Rivian adds Apple Music, but wo n’t consider CarPlay

Rivian R1T
Rivian’s CEO says that Apple Music is a great addition to its cars. However, the company wants drivers to use their systems instead of switching between CarPlay and Rivian. Apple has been rumored to buy Rivian and General Motors was said to have made a mistake by ditching CarPlay. In a recent interview, Rivian’s CEO RJ Scaringe said that he “thinks of the world” when it comes to Apple products, but won’t be adding CarPlay. He also stated that Apple would not do this in his position. Scaringe told The Verge that “we have a great partnership with Apple.” “But imagine Apple developing a Mac and someone had a software app — let’s call it Windows — that said, “We have an easy-to-use platform that everyone knows how to use. Would they have put this in their car?” “Would Apple have developed its own iOS?” “We know how that turned out,” he added. “So, even though I love their products, it’s ironically very consistent with Apple’s ethos for us want to control the eco-system.” Scaringe argues that users must switch out of CarPlay in order to control car functions. “For example, you have to leave CarPlay to open the trunk if you are in the application.” This ignores what Apple claims for the future of CarPlay despite Scaringe being specifically asked about this forthcoming version of Apple software. Scaringe, however, only answers about the current state CarPlay. She argues that customers want Rivian to be able to match Apple’s software. “I think that the biggest complaint about the lack of CarPlay today is the improvements in mapping which are coming,” said he. “We know that it will take some time for us to fully capture all the features in CarPlay. We hope that customers are seeing this,” he said. “I think [CarPlay] gets more attention than it deserves.” Rivian, however, has added Apple Music and Dolby atmos to its cars by 2024. Scaringe said, “It is a huge improvement in the audio quality of the vehicle.” “It is awesome to have Apple Music inside the car.” Apple did not mention CarPlay during its WWDC keynote 2024. Apple has added some features for iOS 18 to CarPlay.