The CEO of Rivian says his company has no intention of ever adding Apple CarPlay to its electric vehicles. This means drivers can’t plug their iPhone into an R2, R3, etc., and gain easy access to Apple Music, Maps, etc., as they can in so many other car models.
CEO R.J. Scaringe says the decision was about keeping control of the user experience, but money has played a role in similar decisions.
Rivian says ‘no’ to Apple CarPlay
CarPlay lets an iPhone interact with a suitably equipped car radio or built-in infotainment system. It is primarily used for streaming music and maps, and is quite popular. Apple says more than 800 vehicle models come with CarPlay. But none of these will be made by Rivian. The company’s CEO made that clear in an interview published 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 said in the interview.
As Scaringe points out, a driver could be using CarPlay for music and navigation, but they’d have to switch away from it to, for example, open their EV’s front trunk.
A money grab?
The executive told The Verge that Rivian will add CarPlay’s most popular features “but on an à la carte basis.” That is likely code for “available for an extra fee.” That’s what EV-maker Tesla did. Elon Musk’s car company doesn’t support CarPlay or Apple Music, and when it recently added support for Apple Podcasts, it made the feature available only for those who pay $9.99 a month for Premium Connectivity.
Rivian and Tesla can’t complain about their cost — Apple charges neither automakers nor drivers to use CarPlay.
Still, it’s not only small EV makers that avoid CarPlay — GM stopped building support for Apple’s in-car system to its EVs in 2023. Ford is sticking with Apple, though.
