choice.

 

[astonius]

For as long as Apple says it is optional. And as long as Apple maintains a version of the Native system that can continue to be run in your vehicle of choice.

Huh? Apple doesn't maintain the native systems, nor can it replace the native system. The actual vehicle functions are still provided and controlled by the car manufacturer.

The demo showed at WWDC for the future of CarPlay is about putting a unified interface throughout the car, not replacing the underlying systems.

If a car manufacturer required you to have an iPhone to use their car that would be market suicide.

 

[DJG]

It might be helpful for the CP/AA proponents to gather data on how much they are willing to pay for CP/AA. $25/mo, $50/mo, $75/mo? If successful, Apple will step in and want their cut, so it has to be meaningful to share the wealth.

This might help Rivian get a sense of the benefit to them for offering it. If it doesn't benefit them, they can't be expected to care. And don't say the benefit is that they can sell more vehicles, because that's not true, they are constrained by the capacity of their factories and they don't need those programs to run them at full capacity for the foreseeable future (whereas legacy automakers do need them).

I'm skeptical people would be willing to pay a meaningful subscription for it, based on how that worked for BMW, but then again a BMW is more of a commodity vehicle and didn't offer OTA updates, so they don't have as much leverage.

 

[SoCal Rob]

It might be helpful for the CP/AA proponents to gather data on how much they are willing to pay for CP/AA. $25/mo, $50/mo, $75/mo? If successful, Apple will step in and want their cut, so it has to be meaningful to share the wealth.

This strike me as a straw man argument because my understanding is there are no fees to automotive OEMs to enter Apple's Made for iPhone (MFi) program.

This might help Rivian get a sense of the benefit to them for offering it. If it doesn't benefit them, they can't be expected to care. And don't say the benefit is that they can sell more vehicles, because that's not true, they are constrained by the capacity of their factories and they don't need those programs to run them at full capacity for the foreseeable future (whereas legacy automakers do need them).

I'm skeptical people would be willing to pay a meaningful subscription for it, based on how that worked for BMW, but then again a BMW is more of a commodity vehicle and didn't offer OTA updates, so they don't have as much leverage.

I get it, you don’t want to use screen projection. What I don’t understand is why you want to make sure that nobody has the choice of optional screen projection for the subset of consumers who do want it.

I encounter a bunch of threads for feature requests where I think to myself, “I don’t want that but it doesn’t take away what I do want so I’m not even going to bother commenting.” I skim them and move on.

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