Updates continue to add features but reduce dependability

[Chunter415]

We've had a 2025 R1S for about two years now and it's been an up-and-down ride with the software. There are months where everything in the car — which is mostly software-driven given the lack of physical buttons — works great and as expected, but for the most part it's been one step forward and two steps back in some new area. I know the audio issues are well documented here and elsewhere, so I won't get into that.

What has me consistently annoyed — and I'm curious to hear others' feedback, or find out if my car is just unique — is driver profile switching. My wife and I are about a foot apart in height, so the driver profile is a huge quality-of-life function. With our other cars, there are physical buttons on the door to change settings, or the profile is tied to the key fob so it detects the driver automatically and works 100% of the time.

In the December update, Rivian introduced Ultra-Wideband (UWB) to the car, and it was genuinely amazing. It finally dependably unlocked as you approached instead of requiring you to stand next to it, and it was excellent at detecting who was driving and setting the correct profile. However, each update since then has made profile detection progressively worse — from near-perfect right after that December release to the point where it's now dependably wrong.

Are we the only ones noticing this, or have others seen the same thing?

While new features like Rivian Assistant are nice, I honestly don't care about them. I'd rather have a dependable car that just works. I've had so many friends ask about our Rivian, and we've had to be honest: the software is what's holding it back. It may have more features than a Ford, Toyota, or Honda, but those cars have far more dependable software — you just know it'll work.

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[Donald Stanfield]

No, this is not unique to you. As a Rivian owner since 2022, the software started out unstable, then Rivian hit a really good reliability spot for a bit, and now updates are messing stuff up again. The profile thing happens to me on almost every drive that both my wife and I are in the car, despite me being the primary driver.

My wife's BMW almost never has this issue. I agree with you on the software overall. My wife's i4M50 doesn't have all the features Rivian does, but it works every single time.

 

[justinkitswa]

Two steps forward, three steps back sometimes feels like the pattern for Rivian software development.

I suspect part of the problem is the OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) set for Wassym and his team do not include adequate objectives/key results for software resiliency and systems stability. They're wholly focused on the latest marketing objectives, like the R2 rollout.

Rivian is laser focused on paving the way for "software defined vehicles" but haven't really done a good job of selling that as a concept.

 

[Chunter415]

Thanks for the feedback, and while I'm sad to hear others have the same experience it also helps to know we are not alone!

I 1000% agree with the thinking that R2 software is the main reason behind the R1 software impact, I believe resources have been focused on the new OS, R2 functions and thus minimal development has been spent on R1 software besides getting Rivian Assistant and R2 functions launched. I do hope it goes well but it's getting increasingly frustrating and had us cancel our R2 reservation due to the unreliability over the last 2 years.

 

[Rade]

It's not just you. I am totally blown away by the physical build quality of the vehicle; the fit and finish continue to be superb after nearly 20 months of near-daily driving...

But the operating system leaves a lot to be desired. I feel like I have to perform a hard reboot of the truck at least once every couple of weeks because of some error that pops up or feature that becomes inoperative. Thankfully, those reboots have cleared the issues and that the issues have not been catastrophic (so far).

The toll has been my confidence level in the brand. I have that specter in my mind; "Will it just start this time, or will it flag some error?" I had to attend a funeral yesterday afternoon. I honestly found myself thinking "Oh, please, just start. I don't have the time for a 3-minute reboot right now!" as we returned to our vehicles to get into procession. It started, but confidence was low.

There is currently no reputable alternative to the R1T, so I will be patient that somehow, the powers that be will further stabilize the OS. If I can just go... perhaps a month without having something flag or need to reboot... the... truck...

 

[KBabione]

I've had a number of issues that generated the dreaded "Coming to an emergency stop - find a safe place" warning. Each time I got the warning and pulled over it was fine after doing a full reboot, but the last time I was blocking one lane in traffic for the 90 seconds (during which the flashers turn off part of the time) a full reboot requires. They've replaced the battery (singular) in our '23 R1S twice and believe they've finally fixed the issue WITH A SOFTWARE PATCH! Basically they told me that when the SOC is low it was generating a fault that triggered the warning. What scares me is not knowing if my software patch will be overridden by the next update - at which point I'll be over 60K miles and out of warranty.

With that said, I knew what I was getting when we bought our Rivian - a software-defined vehicle from a new company. I knew it wouldn't be like our Outback or Highlander where, yes, the system consistently works exactly as it did when we bought them, but they've never gotten any better or added new features. Yes - when things change for the worse in the Rivian it's frustrating until it's fixed, but, for me, the positives significantly outweigh the negatives. Looking forward to our R2 and the challenges that come with it.

