Rivian’s software boss is ‘super excited’ about third-party apps

Date:

Share post:


Rivian’s chief software officer Wassym Bensaid opened up at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 last week about his thoughts on physical buttons (“an anomaly“) and how his company will help power VW offshoot Scout’s EVs. But there’s one other item on his to-do list that he’s “super excited” about: making Rivian’s vehicles work with third-party app developers.

“Eventually I see us delivering APIs and having an ecosystem of partners who develop their own apps, and I’m super excited to see those,” Bensaid told TechCrunch on the sidelines of the event.

Rivian embracing a third-party developer ecosystem helps explain why it’s been so vocal about not integrating phone mirroring features like CarPlay. Like General Motors, Rivian hopes to not only customize its in-car experience, but create a software environment where all kinds of different applications can work with and on the vehicle’s software, potentially leading to new revenue opportunities.

Tesla quietly launched a formal API in late 2023 that has allowed developers to build tightly integrated applications. For instance, TezLab is a company that has a Strava-like phone app that lets Tesla owners see all kinds of statistics about their vehicle’s drives, battery health, and more.

Bensaid said Rivian has already spoken with TezLab (Rivian vehicles are already available on TezLab’s platform) and that the automaker is “talking with others,” though he declined to name them. He said Rivian still has some work to do to achieve a more robust and well-documented software development kit for developers to play with — something he said he thinks is maybe just a few “quarters” of engineering work away.

“I am a big believer in working with the ecosystem, working with open source, enabling other developers to be creative, and also tell us and inform us of how we can improve things,” he said.



Source link

Lisa Holden
Lisa Holden
Lisa Holden is a news writer for LinkDaddy News. She writes health, sport, tech, and more. Some of her favorite topics include the latest trends in fitness and wellness, the best ways to use technology to improve your life, and the latest developments in medical research.

Recent posts

Related articles

ePlane looks to ride the Indian government’s interest in air taxis with new $14M round

Soaring private vehicle ownership and declining use of public and non-motorized transport have created mounting traffic congestion...

Apple faces UK ‘iCloud monopoly’ compensation claim worth $3.8 billion

U.K. consumer rights group ‘Which?’ is filing a legal claim against Apple under competition law on behalf...

What’s DOGE? Musk’s new political appointment under Trump is a crypto joke

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that one of his top donors, Elon Musk, will co-lead the...

Apple’s AI-powered Final Cut Pro 11 is now available

It’s been 13 years since Apple released Final Cut X. That’s just over half of the video-editing...

OpenAI’s take on AI agents could come in January

OpenAI could release an “AI agent” tool as soon as January. That’s according to Bloomberg, which reports...

Don Lemon leaves X, the platform he nearly had a video show with

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon said on Wednesday he is leaving Elon Musk’s X, a decision made...

Amazon scraps secret fertility-tracking project

Amazon has shut down a four-year-old secret program working on a fertility monitoring device and accompanying smartphone...

Wing begins delivering blood samples via drone in London

Alphabet X spinoff Wing on Wednesday confirmed that it has started delivering blood samples via drone. The...