EV maker Rivian is preparing to replace Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant with Google’s Gemini artificial intelligence platform in its electric vehicles.
Earlier this week, Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe announced plans to introduce a voice-to-text feature while reaffirming the company’s decision to forgo Apple CarPlay integration.
According to a forum post by an owner who accessed a beta version of the company’s software earlier this year, the Irvine-headquartered company will also launch a voice-to-text integration with a wake-word ‘Ok, Rivian.’
Images posted on the Rivian Forum show a hidden “Secret VA Debug Menu” inside the infotainment system where “Gemini” is listed as the LLM (large language model) provider, confirming Rivian‘s shift toward Google’s AI technology.
The menu allows developers to “use Gemini for LLM calls,” suggesting Rivian is testing Google Cloud’s generative AI capabilities to power its next-generation voice assistant.
The screenshots also reveal new user interface elements labeled “Rivian Assistant,” complete with a wake-word setting (“OK, Rivian”), voice-to-text integration.
The voice commands listed as examples on the screen include: “Send a text to Jenny,” “Find coffee shops near me,” “Turn up the temperature,” “How do I add wiper fluid,” and “Open the front trunk.”
A separate debug screen lists system message topics, including Messaging, Transcription, Dialog Speech, Navigation, and Text to Speech.
The new assistant appears to offer broader functionality than the Alexa-based system currently available in Rivian’s R1T and R1S vehicles, including messaging, navigation, and media control without external platforms like Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.
The founder and CEO RJ Scaringe said this week on The Verge’s Decoder podcast that the company remains opposed to integrating Apple’s CarPlay, calling Rivian’s proprietary software “a seamless digital experience” built for the brand’s own ecosystem.
The owner, writing under the handle cohall on the Rivian Forum, said a glitch in the company’s June software update (version 2025.18) granted early access to the beta integration.
“It shows text message handling capability being offered as part of the Gemini integration,” the user wrote, adding that Alexa “was a decent middle ground, but not capable of the things Rivian was trying to implement going forward.”
Rivian has not confirmed if Gemini will be limited to the upcoming second-generation R1 models or also extend to the first-generation R1T and R1S trucks.
