Rivian Brings Apple Music to All Trucks and SUVs Starting Today

Apple and Rivian today jointly announced that Apple Music audio streaming technology is now available to all current Rivian vehicle owners via an over-the-air update.

This update, available today, lets users connect their phone to the R1T truck or R1S SUV and stream the Apple Music catalog, which includes 100 million songs. Much of the catalog includes surround sound and supports Dolby Atmos.

“We are incredibly excited to bring Apple Music to Rivian,” said Oliver Schusser, vice president of Apple Music and Beats. Newsweek in an exclusive interview. “What’s exciting about this is not only do we have native integration with Rivian using their platform, but we’ll also have Spatial Audio integration… It’s a premium car with premium sound. We have a premium music service.”

In addition to a wide selection of songs, Apple Music users have access to over 30,000 professionally prepared playlists, can listen to live radio stations, and more.

Apple Music customers are at the forefront of in-car listening with Spatial Audio. More than 90 percent of Apple Music listeners have experienced the technology, and Spatial Audio accounts for nearly a third of all streams on the streaming service. The number of songs available on Spatial Audio has more than quadrupled in the past two years.

Catalogs including The Rolling Stones and the Beatles have been reissued, optimized for surround sound.

“If you look back at the history of music, sound and technology, long before any of us came along, we went from mono to stereo, and then, ironically, for about 60 years there was nothing else,” Schusser said.

“A lot of companies have tried to reinvent the audio standard format and they’ve failed,” he said, explaining that those old types of technology only work over wired connections, while Spatial Audio works over the air, allowing a wireless connection to transmit sound. “Unlike stereo, where the music just comes from basically two places, (with) Spatial Audio the music can come from all directions,” Schusser said.

Dolby Atmos technology processes surround sound and enhances it for an even more immersive experience.

“It’s really, really spectacular,” Schusser said.

Apple Music is being added to Rivian vehicles via an over-the-air software update. All first-generation vehicles can install the software. Second-generation models with Rivian Premium Audio, a $1,750 upgrade that includes an 18-speaker, 960-watt surround-sound system, are eligible to download the software.

All Rivian models feature a modem for over-the-air updates, live navigation, remote vehicle control via an app, phone as a key technology, Alexa Basic to control the car’s audio system, and the ability to connect the vehicle to an external Wi-Fi network.

Rivian Connect+ goes a step further, enabling in-vehicle hotspots, satellite imagery, Alexa Connected voice commands, streaming data for music apps like Apple Music, and Gear Guard Live Cam, a camera system that helps users monitor the status of their gear on the go.

With Connect+, owners can also add apps like Spotify, Tidal and YouTube to their infotainment system.

The automaker’s infotainment system doesn’t support Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, but it does allow you to use many of those systems’ features in the vehicle using Rivian-branded software.

Rivian’s Connect+ technology costs $14.99 per month or $149.99 per year. A free two-month trial of Connect+ is included with every Rivian vehicle purchase, along with a 90-day free subscription to Apple Music.

Apple Music subscription requires an additional fee.

“Both companies were committed to bringing the best possible in-car entertainment experience to the world,” said Wassym Bensaid, chief software officer at Rivian Newsweek“With the rich catalog and library and then the surround sound experience… the depth of the experience that we now get with Dolby Atmos, your car becomes the best possible theater in which to enjoy your entertainment and enjoy the streaming audio experience.”