Rivian has been one of the big EV makers that has yet to bring CarPlay into its vehicles. Like Tesla, the iPhone feature has been absent from its electric vehicles since the company launched. According to Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe, that's on purpose, and the company has no plans to add support for CarPlay anytime soon.
In an interview with The Verge's Nilay Patel on his Decoder podcast, Scaringe said “We have a great relationship with Apple. As much as I love their products, there’s a reason that ironically is very consistent with Apple ethos for us to want to control the ecosystem.” CarPlay isn’t “consistent with how we think about really creating a pure product experience."
Scaringe says that the company plans to add the biggest features that car owners like about CarPlay, but that they'll do it "on an à la carte basis.” Instead, the CEO said, "We’ve taken the view of the digital experience in the vehicle wants to feel consistent and holistically harmonious across every touchpoint."
The Rivian CEO even thinks that the conversation about the lack of CarPlay in its vehicles is even overblown, saying "I think it often gets more noise than it deserves."
Rivian is right, it's on Apple to make great apps
I get why a lot of Apple fans want every carmaker in the world to support CarPlay. Historically, I was one of those people. The software experiences on cars was (and still is in a lot of cases) terrible, and Apple CarPlay was a breath of fresh air for all of us who wanted a better way to listen to music, take phone calls, and more in our cars.
However, some companies are now creating great software experiences in their vehicles, and Rivian is definitely one of them. The company's software experience in their truck and SUV is beautiful, actually runs quickly, and supports an expanding number of apps. If I'm driving a Rivian, I want to feel like I'm driving a Rivian, and the software experience is part of that.
Instead of shoving CarPlay down the throat of a company that doesn't need it, Apple needs to recognize that most of what we consider CarPlay is actually a bundle of apps enabled for the car. Instead of forcing companies to adopt CarPlay, the company should make more apps that are compatible with EVs from companies like Rivian and Tesla.
In fact, Apple already does. The Apple Music team has already designed a dedicated app for both Tesla and Rivian, and customers love that. The company should do the same with Apple Podcasts, Apple Books, Apple Maps, and more.
Unfortunately, it seems like the company has no interest in doing that. Apple continues to push forward with its next-generation CarPlay experience which takes over all aspects of your car's displays. While this makes sense if carmakers continue to create horrible software in their cars, it seems like those years might finally be over if more companies do what Tesla and Rivian are doing.
Instead of relying on CarPlay to save the experience in the car, carmakers are finally taking it upon themselves. And, if more do so, Apple is going to need to focus on making its apps available in those cars. It'll be on Apple to make great apps, and I think that's a better outcome for all of us.
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