Rivian teased on Tuesday a customizable driver display coming to both first- and second-generation R1 vehicles, the latest in a series of software updates teased by the company’s software chief Wassym Bensaid ahead of a new software update scheduled for later this month.
The EV maker’s Chief Software Officer, posted the teaser on X Tuesday showing the new driver display interface, which will arrive with the .46 over-the-air update.
“Customizable Driver Display, coming with .46 OTA update on Rivian Gen 1 and Gen 2!” Bensaid wrote in the post.
The announcement follows Bensaid’s December 4 post revealing that digital key support will also arrive with the .46 update later this month — though limited to Gen 2 vehicles due to hardware requirements.
The software improvements come as some Rivian owners have voiced frustration with persistent bugs.
A Reddit post over the weekend from an owner of two R1 vehicles detailed seven issues — including HVAC malfunctions after fast charging, sensor reliability regressions, and USB-C power failures — that the owner said have persisted for more than a year.
Digital Wallet Integration
The digital key feature will allow Rivian owners to store their car key natively in Apple, Google, and Samsung phone wallets without requiring the Rivian app.
Key features include Ultra-Wideband (UWB) support for high-precision location ranging, native smartwatch support, and NFC backup access that works even when a phone battery is depleted — allowing owners to unlock and start their vehicle for up to five hours using power reserve mode.
The update also expands the number of supported digital keys from four to eight per vehicle, making it easier to share access with family and friends.
Autonomy Day
The software teasers come ahead of Rivian‘s Autonomy and AI Day, scheduled for Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. PT in Palo Alto.
The event will be livestreamed on the EV maker’s YouTube channel.
The company is expected to showcase its Rivian Autonomy Platform (RAP), which is standard on all Gen 2 vehicles.
The platform includes 11 high-resolution exterior cameras capable of seeing up to 10 seconds ahead at highway speeds, 12 ultrasonic sensors providing 360-degree close-range coverage, five radars (four corner and one forward), and a driver-facing camera for fatigue and distraction detection.
Rivian says the system performs over 250 trillion operations per second — which the company describes as “an industry leading level of compute power.”
AI Assistant Expected
Bensaid indicated earlier this year that Rivian plans to reveal an in-house developed AI assistant at the event, designed to integrate with all vehicle controls.
In an interview with Fortune published ahead of the event, founder and CEO RJ Scaringe said he was “very bullish” on full autonomy.
“If the vehicle has an issue, it’s actually not a positive part of the customer experience to have to coordinate a service activity or to coordinate parts, deliver any of those things,” Scaringe said. “We want all that to happen behind the scenes and all that to be powered through AI.”