 

[R1S_SoCal]

I believe I've been having the exact same issue since the start of the year and even into last year. Is what you all are describing that when you approach the vehicle it changes to your profile but the profile never changes your steering wheel, the seat position, or the mirrors? Further do you have an issue where even if you go to the screen profile Change option and you switch between profiles that it doesn't actually effectuate a change to the seats steering wheel or mirrors?

Can you also share if you brought the vehicle into Rivian for this issue and what their response was?

 

[BCondrey]

I've had two trucks since 2022 and I've done fewer than 10 resets. I don't do it often enough to remember how. Maybe I just don't notice the bugs, and frankly I don't care about the small stuff or quirks with the HVAC. My wife and I don't drive each other's vehicles usually so the OP main issue we do not see.

 

[R1S_SoCal]

I've had two trucks since 2022 and I've done fewer than 10 resets. I don't do it often enough to remember how. Maybe I just don't notice the bugs, and frankly I don't care about the small stuff or quirks with the HVAC. My wife and I don't drive each other's vehicles usually so the OP main issue we do not see.

What HVAC quirks?

 

[BCondrey]

What HVAC quirks?

Auto is too aggressive, it can be loud when it starts, I've had scheduled HVAC start but not cool, etc. On the flip side, it has really cold AC, and both AC & heat come to temperature quickly.

 

[Trinculo73]

Interestingly I've had the opposite problem - when I first got the truck back in early '24 I had all kinds of problems with it picking up my wife's phone first and switching it her profile even tho I drive it 98% of the time. I finally set roomy entry/exit on her profile so I could reasonably get in and out if it has chosen her over me, and could switch once I was in.

Over the past two years it's gotten better at that, and now reliably chooses me if I'm in the driver's seat. Still picks her phone over mine for Bluetooth audio, that's the bigger problem

 

[loqueid]

My wife is always selected by default. I've been thinking it's A) alphabetical priority -- and another thread hasn't disproven that yet -- or B) her phone is newer and has better antennae.
My solution has been this: the Rivian is telling me it wants her to drive. I don't fault the Rivian -- with the way I drive, it sounds fair.

What HVAC quirks?

My wife will turn the fans off, and they won't turn off. We have to toggle to a completely different setting (on/off, A/B preset) and then turn off for it to work.
We also have the Auto issue mentioned above. As @BCondrey said. it's just very quirky.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Profile quirk seems to be mostly related to who gets to/into the car first in my experience.

Maybe something in your life changed that caused your behavior here to change. For me, it was that my wife needed assistance getting into the car, so I wasn't making it in first anymore.

 

[KBabione]

Profile quirk seems to be mostly related to who gets to/into the car first in my experience.

My experience as well - with the caveat that it does seem to keep my profile as the driver if we reach the car at the same time. Gentleman that I am, I usually arrive at the car first to open and hold the door for her, so perhaps that's why it doesn't change to her even though she's the first one in the car. If she, for example, gets in the car first then it definitely changes to her profile and I make the switch. Our seat positions are not significantly different so I can get in and switch profiles if necessary.

 

[rogersmj]

it's just very quirky.

Yes, same for mine. Add it to the long list of things that should "just work" in a vehicle, but don't work properly in a Rivian. Last night I experienced the joy of the interior lights not turning on at night when I opened a door. It was just...dark. I closed the door, and opened it again...and then half of the interior lights came on. Third time...all lights came on. Seriously, what the hell is that? I'll tell you what it is...it's a software bug in a system that shouldn't have much complication; any software involved in "door opens, lights come on" should be super low level/relatively isolated from higher level, more complex functions. But that's not how Rivian builds things. I bet you they have some kind of super abstracted event bus or something where a lot of things run through the same level of "priority," and it's not very fault-tolerant.

The whole proximity unlock situation was another one...and it's fixed now, but some people around here give Rivian lots of kudos for that and for being able to "enhance" the vehicle with updates. I'm all for getting new features if feasible, but sorry, you don't get brownie points for fixing something that never should have been broken in the first place. This is a $100k vehicle, I shouldn't have to coax the HVAC into working properly.

I agree it constantly feels like two steps forward, three (or four, or five) steps back. The long list of issues I experienced on our recent road trip were ~90% software related.

While new features like Rivian Assistant are nice, I honestly don't care about them. I'd rather have a dependable car that just works. I've had so many friends ask about our Rivian, and we've had to be honest: the software is what's holding it back.

This is what I tell people too. Well, the software and the unreliable suspension that doesn't ride very well over rough pavement are together the main reasons I don't recommend it.

There's so many things I like about Rivian and I don't want to give it up, but I'm starting to feel like I'm in an abusive relationship

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