Lack of Android Auto / Waze is a reason to cancel

[Darkon]

Rivian has made their choice on what they are going to offer and made it very clear what that would be. Buy it or don't buy it. The choice is yours. If AA and Waze are truly "must have", the decision is simple, so not sure what all the fuss is about.

you may very well be content with what Rivian decided. I am not sure why you are annoyed that some of us do not.

I listen to podcast on my phone with a paid app that I like. Without AA I cannot play them in my car. and that is one of the many reason, I would like to KEEP a function that all cars have had for the past few years.

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[flabyboy]

Here’s the thing that bugs me. 95% of the time this will be a commuter vehicle for me. I don’t need navigation to get to work or run errands around town. What I need is decent music integration and ability to write and answer texts with my voice. Apple CarPlay is perfect for this. I hope Rivian integrates it, but won’t base my purchase on it

 

[Trekkie]

i'm pretty vocal that I want Carplay just like Android Auto. I disagree with people that say Siri or Bluetooth is good enough, it hasn't been that's why the two techs came out. I have to monkey with my phone almost every day because something goes wrong with the BT interface. Especially with podcasts. Just dropping a kid off at school, get out of car to help with gear bag, adn back in, it stops playing podcast and picks the first 'A' song in my music and plays it. wtf? or this is more a tesla feature just randomly disconnect from bluetooth and reconnect while you're driving down the road.

It's not enough for me to not buy my R1T. The car is too good.

That said, with spotify integration, and everything they've shown so far is YAWN to me as I don't use spotify, I've been an apple user since apple wasn't cool and was dying (1980s) and I'm deep into their music ecosystem with decades of purchased music. no desire to subscribe to something new because I drive a different car.

 

[Scott]

Quite frankly the biggest argument for standard platforms (AA / Carplay) is that EVERY service is available on them. In the future services will come out that are better than what exists today. Those developers will target iOS and Android first. Proprietary infrastructures won't get the same love for quite some time. That is especially true of niche brands that will likely not sell in the volume to command market attention for some time. If you want your car to be connected to the latest and greatest you have to cede some control.

Also, what is more likely?
1. Rivian navigation will be as good and as up todate as google maps, waze and apple maps
OR
2. Google Maps, Waze and Apple Maps will add in the capability to plan your EV route with charging stops included?

I am convinced that Rivian is unlikely to build their own navigation that can compete. However, the 3rd party services are at a disadvantage on mapping in charging stops without real time data from the car on SOC and such. That is why Tesla's situation is great here. Google Maps as the basis with their own UI on top.

 

[Smithery]

you may very well be content with what Rivian decided. I am not sure why you are annoyed that some of us do not.

I listen to podcast on my phone with a paid app that I like. Without AA I cannot play them in my car. and that is one of the many reason, I would like to KEEP a function that all cars have had for the past few years.

I think you misread their post.

They weren't saying you should not be upset with what Rivian decided..

They're saying that if this is a dealbreaker for you, your decision is simple - You shouldn't get a Rivian.

 

[PastyPilgrim]

For people that have mapbox integrated with your current vehicle, how does it compare with Google maps? Rivian might have some added sauce for trailheads and adventure sites, but I'd expect it to be pretty similar to other mapbox experiences for the most part.

 

[Dbeglor]

Everybody here is interested in buying the very first EV truck in existence, hardly people that you should accuse of "clinging to the past".

You can accept whatever Rivian or Steve Jobs tells you as gospel if you want … personally I prefer to challenge them.

PS: that quote is a condescending and appalling statement. Not a fanboy if you could not tell.

Like it or not, the industry is trending towards automakers being as much (or more) about software as hardware. They all have started to use some version of the phrase, "the vehicle is like your smartphone on wheels". Given that, it makes little sense to outsource software and give up the ability to create a competitive advantage. You will NEVER see Tesla, Rivian or Lucid add them for that reason, I guarantee you. Having Carplay or AA signals that you don't care about your own software enough to make it better, you've given up, and it's a losing strategy. It sells more cars today but leaves you behind long term.

Additionally, navigation has clear advantages on the native system vs. the mirrored apps (and are why I use native even though I have the option of using Carplay apps):

1. Navigating on the apps does not incorporate charging into your route. Carplay might be adding this, but will be vehicle dependent on whether they are available. (see above, Rivian will not)
2. Navigating on the apps loses the ability for the navigation to synchronize with the ADAS system. By navigating with the OEM system, the vehicle can slow for curves, slow down for right angle turns, etc.
3. Navigating through the in-car system can accurately adjust your remaining range based on the weather and topography of the route selected. This becomes more important if you have to reroute for some reason, you want to know how that might affect range/efficiency.
4. Rivian loses the ability to gather data is users navigate with the apps. This in turn makes the product worse and less competitive.

So, if the native system lacks features you want, the answer is not to beg for Carplay, it's to push the change you want to see. Music apps should be easy adds if they collect the data that suggests the customers want them. And, you always have the ability to stream from your phone in the meantime.

 

[jtshaw]

I am pretty sure Alexa controls those other apps by just sending commands to them. I think you have to have Apple Music installed / linked. Alexa on its own won't do that.

Not for nothing.. I worked on Alexa for a spell and that is not quite how it works

You do have to link to Apple Music, but it is a service integration from your Alexa account -> Apple / Spotify, etc. It doesn't use your phone for anything.

 

[Gator42]

I agree. While AA/CarPlay looked amazing compared to 2016 car UI, it is looks ugly compared to something like Rivian UI 2021 edition (from screenshots). I just don't want to loose all the functionalities if they cannot learn to work together.

Yah, in my 2020 Defender the latest LR UI is wonderful. There's still AA and CP available but they look and work primitively relative to the native UI, which also does a fine job of integrating with all the phone based entertainment apps so it appears you are running LR UI based music...

