Photograph: Rivian
The CEO of Rivian says his firm has no intention of ever including Apple CarPlay to its electrical automobiles. This implies drivers can’t plug their iPhone into an R2, R3, and so forth., and acquire easy accessibility to Apple Music, Maps, and so forth., as they will in so many different automotive fashions.
CEO R.J. Scaringe says the choice was about preserving management of the person expertise, however cash has performed a task in related selections.
Rivian says ‘no’ to Apple CarPlay
CarPlay lets an iPhone work together with a suitably outfitted automotive radio or built-in infotainment system. It’s primarily used for streaming music and maps, and is sort of widespread. Apple says greater than 800 car fashions include CarPlay. However none of those will probably be made by Rivian. The corporate’s CEO made that clear in an interview printed Monday by The Verge.
“As much as I love their [Apple’s] products, there’s a reason that ironically is very consistent with Apple ethos for us to want to control the ecosystem,” he mentioned within the interview.
As Scaringe factors out, a driver might be utilizing CarPlay for music and navigation, however they’d have to change away from it to, for instance, open their EV’s entrance trunk.
A cash seize?
The chief informed The Verge that Rivian will add CarPlay’s hottest options “but on an à la carte basis.” That’s probably code for “available for an extra fee.” That’s what EV-maker Tesla did. Elon Musk’s automotive firm doesn’t assist CarPlay or Apple Music, and when it just lately added assist for Apple Podcasts, it made the function obtainable solely for many who pay $9.99 a month for Premium Connectivity.
Rivian and Tesla can’t complain about their price — Apple prices neither automakers nor drivers to make use of CarPlay.
Nonetheless, it’s not solely small EV makers that keep away from CarPlay — GM stopped constructing assist for Apple’s in-car system to its EVs in 2023. Ford is sticking with Apple, although.