Rivian software chief says voice control should replace CarPlay

In short: Rivian’s top software leader says drivers should not need Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, or lots of physical buttons because voice control can run most car features.

What's going on

Wassym Bensaid, Rivian’s chief software officer, said on The Verge’s Decoder podcast that voice should become the main way people interact with their cars. He argues that screens and buttons force drivers to hunt through menus, while talking is more natural when you are focused on the road.

Rivian recently shipped an “AI-powered” Rivian Assistant in its R1 vehicles. “AI-powered” here means the system uses modern language models (the same kind of software behind chatbots) to understand everyday speech. Bensaid said Rivian designed the assistant to be built into the car’s own software, instead of acting like a simple add-on.

He also explained that some features are blocked on purpose for safety and regulatory reasons. In the interview, Patel described asking the assistant to turn on a rear wiper and being told it could not, even though it could do other tasks like changing drive modes. Bensaid said wipers and certain driving features are restricted today, while some other failures were simply bugs.

Bensaid also defended Rivian’s continued decision not to support CarPlay. CarPlay is phone projection (like putting your phone’s apps onto the car screen). He said it “takes over” the display and breaks the integrated experience Rivian is building.

What to watch

Rivian is also working with Volkswagen through a joint venture called RV Tech, backed by a nearly $6 billion investment, to build core software and electrical systems for future Volkswagen electric vehicles. The key question is whether more carmakers will follow Rivian’s approach, keeping tighter control of in-car software instead of relying on phone-based systems like CarPlay.

Source: The Verge AI