u/LocoLevi

I completely understand why Rivian decided that they needed to introduce their own large language model based voice assistance to the cockpit

I was also made to realize that you could choose between using Alexa and using what Rivian had put together.

It was also made clear that unlike every other Alexa enabled device on the planet Rivian was not going to allow the update, updated Alexa plus to be instituted on their vehicles.

FINE.

However, I spent big money on my Rivian because it had built-in Alexa services. Everyone in tech knows that the car you buys the car you buy anything new is a bonus. You should not expect it. And all that that’s fine. The idea, though that they would take away something that users are still using in order to promote their own product is deeply disturbing— especially when I have to navigate 3+ different permissions screens, demanding data from my driving experience in order to deliver to me a voice assistance that I do not want.

And here’s the context— I’m a parent in my life has much to do with pick up and drop off in my small to medium size town. I’ve picked up the children from one place or I’m dropping them off at another place. I might be driving by the hardware store. I say— “Alexa, what’s on my hardware store list?” and the computer tells me. The list is compiled by what happens when I’m at home and I’ve run out of batteries or I need a new drillbit or my wife would like for me to buy some more tubing for her vegetable garden. So I say what’s on the hardware list and it reads it back to me and if it’s something that I have to get relatively immediately, I can always stop and get it while I’m on the way to picking up or dropping off.

There’s a grocery list. There’s a pharmacy list. There’s a Costco list. The amount of friction that the list system eliminates in the lives of a household is incredible. I don’t have to sit in my house and get on my phone and order something from the supermarket if I know I’m gonna drive by and I can just ask and make that stop.

Anything to not be on my phone.
I’m gonna repeat that
Anything to not be on my phone.

On top of that, I could be pulling away from the driveway and noticed that my kid left their light on in their room and simply say turn off the child’s light. And it’s off.

The thing that having Alexa in the car did was connect the connected car car to the rest of my connected technology life.

There are no hooks into anything, — Google Home, Apple, Home including Home Assistant— with the Rivian Assistant. I can’t access anything that isn’t already involved or tied to the car.

This takes us back 15 years.

I don’t need to ask my Carr about random things and have a conversation with it. But I do need to make sure my thermostat is where I want it. I do need to be able to check the temperature in the baby’s room when I’m about to pull out and drive away for date night with my wife while the babysitter is keeping an eye on the kids. And the fact that I can do that with just my voice instead of having to pull out, my phone is a big deal. And I shouldn’t have to stick an echo auto somewhere inside my minimalist car situation in order to have that functionality when I already paid for it.

And let’s be clear— I paid a lot for it.

I’m not looking for sympathy, but this is a form where we talk about how we feel about the car and I just felt this needed to be expressed. Until a Rivian assistant can hook into my connected home. It is inferior in terms of my case.

Basically, The Gen 2 hardware would not be the limiting factor; in many areas (resolution, redundancy, compute) it is actually more capable on paper.

The main “bottlenecks” would shift from hardware to data scale, model training, and certification/regulatory rather than sensors or TOPS.

Tesla still ahead today because Tesla’s HW4 is paired with a much more mature behavior‑cloning‑style stack and enormous real‑world data volume, so even though Rivian’s sensors and nVidia Orin‑based compute are strong, Tesla’s software is the current performance ceiling.

The bottom line: I’ve heard that the ambition for Gen2 went from “Point to Point” in early 2025 to “on ramp to off ramp” in the last several weeks. But there’s no reason Rivian R1 Gen2 and early R2 (No LiDAR) vehicle owners should be limited from local, turn by turn, point to point autonomy.

Is it crazy to be annoyed by this change of tune by Rivian leadership?