Rivian's in-car UI is better than Tesla's

[jrmbadger]

There. I said it.

With all the negative posts these days about software and the Rivian, I thought I would post a positive experience. My family owns both a gen 1 R1S and a tesla model y. Over the past 6 months, I have really come to appreciate the well-thought out layout of the Rivian in-car UI.

While Tesla rightly receives praise for its software, like a lot of things Tesla, it needs a refresh. Over time, the model y's interface has become cluttered. They are simply trying to hard to fit too much on the center screen. While the main driving screen is ok, it still needs to fit EVERYTHING in this one screen. The regen, the speed, the drive mode, the battery percentage, the driver assist stuff, the nav stuff, the media stuff:

The main screen is somewhat cluttered but the "apps" screen is a cluttered mess. While I realize there is a "customize" button, I shouldn't have to spend a lot of time trying to reorganize apps, especially when I rarely use half of them anyway. There is no inherent organization here either. It's just literally a mess of apps thrown together.

It took me WAY too long to find the radio the last time I wanted to switch music sources.

The Rivian UI is much cleaner and better organized. Obviously part of this is having two screens so the Rivian doesn't have to cram the driver's assist and speedo onto the main screen:

I will say too, that the top and bottom black bars having the information and quick access stuff looks cleaner.

The apps button shows a much cleaner organization (sorry for the low quality - it was the only pic I could find):

Notice how the apps are categorized? Phone, GearGuard, Camping, Manual, etc...

I will give Tesla credit for the car control screen - when the car is parked it shows a picture of the car and you just press on the frunk, trunk, etc... to open that control. Rivian's however, is not quite as convenient, as you have to select it, but it is better in that it's easier to change mirrors, steering wheel, etc... much easier.

With Tesla you have to navigate to the car settings, click controls (if it isn't already up), and then touch mirrors.

I will say, I do hate the way Rivian makes you turn on your seat heaters to cool them, or turn down your seat heaters just to turn on your steering wheel heater - that needs to be fixed.

Now, the Tesla mobile app is WAY better than the Rivian and works 90% of the time the first time, unlike the Rivian's, which, for me, works about 20% of the time the first time.

This is just my opinion.

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[Donald Stanfield]

I am not used to Tesla because I’ve never had one but test driving an X and S had me thinking most of the same things. I think Rivian’s system is better organized and thought out.

 

[VandalSibs]

I will give Tesla credit for the car control screen - when the car is parked it shows a picture of the car and you just press on the frunk, trunk, etc... to open that control. Rivian's however, is not quite as convenient, as you have to select it, but it is better in that it's easier to change mirrors, steering wheel, etc... much easier.

There is a setting you can change so this panel you are talking about pops up when you put the vehicle in park. Don't remember where that is off the top of my head though...

 

[eRacer]

Simple is elegant as long as it is functional. Rivian has done a good job of keeping the important items/most frequently used information displayed.

While the Tesla has a lot of apps and features, it has a hard time of displaying them in a "clean and concise" manner.

I relate the Tesla UI to the PC as the Rivian UI to a Mac.

 

[tate16t]

I own both a Rivian and a Tesla as well. From a functionality standpoint, Tesla wins. But the function is not presented in a user friendly way. Rivian‘s UI presentation is much cleaner. Is this due to less functionality, not sure but I don’t use most of the functionality in my Tesla.

 

[DaveA]

I'm no Tesla fan, but I'm jealous of how smooth everything is. The Gen 1 system in my R1T is very slow and laggy...yes, even after a full reset after updates and then re-caching. I imagine a Gen 2 is a little better with the separate processor for autonomy, etc.

 

[COdogman]

You forgot to say how "embarrassing" it is

 

[tate16t]

I'm no Tesla fan, but I'm jealous of how smooth everything is. The Gen 1 system in my R1T is very slow and laggy...yes, even after a full reset after updates and then re-caching. I imagine a Gen 2 is a little better with the separate processor for autonomy, etc.

My Rivian use to be laggy but now the first time I use it there is a slight lag but everything after is smooth. I agree Tesla’s is very responsive.

 

[BigSkies]

As someone who owns both, I agree.

Tesla has succumbed to feature creep and option bloat. It's become harder to navigate and find things. I feel the same way about iOS.

However, Tesla is much less glitchy and bug prone. I can't remember the last time I needed to reset the software on my Tesla.

I suspect feature and option bloat is just a matter of time for Rivian. I can't think of a mature company that's avoided it.

 

[Dark-Fx]

You forgot to say how "embarrassing" it is

(Still)

 

[VSG]

Everyone who has been complaining about Rivian's clock display being too small and too far away should take a look at that first image of the Tesla screen. Whether you like the way Rivian currently does it or not, it's WAY better than what Tesla is doing. Using a white font on an image background that also includes white? Using grey fonts on a white screen? The contrast/readability is terrible, and only compounded by the small font size and the clutter. And where's the odometer on the Tesla display? (I'm told that it's essential and it's inexcusable that Rivian doesn't display it all the time.)

It's funny that most people who complain about Rivian's display talk about too much white space and not enough information crammed onto the screen. I don't see how you can objectively say that first image is a good UI for a moving vehicle. Tesla's UI is one blink tag away from looking like a 90's web page. (To be fair, Tesla's UI is still way better than the majority of vehicles out there. They just need to refocus a bit and "Simplify, simplify".)

Rivian's UI could also use a little work, but at some point we're talking about subjective preferences. Just because I would have made some different choices when designing the UI doesn't mean that Rivian's choices are objectively wrong.

 

[UCF713]

100% Tesla all day. The Rivian software is really the one thing keeping me on the fence from buying out my R1S lease.

 

[beatle]

Hard to compare the 3/Y to the Rivian since they have to cram everything in one screen in those Tesla models. I had a Model S (2 of them) for almost 5 years and I thought the UX was good, albeit getting a little slow, though I was on MCU1 and 2. The Rivian beats those, but newer Teslas ones are much smoother.

Rivian has a lot more bugs that require a reset, and it has a pretty useless energy display. Though they are probably gone forever, the portrait orientation of the main display in the original S/X made for a more useful way of organizing the map and media/HVAC displays.

I do love the new full map display on the Rivian's cluster, and the vehicle suspension/drive modes screen is pretty useful vs. Tesla, though I rarely had the need to change the suspension settings in the Tesla..

 

[JukasZor]

Having daily driven a tesla for the past three years, and having recently driven a gen 2 Rivian and still looking to purchase one I can't agree with you. Tesla software (autonomy) and UI beats the Rivian all day long.

I've never once had my Tesla not remember vent positions, where I last left heat etc and has features like the ability to drag and drop the lance change camera between multiple positions and the ui is more intuitive and easier to navigate quickly. Everything outside of that however the Rivian absolutely smokes the tesla and make it feel like you're driving a plastic little matchbox car.

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Jfc. I looked at that first screenshot for way too long just to figure out where the speedometer is. And still can't see where the radio controls are. I already do most things with voice commands in my Rivian, but would really have to rely on them if I were stuck using that first screenshot for my daily UI.

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