Why Rivian is ignoring Android Auto for a solution that might not work

https://www.androidpolice.com/car-boss-reveals-why-his-cars-will-never-have-android-auto/

Publish Date: 2026-06-02 11:27:00

Rivian’s Chief Software Officer, Wassym Bensaid, has revealed why his company’s cars will never integrate Android Auto or Apple’s CarPlay, and the answer is as tiring as it is predictable: AI.

Speaking to The Verge’s Decoder podcast, Bensaid said Rivian has no plans to adopt either of the two top mobile mirroring operating systems, and is instead putting all of its ducks into an AI-powered solution.

Rivian is relying on a magic bullet

Rivian has been holding out on implementing Android Auto and CarPlay for a long time now, and they’re certainly not alone in doing so. A number of manufacturers have either never offered either, or have backed away from support recently in favor of working out a joint effort.

Now, we know more-or-less what Rivian is planning. According to Bensaid’s words on the podcast, Rivian is instead working on a system that uses AI to recreate many of the same features we’ve come to love on traditional smartphone-mirroring apps like Android Auto.

This would take the form of a dedicated AI assistant that would, presumably, play music through various services, and use navigation data to take you to your destination.

He also made the argument that Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are too invasive, which is a pretty good point. As things stand, Apple and Google currently get the data gleaned from a car’s journey and the apps used — and that’s data that car companies would…

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