Rivian‘s software chief said on Monday that Pet Mode will reach the R2 in the company’s next over-the-air update, fixing the timing for one of the familiar features the midsize SUV lacked at launch.
Wassym Bensaid, the chief software officer, posted the news on X alongside a photo of his dog seated in his R2, the center display showing the climate feature already running.
“Pet mode coming to R2 in the next OTA. Approved by Paddington!” Bensaid wrote, naming the dog in the image.
The screen in the photo read “My pet is safe and comfy” beside a 72°F cabin readout, with the climate set to 70 degrees and the company’s Gear Guard character displayed alongside.
A Gap Closed From Launch
Rivian began R2 deliveries on June 9 without Pet Mode, having pared the SUV’s initial software to a smaller feature set than R1 owners are used to.
The launch build also omitted Rivian Assistant, Climate Hold, SiriusXM, Google Casting and YouTube, while the Gear Guard security system shipped with reduced functionality.
Bensaid had framed the omissions as deliberate, writing after the launch that the company “intentionally decided to release few features later to have the best quality,” with the missing items returning through monthly over-the-air updates over the summer.
Monday’s post sharpens that promise for one feature, placing Pet Mode in the very next R2 update rather than a vaguer summer window.
What Pet Mode Does
Pet Mode, which Rivian markets as ‘Pet Comfort’, holds a set cabin temperature for a pet left briefly in a parked, locked vehicle.
Owners activate it by tapping a paw icon on the climate screen with the vehicle in Park and more than 50 miles of range remaining, then choosing a temperature between 68 and 74 degrees Fahrenheit, with 72 the default.
The center display shows the Gear Guard character and a message reassuring passersby that the animal is safe, alongside the current and target temperatures, while the companion app reports cabin status and sends alerts if conditions drift.
Rivian first rolled out the feature on the R1T and R1S through a software update in mid-2022, calling it one of its most-requested additions, and it has since become a selling point among pet-owning buyers, some of whom call the R1 the ultimate dog car.
The Bigger Pet Feature Still to Come
Pet Mode is the first half of Rivian‘s pet plans for the R2.
The SUV is also set to gain Pet Cam, a new feature that lets owners watch their pet from the Rivian app, which Bensaid confirmed at a Reddit question-and-answer session in May.
Rivian will deliver Pet Cam through a new RGB in-cabin camera mounted in the rearview mirror that also serves as the driver-attention monitor for the company’s hands-free driving system.
The R1 will not receive Pet Cam, at least initially, because its driver-monitoring camera is infrared rather than RGB and cannot perform the same task, making the feature a function of R2 hardware rather than software alone.
Bensaid told The Drive that Pet Cam would arrive later this year, after Pet Mode, and that it would turn on only when a pet is detected and not when a person is present, a safeguard against misuse.
The camera approach moves Rivian closer to Tesla, whose Pet Mode, once called Dog Mode, already streams the cabin camera to the phone app.
The same RGB camera supplies the driver-attention monitoring that Autonomy+ requires, letting a single piece of hardware serve both the safety system and the pet feature.
Software at the Center of the R2 Story
The R2 is the first Rivian to ship with RivianOS 2.0, a ground-up rewrite of the vehicle software built around the company’s simplified zonal electrical architecture.
That architecture underpins the up-to-$5.8 billion joint venture with Volkswagen, under which the German group is adopting the company’s electronics and software, raising the stakes on how cleanly the R2’s updates land.
The missing launch features briefly became a market event, with Rivian shares falling 6.6% on the day R2 deliveries began, the software gaps running second only to complaints over lease pricing.
Bensaid, who also co-leads the software venture, has cast the R2 as a vehicle that improves after purchase, arguing the version a buyer drives home should be the least capable one they will own.
The launch made software, rather than hardware, the early storyline of the R2, and each feature the company delivers now reads as evidence for or against that pitch.
The Pet Mode timing is a small but concrete test of it, delivering a visible, customer-facing feature within weeks of the first deliveries.
What Comes Next
Rivian has not given a date for the next R2 update.
The company is on track to deliver more than 1,100 R2 units in the second quarter, with the ramp weighted to the second half of the year, when most of the model’s volume is due.
Existing R1 owners have taken priority in the R2 invite sequence, alongside reservation timing and proximity to service centers, as deliveries spread across the country in the model’s opening weeks.
RivianOS 2.0 is set to reach R1 vehicles later in 2026, though Rivian has not detailed which features its earlier vehicles will receive, leaving open whether Pet Cam can ever come to the existing fleet.
The company reports second-quarter production and delivery figures later this week.
