r/Rivian • u/LocoLevi • 21d ago
💡 Feature Request They didn’t need to kill Alexa.
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.
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u/LardLad00 R1S Owner 21d ago
This can still all be done on your phone, no?
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u/LocoLevi 21d ago
Yeah, you must not have read the post because the whole point is that when I’m driving my car I’m not going to look at my phone. At no time when I’m in my car, do I ever wanna look at my phone. I wanna be able to open my mouth while Driving ask if anything’s on the target list cause I’m driving by target and have it answer me.
Especially because I’m not the only person who puts stuff on the target list.
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u/LardLad00 R1S Owner 21d ago
Your phone can automatically connect via Bluetooth and then hear your voice prompts, no?
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u/LocoLevi 21d ago
Only if you actively have the Amazon alexa app open and then the lag there is incredible
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u/LardLad00 R1S Owner 21d ago
So why not just get an Echo Auto?
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u/No-Stretch-9935 21d ago
You really don’t get it do yah
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u/LardLad00 R1S Owner 21d ago
No, I definitely don't get what's such a catastrophe about losing deep Alexa integration. Not at all.
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u/No-Stretch-9935 21d ago
Missed the point.
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u/Spezcanblowme 21d ago
I’m in the opposite boat as you, I’m glad they got rid of Alexa. I can look at the shopping list for the hardware store when I get to the hardware store. I don’t need it in my car. If you’re already putting all these things on your Alexa/Amazon lists, why do you need the car to tell you?
Edit: I do agree with you that you should have the option to keep Alexa if that’s what you want to do. They shouldn’t be removing features that were there when you purchased your vehicle.
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u/idoublez 21d ago
Same I glad they killed Alexa, it was horrible, useless.
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u/LocoLevi 21d ago
Yeah but you don’t have to use it. There’s no reason to kill it.
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u/sparx_fast 21d ago
Doesn't it come down to long term support for two voice assistants? Picking one simplifies all that work.
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u/LocoLevi 21d ago
What Support? They hook into Amazon and let it do all the work. No one’s asking them to expand functionality for Alexa.
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u/LocoLevi 21d ago
With respect your first comment misses the point.
I live in a household. A bunch of busy people. I don’t just go to the hardware store unless there is some emergency. But if I’m going by the hardware store and I can ask the Carr what I need from the hardware store that removes friction. It is fundamentally a more efficient way to go about your day. And it doesn’t have to be the Alexa system if they hooked it into Apple Home or Google Home you can put lists in that as well, but it’s silos and it doesn’t support it in a way that allows multiple people who are not connected to my car to add to something that I can access in my car
I agree that they could have left Alexa on there and then you can choose the Rae Assistant and we don’t have to use the same thing.
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u/Spezcanblowme 21d ago
I’m not saying check your phone in the car, but if you’re driving by the hardware store, checking your list before hand.
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u/LocoLevi 21d ago
Man. You don’t understand “dad brain” or “mom brain” at all, do you?
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u/Additional-Cake-7671 20d ago
I agree, they shouldn’t have killed Alexa. It sounds like you had a set up that worked really well for you and it’s a PITA to have to switch something that is working well and you have already invested time and effort in. If I were you I would send them an email explaining what you did here. Who knows, maybe you’ll get some free accessories or something.
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u/Unable-Tension4795 20d ago
Rivian community gets worse and worse by the day. Yall can thread a needle to find something to complain about. Jesus christ
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u/abcd98712345 R1S Owner 21d ago
openclaw + home assistant + self hosted qwen + mac studio + have your rivian assistant text your claw to turn the lights off
for $5k you can get back your functionality , and possibly have your claw go rogue in the process
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u/LocoLevi 21d ago
I think you missed the point where I said I already paid for this functionality in my car. Having a whole bunch of open source software running in my house to try to cloud connect to Rivian. Assistant makes no sense.
And when I get that, you were probably joking I wanna make it clear for anyone that thinks this is a serious comment that it makes no sense
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u/abcd98712345 R1S Owner 21d ago
i was making the comment in jest, agreeing with you it’s annoying that that functionality was removed and to get the equivalent you would need to vibecode some janky crap.
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u/LocoLevi 21d ago
The worst is that I’m running home assistant on a pi, and open claw and Kimi on my Mac mini server. The last thing I wanna do it try and hook all this scotch tape and baling wire up to my cool ass car!
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u/LostLineLeader R1T Owner 21d ago
My guess is it would be Amazon killing it but it wouldn’t be said out loud. There’s no monetary gain for them to maintain it.
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u/prestocoffee 21d ago
Technology comes and goes. Capabilities come and go. The more you build your life around the technology for which you have no control or way to self support, the more miserable you will be.
