Rivian began pushing its 2026.07 software update again on Monday afternoon after halting the rollout over the weekend when the build broke phone key and key fob functionality on Gen 1 vehicles and wiped owner data.
Deployment data from third-party tracking platform Rivian Roamer showed 76 new installs as of Monday afternoon.
The restart comes after just four installs on Saturday and one on Sunday, compared to the 2,185 and 1,369 that went out on Thursday and Friday, respectively.
The release notes for both versions appear identical, suggesting Rivian either re-released the same software after concluding the issues were limited in scope, or applied under-the-hood fixes that were not reflected in the user-facing documentation.
As of Monday afternoon, 45% of Rivian Roamer‘s tracked fleet of 5,691 vehicles had the update installed, with 53% having received the rollout notification.
The remaining fleet sits on the previous build, 2026.03.
Rivian has not issued a public statement on either the halt or the resumption.
What Went Wrong
As EV reported over the weekend, owner reports across Reddit, Rivian Forums, and X pointed to two primary categories of failure after the initial April 9 release.
The most severe involved phone key and key fob functionality breaking on Gen 1 R1T and R1S vehicles.
The second issue involved widespread data resets.
Elevation min/max records — a feature prized by Rivian‘s adventure-oriented customer base — were wiped, along with saved radio stations and navigation contact addresses.
Owners also reported randomised settings changes affecting door unlock behaviour, interior lighting, and garage door opener functionality.
Several owners reported that the update vanished from their vehicle or app menu after it had been offered, suggesting Rivian was actively pulling it from the queue before the full halt became visible in the deployment data.
The Update
The 2026.07 build, first released on April 9, was primarily a stability and refinement release.
It included improved infotainment stability and faster app launch times, better connectivity, Apple Music Dolby Audio support, and a fix linking rear defrost activation to the front wiper heating element.
Gen 1 vehicles received 12V battery management improvements, while Gen 2-exclusive fixes addressed Lane Change on Command rejection, steering wheel vibrations at highway speeds, range estimate consistency, and a rare charge port door issue after water ingress.
The update arrived after a nearly seven-week gap from the previous release, 2026.03, which Rivian pushed on February 19 under the name “Cold Snap.”
That update introduced Universal Hands-Free driver assistance on over 3.5 million miles of North American roads, an Apple Watch companion app, Rivian Digital Key with UWB support, the RAD Tuner custom drive mode, an Unreal Engine 5.5 upgrade, and the Kick Turn low-speed rotation feature.
Version 2026.07 is only the second public software release of 2026.
The roughly seven-week gap between updates is slower than the near-monthly pace Rivian maintained last year, when the company pushed 11 over-the-air updates.
What’s Still Missing
The update does not include the Rivian Assistant — the AI-powered voice interface the company announced at its Autonomy and AI Day on December 11 and promised for “early 2026.”
Chief Software Officer Wassym Bensaid said at the event that the assistant would launch on every existing Rivian vehicle, not just Gen 2 models.
The assistant, the product of a two-year internal development effort, is designed to handle climate controls and other infotainment tasks through an agentic framework built by Rivian’s engineers, augmented by frontier large language models including Google Vertex AI and Gemini. An offline-capable version is planned for the R2.
As of the 2026.07 release, the feature has not shipped — four months after the commitment.
Text messaging integration — consistently cited as the top community request on Rivian‘s forums — is also absent. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto remain unavailable on R1 models.
R2 and VW Context
The software pull came as Rivian prepares for the launch of its R2 mass-market SUV, which has begun limited employee deliveries this month ahead of customer deliveries by the end of spring.
Bensaid also serves as co-CEO of RV Tech, the 50/50 joint venture between Rivian and the Volkswagen Group, developing next-generation software-defined vehicle architecture for VW brands.
The joint venture completed winter testing of its production-intent zonal architecture on March 27, validating the platform across prototype vehicles from Volkswagen, Audi, and Scout Motors.
