Rivian makes it clear CarPlay isn’t coming to its EVs
Speaking to MKBHD on the Waveform podcast this week, Scaringe was asked about Rivian’s lack of CarPlay support. MKBHD specifically pointed to a stat that Apple shared at WWDC 2022, claiming that 79% of car buyers in the United States “only consider CarPlay-capable vehicles.”
Scaringe explains that Rivian’s decision to not use CarPlay is driven by its desire to be the “arbiter or head chef” of the in-car software experience, rather than handing over control to a company like Apple.
“A lot of the things we do, whether it’s music or mapping, we have to make sure we integrate in with the best-in-class platforms. But by controlling the system, it just allows us to be the arbiter or the head chef in terms of the experience you get, versus handing over control of what we think is one of the most important parts of the experience.”
The Rivian founder goes on to say that the company focuses on rolling out updates to its own in-car software on a regular basis, something that he says is only possible by “controlling the software stack.”
“The thing about controlling the software stack is we get to continually make it better. Every few weeks we have a new software release that either adds features, addresses gaps, we listen to feedback. Our head of software development is on Reddit all the time hearing what people are saying and interacting. It’s great to get the feedback and it drives our software roadmap to make sure we’re delivering on what customers want.”
At one point, Rivian indicated that it would maybe add CarPlay in the future if there was enough consumer demand. Scaringe’s comments today seem to suggest that’s not currently on the roadmap.