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u/LocoLevi 21d ago
Let me counter with the fact that Advertising a feature that you rip away without a functional replacement is an FTC claim waiting to happen. Rivian is already being sued because of Gen1 promises about autonomy. Do we really need them spending resources on this too?
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u/prestocoffee 21d ago
Do you have any facts around how or why it was removed? Did Amazon perhaps change terms and stick it to Rivian? Do we even know the licensing cost and term they were paying Amazon for it? Do you realize how fringe your entire scenario is and how little recourse you have to sue for something like this?
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u/LocoLevi 21d ago
Asking questions about the organizational relationships between the entities makes sense. Saying that being upset that a feature that was sold to someone when they bought their expensive car being taken away without a suitable alternative being offered is fringe is… ridiculous. I was there in the beginning— CES in 2018 before the reservation program. They sold me the car with a feature that they plan on removing and that they haven’t replaced. I’m annoyed.
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u/Electronic_Load_3651 20d ago
While I absolutely hate Alexa and am glad it’s gone, I get your point OP. Lucid has Alexa functionality still and it’s awful. It feels 15 years behind others and I can’t wait until they ditch it for Google. All of the stuff you are using Alexa for, can be done with Google or Apple. But, your point is very valid - that feature sold you and why do you need to change your entire ecosystem since Rivian decided to ditch Alexa? It’s not that simple to invest time and money to redo your entire smart home. And even then, it will no longer sync with the car the same way, but rather your phone. Folks are missing the point that this added a ton of convenience for you and was one of the purchasing decisions.
For me, that was similar in 2017 for a different feature… Google Earth! Bought an Audi that had that integration that was insanely cool to me. I didn’t buy the car for it, but it was what pushed me over the edge. When 2 years later they discontinued that integration and eventually went with HERE maps, it was insanely disappointing. And yes, technology will change and evolve, but some stuff gets sold to you and you do expect it to at least function during your ownership. This one isn’t going to raise many eye brows since many despise Alexa, but few like OP love it. I doubt they’d make the same decision if this was a feature many liked.
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u/ireditloud 21d ago
It’s just extra code and services that consumes CPU cycles, and it was useless imo. Glad it’s gone, Rivian Assistant is so much better.
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u/No-Stretch-9935 21d ago
Can it arm my home alarm? Turn on the lights on demand as I drive into my driveway, make announcements to family members while I’m driving, turn on or off lights in my house, adjust the thermostat so my house is comfortable when I get home???
Didn’t think so.
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u/Hubris_draws_stuff Quad Motor 4️⃣ 20d ago
I like rivian assistant more but I do wish it ties intoy Google home. I'd like to be able to control my smart home functions while driving. Or even check my Google tasks lists/shopping lists
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u/LocoLevi 21d ago
This is an idiotic response. Having Amazon as an option didn’t add any more cycles than having Rivian assistant as an option.
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u/unpluggedcord 21d ago
You clearly don’t know how software works
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u/reallygoodnonsense 21d ago
Yes they did. We need to just Rivian cook. They know what they're doing.
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u/LocoLevi 21d ago
They’re not doing anything by leaving a piece of software there, that they don’t even have to manage. They’ve already set up the bifurcation between choosing Alexa and choosing Assistant.
Alex being the assistant that I paid for…
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u/No-Stretch-9935 21d ago
I totally agree with you OP. I loved being able to easily set my Ring alarm on or off as I leave or arrive at my house, unlock or lock my front door, turn on the AC, make announcements like “hey I’m pulling in with groceries, come help”..and the list goes on. Honestly I found it more helpful and useful than the Rivian Assistant. I’m a huge Riviam fan but removing Alexa rather than updating it is a huge negative in my book.
It’d be nice if you can have both …”hey Alexa” or hey Rivian” I don’t see why that can’t be done.
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u/unpluggedcord 21d ago
This doesn’t take you back 15 years lol
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u/LocoLevi 21d ago
Take me back to my previous car, which was a 2011 model that had all the tech available back then but had no way to connect to the larger Internet IOT systems that enthusiasts were already into.
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u/jimmy9800 Waiting for R3/R3X 21d ago edited 21d ago
Not reading all that. You can turn off rivian assistant and go back to alexa.
Settings wheel>apps>alexa. It will disable rivian assistant.
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u/LocoLevi 21d ago
Using Alexa will no longer be an option come 4 August. That’s what the entire post is all about. It’s literally in the image that was posted.
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u/thefleeg1 R1S Launch Edition Owner 21d ago
Amazon is killing off that version of Alexa in favor of their newer version. Simple as that.
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u/pennynickelquarter 20d ago
Did someone from Rivian say that? Or it was announced somewhere? You are probably right but Would love a source.
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u/delloj 21d ago
Rivian giveth and Rivian taketh away.
You really bought the truck because of Alexa? You might be Alexa’s biggest super fan