That aside, what about safely messaging people, listening to my audiobooks/podcasts in my app of choice, and interacting with the apps and shortcuts on my phone through Siri?
It's the wrong choice IMO.
To be clear, I know Bluetooth audio is available. But having everything on the screen makes it easier.
I can't speak for Rivan's dev team's plans, but all the big car manufacturers have a voice command feature. How well it works is a different question. Siri is....how do I say this politely. Siri is best used in very specific circumstances for specific tasks. I can't imagine Rivian isn't looking to compete with the features Siri offers in those particular circumstances.
If it were GM or a different legacy automaker we were discussing here, I'd have different things to say, but Rivian isn't one of the big three.
CarPlay is purely additive.
As much as I complain about all the crap Apple gets wrong, no car manufacturer will beat them on UI or the choice of apps.
Er, what? My EV integrates with CarPlay. Apple Maps does route planning (including charging stops) based on the car's current and projected SoC. It even automatically updates the charging plan on the fly if/when conditions change.
CarPlay literally already does all the things you claim it can't do. On cars not built by Rivian, of course.