From Our friends over at reddit. Confirming that CY and 20" Brights are RIP. Weirdness with Rivian excluding FG color combinations, and maybe the vegan leather dash is not dead after all? Rivian R1T bed camera control coming soon - so is a clock in the dash! Also - video streaming maybe...

Weekly Rivian Responds

Special Edition! Configuration Updates

This week, there was a good amount of confusion surrounding discontinued configuration options and delivery timelines. Candidly, the messages were pretty confusing as we tried to piece together emails from different folks. We went to go talk to Rivian directly to figure out exactly what was going on. Here are the facts:

  • Compass Yellow is discontinued. RIP.
  • 20" All Terrain Bright Wheels are discontinued.
  • The ability to take delivery of Red Canyon combined with Forest Edge Interior has been discontinued (not the individual colors)
  • The ability to take delivery of Rivian Blue combined with Forest Edge Interior has been discontinued (not the individual colors)
  • There will be an update to vegan leather dashboard options in mid-September that will affect delivery timelines and require preorder holders to make updates to their configuration. We don’t know what these changes are yet, the impact they’ll have, or which preorder holders are impacted.
    • We (and the community) previously believed that the vegan leather dash options were being discontinued. That’s not the case apparently.

Rivian Responds

Phew! Now let’s get into the questions from last time. Please note that there will be a delay for the next Rivian Responds, but we can ask up to ten questions this time. Make them good ones!

To get your questions answered, comment below within 48hrs of this post going up.

Please remember that Rivian is a publicly traded company, so you may not get the detail you want about upcoming product, feature, or software timelines. Of course always ask what’s most important, but for more detailed answers, try to ask questions about vehicle capability, choices already made (eg, design), or about the company in general.

  • What’s the status of hands free highway assist and lane change assist that have long been shown on the website as driver+ features?
    • These features are still in development – no details to share on timing quite yet.
  • What’s the latest on thermal throttle during DC fast charging? Do we think existing models are ever going to get a software update to allow them to handle 220+ kw for a sustained period of time? Or is this as good as it gets until new physical battery cooling improvements are implemented?
    • Our 2023.30 OTA noted some recent improvements we’ve made to our thermal management systems. We’ll continue to optimize the fast-charging performance of our vehicles over time.
  • Any chance of getting the option to switch the rear camera view to the bed camera on the R1T? It would be great to have that option when using a hitch bike rack, when driving with the tailgate down, or when you want to check on cargo in the bed.
    • Owner access to the R1T bed camera will be enabled in the upcoming months!
  • When are we going to see improvements to the apps like Alexa, Spotify, Tidal, Netflix, Apple Music etc? And when will we see more apps?
    • We’ll improve existing apps over time – we’re also in the process of adding video streaming capabilities to our vehicles. We’ll launch video streaming as soon as it meets our standards for performance, stability and user experience.
  • Is it possible to get a compass and clock displayed on the driver screen in future updates?
    • We’re currently exploring similar functionality for the driver and center display, as well as other customization for our owners. More to come here.

Lastly, I wanted to quickly acknowledge the questions we keep receiving about the tonneau cover fix. We… know. Rivian knows too. The latest update is “Summer 2023” which continues through the end of September.

Rivian Roundup

  • Service delays and continued time in the shop hit a chord in the community this week. One user asked for help about Lemon Laws and what to do.
    • Note: This week I passed along a lot of the community’s feedback to the service folks given that my truck was in the shop for 3.5 weeks. I was unhappy and I wasn’t the only one who experienced this. No news to share other than I communicated that the community is feeling pretty aggravated when it comes to service and that a miss on tonneau fixes would result in some lost support.
  • Two cents on the R1S drove (get it? please clap) a bunch of discussion. Super fair feedback!
  • So long, Compass Yellow. We love you. We will miss you. BUT! Congratulations to everyone with another special color! Launch Green owners welcome you with open arms.
  • Okay, Amish kids checking out the R1T wasn’t on my list of things I needed to see, but turns out I did. They’re fascinated by it.
  • Navigation complaints (and support) is a trending topic seemingly every week! People seem to agree that it’s getting better, but still isn’t all the way there when it comes to route planning.
  • The price comparison of the R1S to the Model X makes the R1S seem very, very worth it.