Rivian software director says using buttons in a car is ‘an anomaly’ and using CarPlay is ‘laziness’

The trend of large touchscreens in cars has made many people long for the not-so-distant days when most user interactions were done via physical buttons. But Wassym Bensaid, Rivian’s software director, says the use of buttons in a car is an “anomaly.” “It’s a bug. It’s not a feature,” Bensaid said Wednesday at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. “Ideally, you would want to interact with your car through voice. The problem today is that most voice assistants are simply broken. » “My ultimate goal is to make voice commands the primary means of interacting with the vehicle. The reality is that the vehicle is so feature-rich that even if we do a fantastic job on the user interface, there will still need to be prioritization in terms of menus or tracking menus,” Bensaid told TechCrunch afterward. his exit from the stage.

Bensaid also said he strongly believes in the ability of AI-powered voice commands to handle complex requests. For example, he said if a driver says “I’m hungry,” the in-car assistant should be able to quickly direct them to a nearby restaurant they might prefer. Before that happens, Bensaid said he remains focused on providing a personalized experience for Rivian owners – which means CarPlay won’t appear anytime soon. Although he said the Rivian team “continues to debate this issue,” he said on stage that he thought using CarPlay was “laziness” and that he preferred integrating apps specific, like Apple Music. CarPlay “takes over every pixel on the screen, and replaces the entire experience, and we really believe that with the technological capabilities we have, we can deliver a much more refined and integrated experience,” he said. he declared.