Rivian‘s Chief Software Officer Wassym Bensaid confirmed on Wednesday that the company’s next-generation operating system will arrive on every R1 vehicle — including first-generation models — through an over-the-air update tagged 2026.31.
“We rebuilt the R1 experience from the ground up, faster and more intuitive,” Bensaid wrote. “Rivian OS 2 arrives on R1 Gen 1 and Gen 2 with the 2026.31 OTA update.”
Rivian has not disclosed a rollout date for the update.
Bensaid stated in February and repeated during a Reddit AMA session in May, that the overhaul of the operating system would reach R1S and R1T models “later this year.”
Wednesday’s announcement reveals that both generations will get it in the upcoming update.
R2 Software Glitch
The confirmation lands one day after an R2 owner spotted an R1 vehicle model rendering inside the R2’s infotainment screen, suggesting Rivian had already begun merging code and visual assets between platforms.
An image shared on X by user ‘Kanundrum17’ showed the R2’s navigation view displaying the boxier silhouette of an R1 rather than the R2’s rounded profile — a rendering discrepancy consistent with a unified codebase pulling from a shared asset library.
RivianOS 2.0 debuted on the R2 at launch, replacing the R1’s horizontal navigation bar with a vertical sidebar and introducing multi-panel layering.
Gen 1 Hardware
Bensaid’s announcement confirms that the update will reach all R1 vehicles, a significant commitment given the substantial hardware gap between the two generations.
First-generation R1 vehicles — built through model year 2024 — run a domain-based architecture with 17 separate electronic control units, each dedicated to a single function.
Advanced driver-assistance on Gen 1 relies on Mobileye’s off-the-shelf system, which limits those vehicles to the basic Driver+ suite and excludes them from every Autonomy+ feature Rivian has shipped since the platform split.
Second-generation R1 vehicles, by contrast, consolidated to a seven-ECU zonal layout and introduced dual Nvidia Drive AGX Orin processors, delivering roughly ten times the processing power of their predecessors.
Gen 2 hardware enables features such as Universal Hands-Free highway driving and the broader Autonomy+ stack that Gen 1 cannot support.
Rivian has not detailed which RivianOS 2.0 features will be available across both generations.
The R2 adds a further 200 sparse TOPS of Edge AI compute dedicated to the cabin experience, the layer that powers the Rivian Assistant’s more advanced capabilities, for instance.
Whether Gen 1 vehicles will receive a full UI overhaul with reduced functionality or a more limited subset of the new interface remains unclear.
The question of feature parity has been a recurring concern within the owner community.
During the May AMA, Bensaid described the goal as creating “a core software Operating System that provides a unified brand experience irrespective of the hardware that may differ between vehicle platforms.”
The framing suggests Rivian intends to adapt the software layer to each hardware tier rather than deliver an identical feature set across all vehicles.
R1 Update Cadence
Rivian shipped four R1 feature versions in 2026 through mid-August — 2026.03 in January, 2026.07 in April, 2026.15 in May and 2026.23 in August — against 11 over-the-air updates across all of 2025, a figure Bensaid cited during the AMA.
The slower pace may reflect engineering resources shifting toward the RivianOS 2.0 port.
The most recent R1 update — version 2026.23, launched earlier this month — expanded Lane Change on Command beyond freeways for Gen 2 vehicles and added Rivian Assistant memory, improved charger search and draft service request capabilities for both Gen 1 and Gen 2 models.
The R2 received its first software update a month ago, after deliveries and invitations to order started out on June 9.
Bensaid deliberately launched the R2 without several familiar software features to protect quality, committing in June to deliver them through monthly over-the-air updates.
The R2 has since received Launch Mode, Pet Comfort, Gear Guard and garage-door pairing through a subsequent OTA release.
Cross-Platform Cohesion
Late on Tuesday — hours before Bensaid’s post — Rivian‘s Chief Design Officer Jeff Hammoud posted on LinkedIn praising the design and software teams’ work on the R2 user interface and mobile app.
“What makes me most proud is the design cohesion we’ve achieved across every touchpoint,” Hammoud wrote, as they’ve unified “the vehicle displays, web, and mobile experience into one inviting, fun, and intuitive design language.”
The executive credited Bensaid’s software engineering teams for turning “ambitious ideas into reality,” describing the collaboration between the design studio and engineering as proof of “just how powerful tight collaboration can be.”
As of press time, Rivian was trading 3.7% higher at $15.32.
