Features Request List After 1-Week With Rivian R1T

[RivRev]

This is what I sent my guide/Rivian after having the truck for a couple days.

Improvements/Suggestions
One of the biggest suggestions that I think Rivian can and should capitalize on is gathering direct feedback from their customers on ideas and improvements of the vehicles software and hardware along with reporting bugs they've found. Rivian should have a bug report or suggestion report location in their online account for owners with confirmed delivery. But don't let that report just go into the void. If it was a bug report, follow up with the customer. Keep them informed on the progress of the fix. Let them know if a resolution is coming in the next release. For suggestions it should be a similar process. If it's not feasible, let the customer know. But if it is a good idea and one that can be implemented, let the customer know and let them know when it can be expected. Keeping the customer community engaged will go a long way to continual brand loyalty and fostering of brand ambassadors. I know Rivian is just starting out with their push to deliver customer vehicles recently, but getting a program like this going with these first customers who are taking a chance on a new vehicle company would truely set Rivian apart from the competition.

In Vehicle Bugs or Suggestions

• Parking/proximity sensors do not seem to always work. 95% of the time they are not working at home address at all. Noticed it not working often when parking vehicle at stores.
• Friday 3/25 evening was driving from about 5:45-6:30pm and no sound would play from Spotify, radio, bluetooth. Turn signals, driving alerts, and cruise control noises all worked. Next time I got in the car, the sound was working again from those sources.
• Proximity auto lock/unlock works from too far away. Can be nearly 50ft away inside my home with my phone and the truck will unlock/lock constantly. Would be best if the range could be turned down to 10ft. Also would be nice if you could turn on/off proximity locking when at home address.
• When the vehicle is locked and charging it would be nice to have the charge port light turn off after a minute at least when at home. The light is a very bright flashing green at night to all who pass by.
• The on-screen keyboard does not have all available characters. Example + key. I had to plug in an external keyboard to type out my wireless passcode to connect to home wireless.
• Nowhere to "name" the vehicle
• I would really like to see a Pin to Drive feature enabled for the vehicle as an additional safety/security measure.
• When heating or cooling and the vehicle is plugged in, the vehicle should use power from the charger to run heat/AC and not from the battery.
• Center screen does not work if no one gets into the driver's seat. So a passenger couldn't get in first and use the screen while waiting for the driver.
• Cabin lights are way too bright at night when putting the vehicle into park. Would be great if we got a dimmer setting or even the ability to choose the brightness ourselves.
• Ability to move keycards/wristband from one driver account to another without needing to call support
• Child window locks also lock the front passenger window, this should only lock rear windows.

App Bugs or Suggestions

• Rivian App, when "open" in your notification area it should allow for you to lock/unlock, open front trunk, open tailgate. Similar to how Tesla does it.
• Selecting the Rivian App from your notification area does not open the app and it should
• Turning on the climate from the app should allow me to set the desired temp, let the truck determine if that means heat or cool.
• When turning on heat, let me also choose if I'd like to turn on the defrost.
• Ability to start/stop charging from app and to increase/decrease charge percentage from app

Wow, I'm starting to thank these early deliveries and customers. This list would frustrate the hell out of me especially when I'm paying $90k! Kind of glad I'm sticking with the Max pack....hopefully most of these are resolved by the time I get my vehicle.
Thank you all early adopters for the input you are providing and the annoyances you are going through!

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[jjswan33]

Wow, I'm starting to thank these early deliveries and customers. This list would frustrate the hell out of me especially when I'm paying $90k! Kind of glad I'm sticking with the Max pack....hopefully most of these are resolved by the time I get my vehicle.
Thank you all early adopters for the input you are providing and the annoyances you are going through!

It's hardly a sacrifice

 

[ChampagneUnicorn]

Ive spent a week in my Rivian, driven about 700 miles these are the changes I would like to see. What would you like Rivian to add?
Current software version: 2022.07.0

Rivian please provide us a way to give feedback!

