Rivian will bring its AI voice assistant to the R2 in the SUV’s next software update, Chief Software Officer Wassym Bensaid announced, after the feature missed the summer launch the company had set.
“Rivian Assistant coming to R2 in next OTA update!” Bensaid wrote on X on Friday, using the abbreviation for over-the-air.
He listed “full vehicle controls, personalized memory, and native integration with Google Calendar and Gmail.”
Bensaid gave neither a date nor a version number for the update, and Rivian has not yet published release notes for it.
Rivian said on September 29 that a live cabin camera for pets is also “coming in the next software update” for the R2, again without a date.
The update is expected to roll out in the coming days.
Bensaid wrote in September that this year’s Halloween-themed update “will be epic this year… and early”, and its Halloween features have arrived between October 18 and October 25 in each of the past four years.
Later Than Rivian Said
Rivian tied the Assistant to the R2 when it first presented the feature, at its Autonomy & AI Day on December 11, 2025.
“At launch, R2 will have a powerful infotainment computer that will enable the Rivian Assistant to run entirely offline, achieving higher performance and lower latency,” the company wrote that day.
“Finally, in the coming weeks, we are excited to launch the Rivian Assistant on R1 and R2 vehicles,” Founder and Chief Executive Officer RJ Scaringe said on the first-quarter earnings call on April 30.
Owners of the R1T pickup and R1S SUV received it in update 2026.15 in May, after Rivian had promised it for early 2026.
The R2 reached external customers on June 9 without it, and Rivian’s press release that day described the Assistant as “launching on R2 later this summer.”
A day later, Bensaid wrote on X that Rivian had “intentionally decided to release few features later to have the best quality” and that they were coming “through our monthly OTA updates this summer.”
The R2’s first major update, 2026.24, arrived on July 15 with Pet Comfort Mode and Gear Guard, and without the Assistant.
The next, 2026.31, followed on September 4 and carried the R2’s operating system to every R1, again without the Assistant for the newer model.
Bensaid’s post came 115 days (nearly four months) after the first customer deliveries, with the summer over.
Rivian’s R2 web page says that the AI-powered voice assistant “helps you with daily tasks and gets smarter over time.”
What R2 Owners Will Get
Gmail is new to Rivian’s public description of the feature.
When the Assistant launched on the R1 in May, Rivian said its “first external agentic integration is with Google Calendar” and did not mention email.
On the R1, the Assistant responds to “Hey, Rivian” or “Okay, Rivian,” controls climate, navigation, media, calls and messages, and answers questions drawn from the owner’s guide.
Rivian has presented the R2’s hardware as the difference between the two versions.
The R2 carries “200 sparse TOPS of edge AI compute dedicated to the in-cabin experience,” the company said in June, enough for the Assistant “to smoothly run complex tasks locally on the edge, even if the vehicle is offline.”
TOPS stands for trillions of operations per second.
Bensaid’s post did not say whether that offline capability will be part of the coming update.
A Paid Feature on the R1
Rivian said in May that connected features, “including the full capabilities of Rivian Assistant, are in English only” and limited to owners who subscribe to its Connect+ plan or are in a trial.
Connect+ costs $14.99 a month or $149.99 a year.
Rivian retired Amazon’s Alexa from all its vehicles on August 4, telling owners to “make the switch to Rivian Assistant.”
Bensaid did not say whether the R2 version will require the subscription, though Rivian’s page for the plan lists the Assistant among the features it includes.
How Many Owners Are Waiting
Rivian does not break out R2 deliveries, so the number of owners without the feature is not public.
A recall filing showed the company had built at least 2,481 R2s by August 10.
The highest vehicle identification number linked by owners to the tracker Rivian Roamer passed 13,000 on September 29, an indication of production sequence, not of deliveries or of total output.
Cantor Fitzgerald listed the Assistant’s launch on the R2 among Rivian’s near-term catalysts in a note on Friday, saying it expected it in the second half of 2026.
Rivian will hold its second Autonomy & AI Day on December 9 in San Francisco, a year after it first showed the Assistant.
