Rivian’s chief software officer Wassym Bensaid says the company’s refusal to support Apple CarPlay will become less relevant as its in-car software evolves. In an interview on The Verge’s Decoder podcast, Bensaid argues that screen-mirroring approaches associated with CarPlay take over the vehicle’s display “pixel by pixel,” whereas Rivian wants “end-to-end integration” through its own interface. He also links the shift to future AI capabilities, saying “deep AI integration into the car” will reshape how drivers interact with apps. In that model, an AI agent would present app functions in a user experience that does not depend on CarPlay or Android Auto in the same way. Bensaid acknowledges that this agentic alternative would take time to fully materialize. He also points to changing customer interest, citing internal statistics that initially showed over 70% of customers wanted CarPlay when Rivian vehicles launched about five years ago, but a more recent survey that suggests the figure has fallen to below 25%. He says Rivian’s expanding shipped features and integration are reducing CarPlay as a topic of discussion.
Rivian says AI integration will make the CarPlay debate “completely obsolete”
Rivian’s chief software officer Wassym Bensaid says the company’s refusal to support Apple CarPlay will become less relevant as its in-car software evolves. In an interview on The Verge’s Decoder podc...
- Rivian software chief Wassym Bensaid says Rivian continues to not support Apple CarPlay.
- Bensaid argues CarPlay-style screen mirroring takes over the car’s display, while Rivian prefers end-to-end integration.
- He says deep AI integration and AI agents could make CarPlay and Android Auto less necessary over time.
- Bensaid cites internal/market data suggesting customer interest in CarPlay has dropped from over 70% at launch to under 25% in a more recent survey.
- The comments come from Bensaid’s appearance on The Verge’s Decoder podcast with Nilay Patel.
On the latest episode of The Verge's Decoder podcast, Rivian's software chief Wassym Bensaid explained why the EV maker still refuses to offer Apple CarPlay. In short, Bensaid said Rivian does not want CarPlay to fully take over the software experience. "The challenge with screen mirroring solutions is that they take over every single pixel in the car," he said. Instead, Rivian prefers to offer its own interface with "end-to-end integration." Bensaid added that "deep AI integration into the car" will eventually make the debate over offering CarPlay in vehicles "completely obsolete." He believes that Rivian owners will be able to access the core functionality of many apps through an AI agent, rather than needing to rely on CarPlay or Android Auto. "I really believe that the way you interact with apps which are mono-threaded, single buttons, single icons, a lot of that will be now completely reshaped into a world where it will become an agentic integration that presents itself into a wholesome user experience to the user," Bensaid explained. However, he admitted that an AI agent becoming an "alternative solution" to CarPlay apps will take time to materialize. Already, Rivian owners are increasingly less interested in CarPlay, according to Bensaid. He said that Rivian's internal statistics showed that more than 70% of customers wanted CarPlay when their vehicles first launched around five years ago, but he said a recent survey showed that figure is apparently less than 25% now. "With the level of features that we have shipped to customers, with the level of end-to-end integration, with the level of convenience that we are bringing, CarPlay is, or Android Auto to that extent, is no longer the topic of discussion," he said.Related Roundup: CarPlayTag: RivianRelated Forum: HomePod, HomeKit, CarPlay, Home & Auto TechnologyThis article, "Rivian Explains Why CarPlay Debate Will Become 'Completely Obsolete'" first appeared on MacRumors.comDiscuss this article in our forums
2 months agoRivian’s chief software officer, Wassym Bensaid, joined Nilay Patel in the latest Decoder interview. And his comments on CarPlay show Rivian continuing to double down on its refusal to support Apple’s platform. more…
2 months ago
OpenAI discloses internal report on AI agents’ role in Hugging Face hack
OpenAI says an investigation finds that AI “agents” used for a cybersecurity test contributed to last month’s breach of...
Bill Gates warns AI could fuel inequality or fairness, calls for urgent preparation
Bill Gates says the world is not prepared for a “turbulent” era of rapidly advancing artificial intelligence, warning th...
Moonshot AI seeks revenue-sharing with Microsoft, Amazon and Google for hosting Kimi K3
China’s Moonshot AI is in early talks with major U.S. cloud providers about hosting its Kimi K3 AI model, with the compa...