Earlier this year, I leased a Rivian. I’m a little embarrassed by it. I’ve never had a car this fancy, and for that matter, I’ve never leased a car before. However, it was a good deal, and I’ve finally paid off the kids’ college expenses. So daddy got a treat.

I love almost everything about this car, except the lack of CarPlay. I knew going in that CarPlay wasn’t available and that the built-in infotainment system was professionally designed and integrated. I also noticed that in many ways the Rivian system is more attractive than CarPlay.

Now that I’ve had it six months, I can tell you the lack of CarPlay is a problem. There are certain CarPlay features, like text alerts and ETA sharing, that the Rivian system, as pretty as it is, just doesn’t support.

Nevertheless, I really admire the company and its founder, RJ Scaringe. Their headquarters isn’t far from my home. Also, I understand why they’re not supporting CarPlay. The company has an ethic very similar to Apple, and if Apple made a car, they wouldn’t use somebody else’s system either.

But every time RJ gets on a podcast or in front of a reporter and explains how he thinks they don’t need CarPlay, I cringe a little. If they’re going to take a pass on using CarPlay, then they absolutely need to match the CarPlay feature set. And they haven’t done that yet. Some of these missing features are promised for future releases, though not all of them. (Don’t even get me started on the Rivian’s Alexa integration, which performs the herculean task of making Siri look good and reliable.)

Another reason this is frustrating is that my non-geek wife understands CarPlay and uses it all the time. When she drives the Rivian, she has no clue how to get directions or play her music. The ubiquity of CarPlay makes it easier for novice users to get what they need while hurtling down the road.

So while I understand Rivian’s desire to not be dependent on other companies like Apple, I think my Rivian would be even better if I had at least the option to use CarPlay.