Rivian's software chief thinks you don't need CarPlay or buttons | Decoder

Our guest today is Wassym Bensaid, the chief software officer at Rivian, and the co-ceo of Rivian’s platform joint venture with Volkswagen. That joint venture, called RV Tech, is about a year and a half old, so we wanted to ask Wassym how it all works and Rivian’s ongoing relationship with Volkswagen.

Because it’s Rivian, we also had to ask Wassym about CarPlay. But the company also just launched an AI-powered voice assistant, which Nilay got to try early. So he had a lot of fun digging into that with Wassym, too. #cars #evs #rivian #carplay #auto

0:00 – Intro
1:00 – Welcome to Decoder
3:47 – Interview begins: Wassym's role at Rivian & RV Tech
5:05 – How does RV Tech work? Rivian vs. joint venture software
7:52 – What does "software-defined vehicle" actually mean?
15:50 – How is RV Tech structured?
16:36 – The OS and its expressions across brands (Audi, Scout, Lamborghini)
19:16 – EVs vs. gas cars: is the JV only for EVs?
20:46 – How big is RV Tech?
26:34 – How Wassym makes decisions (one-way vs. two-way doors)
29:00 – Building your own AI vs. using third-party solutions
30:06 – Rivian Assistant hands-on: first impressions
33:47 – What Rivian Assistant can and can't do (safety limits)
39:05 – Buttons vs. voice: the 2024 controversy revisited
39:02 – What is "agentic" integration? (Google Calendar demo)
42:08 – Where does the logic live? Ambient computing in cars
43:56 – Is Rivian Assistant exclusive to Rivian or coming to VW?
47:06 – Local inference in the car: compute budget & bill of materials
52:38 – Buttons revisited: do you still think they're an anomaly?
54:10 – CarPlay: why Rivian won't add it (and what comes instead)
1:03:44 – Wrap-up

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