Apple Music With Spatial Audio Now Available in Rivian Vehicles

Tuesday August 13, 2024 7:53 am PDT by Hartley Charlton

Apple Music with spatial audio is now available in Rivian electric vehicles as part of the company's Connect+ subscription.

rivian apple music
Rivian's latest software update brings a unique, built-in ‌Apple Music‌ app to the company's electric vehicles, such as the R1T truck and R1S SUV. The ‌Apple Music‌ app allows users to access a library of over 100 million songs, 30,000 curated playlists, and global live-streaming radio stations as part of a fully-integrated experience in Rivian's infotainment system.

Rivian's Connect+ subscription is required to access streaming services like ‌Apple Music‌ and Spotify. The subscription is priced at $14.99 per month or $149.99 annually and enables other features such as Wi-Fi hotspot capabilities, satellite imagery, and enhanced voice commands via Alexa.

Vehicles equipped with Rivian's Premium Audio system, which includes an 18-speaker, 960-watt surround sound setup, can also play Dolby Atmos ‌Apple Music‌ songs with spatial audio, enabling music to be experienced in a more three-dimensional space in the vehicle. Rivian is offering a two-month free trial of Connect+ starting today.

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe recently explained that the company has no plans to introduce support for Apple CarPlay in its vehicles, remarking that "we just believe that it is such an important piece of real estate, the digital ecosystem, that it was something we want to retain" and "we have taken the view of the digital experience in the vehicle wants to feel consistent and holistically harmonious across every touchpoint."

Tags: Apple Music Guide, Dolby Atmos, Rivian

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Top Rated Comments

Valhellis

23 months ago

Paying a monthly subscription to use a music streaming service that also costs subscription money is disgusting, the rivian also has no audio jack :confused:

Score: 39 Votes (Like | Disagree)

ibbumpin

23 months ago

Not buying a vehicle without CarPlay. Especially not buying a vehicle that requires a subscription 😂

Score: 38 Votes (Like | Disagree)

McKodiak

23 months ago

If they truly cared about their customers’ user experience and believe that they’re offering is better, than they would not piggy back off their customer’s currently paid music subscription to charge their own subscription. This is now just a money grab.

Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)

supersteve

23 months ago

"Rivian CEO says the company will eventually add CarPlay’s most desirable features “but on an à la carte basis.”

“We recognize that it’ll take us time to fully capture every feature that’s in CarPlay, and hopefully, customers are seeing that.

“The other thing beyond mapping that’s coming is better integration with texting. We know that needs to come, and it’s something that teams are actively working on.”"

Or you know just allow CarPlay

Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Velli

23 months ago

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe recently explained ('https://www.macrumors.com/2024/07/23/rivian-explains-why-no-apple-carplay/') that the company has no plans to introduce support for Apple CarPlay in its vehicles, remarking that "we just believe that it is such an important piece of real estate, the digital ecosystem, that it was something we want to retain"

This is the culprit right there. The decision is based on what is (on the surface) best for the company, not what is best for the customer. For me it's: No Carplay - no deal. So in my case, they can successfully retain the whole car, cause I ain't buyin' it.

Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Velli

23 months ago

If it works like in a Tesla the subscription is well worth it. It’s basically a LTE connection for my car no matter where I am or who drives it and even when crossing into other countries. So a service like this is just on top of a lot of other online services you get

I don't need to pay for an LTE connection I already have on my phone. I just crossed half of Europe on my holiday, using Carplay. No issue whatsoever. And it allows me to use my favourite podcast player, which no car company is likely to ever support.

Not saying Carplay is perfect, but it does exactly what I need it to do, so why bother with something that causes extra setup and extra payment, just to keep the car manufacturer happy?

Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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Apple Music With Spatial Audio Now Available in Rivian Vehicles

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