The Irvine-headquartered EV maker Rivian is preparing to roll out its first software update of the year soon.
The company is moving from update 2025.46 — which added Universal Hands-Free driving to Gen 2 vehicles and expanded coverage to 3.5 million miles of mapped roads — directly to version 2026.03.
The release will introduce an Apple Watch app — following the highly awaited Digital Key, released late last year — and new drive modes to several iterations, according to the release notes, as well as fixing cold weather issues.
Kneel Mode
With an X post made on Tuesday, the brand’s Chief Software Officer Wassym Bensaid elaborated on the ‘Kneel Mode’ changes coming in the next update.
The function lowers the height of the R1 to make it easier for people to enter and exit the vehicle. It was first introduced in late 2022.
According to the executive, Rivian is “completely revamping Kneel Mode in the upcoming 2026.03 software update,” for both Gen 1 and Gen 2 vehicles.
This will include an even-‘Lower’ profile, a new UI option for one-tap access within ‘Quick Control’, and will further activate “on-demand at speeds below 20 mph.”
Additionally, ‘Kneel Mode’ is now available “across many ride heights and all on-road drive modes.”
On ‘All-Terrain,’ it will be active “on 15% grades and 25% side tilts.”
These changes were, according to Bensaid, “refined” by Rivian owners’ feedback, which the company takes into account with these updates.
He specifically thanked ‘Cambry’ and Zack Nelson, known on YouTube as ‘JerryRigEverything.’
Drive Modes
Bensaid revealed in mid-December that ‘Launch Mode’ will be added to Quad and Dual Performance first-generation vehicles “early next year.”
The ‘Launch mode’ is designed “for use on a closed circuit track in dry road conditions and provides racing stats for 0-to-60 mph (0-to-100 km/h) and quarter-mile race times, along with visualizations and driver coaching.”
Additionally, the company introduced ‘Sport Mode’ across all Dual-Motor variants, which “prioritizes on-road vehicle performance and optimizes responsiveness and handling in all-wheel drive.”
Cold Weather
With the new update, the company will roll out “cold weather improvements,” as it hopes to address several range issues reported by owners in the past few months.
In late November, a major software bug, which affected an unknown number of Rivian vehicles, displayed incorrect battery charge levels, leaving drivers stranded when their cars ran out of power.
By then, the EV maker urged drivers to install the latest over-the-air update — 2025.38.30 then — and reassured owners that the issue was purely software-related.
However, in late January, the Engineering Team contacted several owners with new guidance, suggesting that previous updates failed to resolve it.
According to the release notes of the upcoming software update, Rivian has “made several improvements to give you better visibility into how cold weather can affect your vehicle range and what you can do to manage it.”
The vehicle — and the mobile app — will now let owners know “when, and by how much,” the range is affected in the cold weather.
Through the “driver display, Energy app, and Rivian mobile app,” the company will “include a battery graphic that uses blue shading to indicate how much energy is temporarily unavailable.”
Owners will receive “preemptive notifications when your vehicle is most susceptible to range loss and when your range has reduced due to the battery becoming cold.”
Additionally, owners can access a guide in the Rivian mobile app, including “information on how to recover range due to cold and other useful tips, like scheduling your drive, using Snow mode, and conditioning the cabin before driving.”
Rivian OS 2.0
Rivian will introduce version 2.0 of its operating system (OS) with the upcoming R2 SUV.
While it will not be rolling out in the next software update, it is expected to be deployed to R1 vehicles later this year, according to Wassym Bensaid earlier this month.
The Software Head was replying to several social media users on both Reddit and X, as the first reviews of the upcoming mid-size SUV were published.
Users on Reddit highlighted a concern first raised by ‘JerryRigEverything’ in his review about a possible issue with the emergency manual door releases in the R2.
Responding to the discussion, Bensaid wrote that Rivian remains confident in its electronic door system.
Despite recent controversies, he stated that the system offers “higher safety capabilities” and includes “more intelligent features than a purely mechanical door.”
