"Rivian Declares War On Physical Buttons”

[Rivian Blue]

This article is either poor journalism or blatant attempt at click bait. It saddens me to see we still have journalists like this who twist stories to suit their narrative just so they could have a large audience.

Rivian unveils R2 electric SUV: surprises with cheaper price and a 'one more thing'

Rivian has unveiled the R2 electric SUV, its next-generation electric vehicle, and there were a few surprises despite some leaks...

electrek.co

While Wassym did give indications that voice control will/should be more impactful in the future I don’t think his intent was to state Rivian hates all buttons nor thats its going to happen anytime soon. And he does state it needs to be a blend where there are multi modal options. Personally I don’t think voice works for all functions in all use cases, which is why multi modal is the way to go. But who knows how technology will evolve.

Tesla has gone too far under the guise of minimalism, which is often times a veiled cost cutting effort. In my opinion Rivian has a good blend of touch and tactile with screen and buttons. And I think the upcoming scroll wheel they showed in the R2 is the right blend of software and hardware working together to simplify but enhance user interaction.