Rivian Software Boss Says Google Cast In, Buttons Out, Open To Range And Power Boost Subscriptions

Google Cast is set to arrive in Rivian vehicles very soon. This was one of the standout announcements from a recent ‘fireside chat’ with Rivian’s chief software officer, Wassym Bensaid, attended by Carscoops. During the discussion, Bensaid offered a glimpse into the brand’s ongoing software development, teasing features to watch out for and a few that might raise eyebrows.

For a company that has deliberately eschewed Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, the addition of Google Cast marks an interesting, if somewhat lateral, step forward. Google Cast isn’t a perfect solution for that, but it will enhance the overall experience for Rivian customers. Now, the company is about to launch it with software update .47 coming before the end of 2024. Not stopping there, Rivian’s engineers are also working on enabling rear-seat passengers to cast content directly to the back screens.

Voice Controls To Rival Physical Interfaces

In addition to Google Cast, Rivian is honing its speech-to-text functionality, with artificial intelligence playing a pivotal role. Bensaid confirmed that it’ll co-exist with Alexa that’s already integrated into its vehicles. He also says that everything that you can access in the infotainment system should be accessible via speech-to-text.

More: Physical Controls Are Back Because Drivers Are Sick Of Endless Touchscreen Menus

That’s right, he’s hoping to make it so that your voice can do anything in the system that your hand could do. He also believes owners will have the ability to access the same features via their mobile device. On top of that, he says it’s coming in 2025.

Physical Buttons? Not Likely

To be fair, the brand never really had many physical buttons in its cars to begin with. Still, the market appears to be trending back toward physical buttons after a couple of decades of moving away from them in favor of touchscreens. When pressed on whether or not Rivian would also begin to include physical buttons, Bensaid made his position clear.

While the company is adding haptic buttons to the steering wheels of its cars, the main interface isn’t going to change much. “We believe that if we have a cluttered interface with lots of physical buttons that the challenge with physical buttons is that they’re there forever,” Bensaid said.

“You can never change them, you have assigned functionalities. Whereas if you make it software, you have the ability to improve it over time based on customer feedback. That’s the guiding principle of why we don’t want to constrain ourselves to physical buttons,” he added.

Carscoops pushed a little harder concerning things like climate control buttons. Here’s what Rivian’s Vivek Surya told us.

“In Rivian vehicles, climate controls are integrated into the overall software stack, which means they interact with different systems in the car,” said Surya. “We want as many features as possible to be scalable and modular so we can quickly evolve in-vehicle experiences – and reduce mental load on the customer as complex hardware and software work in concert behind the scenes for features like automation.”

For example, here are some recent features that demonstrate the flexibility “untethering” from physical buttons gives us:

• Driver profile specific customizable vent positions that can set multiple vents at the same time with a single touch
• Tri-zone climate control, which expands the customization and adds more access to fine tune controls.

Unlockable Power And Range May Be On The Table

Rivian’s Connect+ software also led to a question about range and power. As of this writing, Connect+ simply includes a list of additional features for $14.99 per month ($19.99 CAD) or $149.99 per year ($199.99 CAD). Owners can sign up in the vehicle, on their phone, or online. That said, the host asked Bensaid if that architecture would end up having other unlockables for sale.

“Do you think customers would want to have a performance or range upgrade?” he responded. When the host affirmed, Bensaid simply said, “Okay, if you think so then I think we should do it.” That could mean that we may see Rivians ship to customers with some of their full power or range, or both, locked behind a paywall. For now, there is no telling (or even if) when this might actually happen, but it seems to be under consideration.

Photos Stephen Rivers / Carscoops