> I think Rivian is disguising a hidden factor: CarPlay prohibits vehicle manufacturers from collecting metrics and selling anonymized or identified user activity data, and this loss of telematics data / income stream is unacceptable to manufacturers (for example, GM*) who see the smart TV business making billions on that precise data.

The car's own cellular connection can still report large amounts of telemetry, such as the car's location in real time, how many people are in it, etc. And if modern cars are anything like smart TVs, send "content recognition" screenshots home to infer what drivers use the onboard screen for.

I refuse to drive a car without first unplugging the cell modem; this is more or less easy depending on the make and model, so do your research.

This is all true, but has little to do with CarPlay in specific — except for the content recognition bit, which, yes, that’s exactly why the careful phrasing around the microphone. I endorse the fight against continuous telematics but I’m only addressing Rivian’s obtuse refusals of CarPlay and how to force one likely intention into the open (and thus discussion of whether Apple’s flat refusal to allow telemetry sharing for such purposes is appropriate!), rather than trying to boil the full ‘fuck telemetry’ ocean in a CarPlay post.