Rivian is developing two new modes, a Teen Mode that will let owners limit horsepower and block off-road modes for young drivers, and a Valet Mode that can lock the front trunk and gloveboxes, Chief Software Officer Wassym Bensaid told The Drive.
“We got that feedback from the community. The only reason we did not get it yet is we really wanted to do it right, and it will leverage on all the framework of the digital key integration that we have,” Bensaid said in an exclusive interview published on Tuesday.
The two modes are slated for early 2027 on the R1T, R1S and R2, The Drive reported. Both will build on Rivian’s digital key and what Bensaid called a new user profile architecture.
Rivian’s EV models have become far more powerful.
The Gen 2 quad-motor R1T and R1S produce 1,025 horsepower and 1,198 lb-ft of torque and reach 60 mph in as little as 2.5 seconds. The R2 Performance, Rivian’s midsize SUV, produces 656 horsepower and 609 lb-ft and reaches 60 mph in as little as 3.6 seconds.
Valet Mode: Locked Storage
Valet Mode will be a separate feature from Teen Mode, aimed at handing the car to a parking attendant or another driver.
“We will give you the optionality to lock some of the closures, don’t allow access to the front trunk, don’t allow access to the gloveboxes,” Bensaid said.
When Rivian first flagged the feature in 2024, it described Valet Mode as adding security and privacy.
Rivian has not said whether Valet Mode will also limit speed or power, or hide personal data such as saved addresses.
How Teen Mode Works
Teen Mode will run on Rivian’s new digital-key and user-profile system.
“When the kids register, if they put their true age, the app will behave in that case in teen mode,” Bensaid said.
Owners will also be able to mark profiles themselves.
“You as an owner can associate and say my first kid, this is a teen profile, my second kid is not a teen profile,” he said.
Restrictions will be set by category rather than by an exact power figure.
“We will not necessarily give you the option to say, okay, set it to have a slider [of] 500, 600 [hp], but here will be a category which is limit the horsepower,” Bensaid said.
He named categories covering horsepower, stability control and access to off-road modes, and said there would be five to ten settings in all.
The controls will resemble Rivian’s RAD Tuner, with sliders and toggles on the screen, The Drive reported.
RAD Tuner, which lets owners of Gen 2 quad-motor R1 models build custom drive modes by adjusting settings such as acceleration, torque balance and stability, arrived in a software update in December 2025.
Tying Keys to Profiles
Rivian wants to stop teenagers getting round the limits with a different key.
“That’s the beauty with digital key, you can not get out of it unless you have a password,” Bensaid said.
Owners will be able to assign a physical key card or key fob to a specific profile in the profile menu, he said.
Rivian launched its Digital Key, which stores the car key on phones and watches using the Car Connectivity Consortium standard, for Gen 2 vehicles in the same December 2025 update.
Rivian has not said how Teen Mode will work on first-generation R1 vehicles.
It has also not said whether Teen Mode will include a speed cap or a driving report for parents, features offered by rival systems from Ford and General Motors.
Drivers aged 16 to 19 have a fatal crash rate per mile driven just over three times that of drivers aged 20 and over, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
A total of 2,899 teenagers aged 13 to 19 died in U.S. motor vehicle crashes in 2024, the institute said.
A Long Wait
Rivian first listed both, a Teen Mode to limit speed and acceleration and a Valet Mode for security and privacy, among upcoming features in June 2024.
In May 2026, Bensaid said in a question-and-answer session on Reddit that Rivian had rebuilt the underlying system and set early 2027 as the target.
“We made the decision to revisit the entire architecture to enable these features to be based on a new foundation with Cloud profiles and Digital Key,” he wrote.
Owners had asked for a valet mode on Rivian forums since at least March 2022.
What Rivals Offer
Ford announced MyKey, which limits top speed to 80 mph and audio volume to 44% and mutes the audio until seatbelts are fastened, in 2008, starting with the 2010 Focus.
General Motors introduced Teen Driver on the 2016 Chevrolet Malibu, with speed alerts parents can set between 40 and 75 mph and a report card of each trip.
Tesla‘s Valet Mode limits speed to 70 mph, limits acceleration and power, locks the front trunk and glovebox**, and hides home and work locations from the navigation system**, according to its owner’s manual.
Tesla also offers a Speed Limit Mode that caps acceleration and top speed at a chosen value between 50 and 120 mph, according to its Model Y owner’s manual.