...unfortunately if you're a CP/AA fan the wave of the future seems to be greater reliance on the OEM system and paying the manufacturer the $40+/mo for the cellular subscription. You're out of luck Sirius XM Satellite fans, too...

They got us right where they want us!

...and at least in North America you likely won't be able to change out the vehicle's SIM to escape their clutches. You'll be stuck with what the OEM gives you, which is likely a software SIM running thru AT&T...

 

[Scott]

Like it or not, the industry is trending towards automakers being as much (or more) about software as hardware. They all have started to use some version of the phrase, "the vehicle is like your smartphone on wheels". Given that, it makes little sense to outsource software and give up the ability to create a competitive advantage. You will NEVER see Tesla, Rivian or Lucid add them for that reason, I guarantee you. Having Carplay or AA signals that you don't care about your own software enough to make it better, you've given up, and it's a losing strategy. It sells more cars today but leaves you behind long term.

Additionally, navigation has clear advantages on the native system vs. the mirrored apps (and are why I use native even though I have the option of using Carplay apps):

1. Navigating on the apps does not incorporate charging into your route. Carplay might be adding this, but will be vehicle dependent on whether they are available. (see above, Rivian will not)
2. Navigating on the apps loses the ability for the navigation to synchronize with the ADAS system. By navigating with the OEM system, the vehicle can slow for curves, slow down for right angle turns, etc.
3. Navigating through the in-car system can accurately adjust your remaining range based on the weather and topography of the route selected. This becomes more important if you have to reroute for some reason, you want to know how that might affect range/efficiency.
4. Rivian loses the ability to gather data is users navigate with the apps. This in turn makes the product worse and less competitive.

So, if the native system lacks features you want, the answer is not to beg for Carplay, it's to push the change you want to see. Music apps should be easy adds if they collect the data that suggests the customers want them. And, you always have the ability to stream from your phone in the meantime.

I in general agree that in car navigation has a lot of benefits over AA/carplay. Tesla's choice is excellent here: integrate best of breed data (google maps) in to your proprietary nav app.

That said, having carplay / aa for all other functions is decidely not a car specific thing. Our phones are the gateway to our entertainment (music and video) lives and have apps honed for years to promote efficient communication. I would likely use in car nav + phone based communication and entertainment.

 

[Scott]

Not for nothing.. I worked on Alexa for a spell and that is not quite how it works

You do have to link to Apple Music, but it is a service integration from your Alexa account -> Apple / Spotify, etc. It doesn't use your phone for anything.

Thanks, deleted my post to remove the incorrect info.

 

[yizzung]

Well to be clear you’re coming off ass an a-hole but that’s fine. The fact that reviewers bring it up, often as one their complaints is my point. If you want to be a stupid fan boy that can’t see anything wrong with the truck fine but you made it sound like it didn’t come up… but fact it did many times in almost every review.

The OP is ready to cancel his order (assuming he actually has one) because the car is missing Google integration. (Hmm, so who's really the fanboy in this story?)

I suggested that I'm prepared to withhold judgement until I've actually, you know, tried the product for myself. (I'm confident that Rivian will recognize this incredibly brave stance and reward my loyalty with a free truck. Or at least a coffee mug.)

There were about 20 glowing reviews this week (minus Bloomberg, of course) about the totality of the vehicle. Most overwhelmingly positive. Some of the articles simply mentioned the lack of AA/CP in passing (you know, because they are reporters who write about the stuff that they experience with their eyeballs).

Some indeed took a more critical stance and I didn't mean to suggest otherwise. Gear Patrol (for example) dedicated about three sentences to the subject (in a 3,000-word article), where they called it a "whiff". The title of the article was: "The Rivian R1T Is Everything You Hoped It Would Be". Pretty scathing takedown, right?

For those who interpreted that article as "cancel your order immediately; Rivian idiots build a total dud" then I would humbly suggest that (a) you may be over-indexing on one feature or (b) maybe you should wait until you experience it yourself before you shit all over it or (c) maybe this simply isn't the vehicle for you.

It's fine either way. I won't lose any sleep over your decision. Good luck!

 

[Darkon]

Like it or not, the industry is trending towards automakers being as much (or more) about software as hardware. They all have started to use some version of the phrase, "the vehicle is like your smartphone on wheels".

This revolution started BECAUSE of CarPlay and Android Auto. Before that we suffered years of terrible car UI and exorbitant cost for update to our maps. CP/AA broke the monopoly, I am not ready to give it back up to carmaker on the promise that this time they won't be so bad.

Your point 4 might point to the true reason. They want our data. It's not about quality of the product, but control of the data.

 

[jtshaw]

This revolution started BECAUSE of CarPlay and Android Auto. Before that we suffered years of terrible car UI and exorbitant cost for update to our maps. CP/AA broke the monopoly, I am not ready to give it back up to carmaker on the promise that this time they won't be so bad.

Your point 4 might point to the true reason. They want our data. It's not about quality of the product, but control of the data.

I'd guess it's much more about control of the experience than the data. But I can understand your skepticism of the tech industry

Ceding control of the user experience for key functionality is a tough call. Traditional automakers have kind of always done it that way so they are used to it.

 

[Scott]

I'd guess it's much more about control of the experience than the data. But I can understand your skepticism of the tech industry

Ceding control of the user experience for key functionality is a tough call. Traditional automakers have kind of always done it that way so they are used to it.

The definitely want the data. However, they could also just work out a, probably very cheap, deal with AT&T to always capture and send data even if the customer doesn't pay for a plan. If they just want your driving data, they can get it even if you use google maps via android auto/carplay

I agree the decision is more about UI control than data. The ability to get the customer to pay for the subscription plan that gets them the data is just a bonus

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