Already seen these suggested in a few other videos/posts etc:

• Battery SOC on the Gauge cluster in addition to range
• Dog Mode or camp mode
• Being able to specify brightness settings for the screens for day/night as separate settings
• Battery pre-conditioning for DC fast charging
• Homelink
• PIN to Drive

Other things we (Rivian Forums) would like to see:

• Conserve mode with low suspension (it only allows lowest and standard), or just improve ride quality somehow in lowest.
• A ‘resume’ for driver+ after a lane change or other interruptions
  • Resume for normal ACC - @godfodder0901
  • Auto lane changes or at least auto resume after lane changes - @omamatt
  • Lane centering for normal ACC on unmapped roads @Scott
• Apple CarPlay - ok ok I know… lets not have this debate again
• If we have to use Rivian for mapping I am going to need more accurate map data and POIs (especially trailheads)
• If no CarPlay/AA for WiFi music, enable phone connection over USB for music quality - @Sgt Beavis
• Better text messaging integration @Scott (basically non existent now as far as I can tell)
• Better graph for the ‘Efficency’ meter. Instead of: less range - 2 mi/kWh - more range.
• A shortcut to for turning lane assist on-off. Maybe Driver+ could have it’s own tab instead of having to go into settings then apps then driver+
• Floating window for audio - @omamatt
• Rear view mirrors that tilt down in reverse - @Joints4Sale
• Improvements to Phone as a key, temporary disable option in the app maybe? Constant locking/unlocking when working in the garage, nearby rooms is annoying, possibly better sensitivity/predictability.
• Blind spot cameras on blinker usage ala Kia, Hyundai, Tesla - @kylealden
• Better FM radio experience (ability to re-arrange pre-sets, easier station tuning) - @s12dxer
• Deeper bluetooth music integration (ability to navigate music folders/playlists, etc) - @s12dxer
• Option to disable Driver+ chimes when engaging or re-engaging after lane changes (interrupts music) - @s12dxer
• Geofence for proximity unlock to prevent auto-unlock in the garage while i'm upstairs - @s12dxer
• Alexa integration with Apple Music skill - @s12dxer
• Ability to have heated seat and ventilated on at same time (my VW does this) - @s12dxer
• Screen to be able to view camera in bed area while driving (to keep an eye on stuff) - @s12dxer
• Viewing of Gear Guard videos in the Rivian App - @s12dxer
• Ability to assign key cards to different drivers in either the app or vehicle screen - @s12dxer
• Carwash mode - @boredcleaner
• Dashcam - @boredcleaner
• Better usability of the camp speaker, don’t connect back to the car radio every time you open the door while using camp speaker. Also don't randomly connect to camp speaker and start playing music when car is locked, speaker is docked.
• Better speedometer accuracy. At least mine is consistently 2-3 mph high.

Probable bug:

• When you change screens after the screens have transitioned from day to night, for a second the new screen displays as day mode before adjusting back to night.

Didn’t ever think I’d be excited about pushing back my pre-order till September when I did, but definitely pumped to hopefully see most of the bugs get worked out before then.. thanks everyone for doing all the hard work and pushing Rivian to be what we all think it will be.

 

[frostbit3]

Great list. Only thing I can think of that's missing is a valet/teenage driver mode. Not sure I want to give 835HP to either a valet driver or a teenager. If they had similar to the hellcat's where you can just put a PIN in to limit it and it will drastically reduce the power then that'd work.

 

[NorthernOak]

Wow, I'm starting to thank these early deliveries and customers. This list would frustrate the hell out of me especially when I'm paying $90k! Kind of glad I'm sticking with the Max pack....hopefully most of these are resolved by the time I get my vehicle.
Thank you all early adopters for the input you are providing and the annoyances you are going through!

Doesn't bother me at all to still drive this beautiful truck. That's the power of OTA updates, it will keep getting better. But the only way it gets better is if customers voice their suggestions, report bugs, and share their experience with Rivian and each other.

 

[jjswan33]

So I sent off our list of suggestions to RJ. He actually responded (or is executive assistant). I wasn't expecting that and less than 2 hours after I sent the message.

 

[eemri]

To current Rivian owners who have the app paired, is there a way to enter a destination on the phone and have the car navigation take on that location?

As a CarPlay user, one of the benefits I enjoy is being able to type in/search for/ select the destination from my phone. Then have that show up on the car screen. It just makes destination selection easier/faster.

 

[electruck]

This thread is off to a great start so far. I don't even have my R1S yet but here's an another item I'd like to add to the Rivian wish list.

As someone who frequently fiddles with the HVAC vents, I'd like to be able to store some preset configurations that can be recalled via Alexa. My wife and I primarily adjust the vents to either point directly at or away from us and this varies with weather, time of day, direction of travel, etc. I don't mind using the touch screen to set up the preset vent positions but this isn't safe while driving and the touch screen isn't accessible to my visually impaired wife. Storing driver/passenger presets that can be recalled via Alexa would improve driving safety as well as provide better Accessibility for the vent controls.

 

[astonius]

As someone who frequently fiddles with the HVAC vents, I'd like to be able to store some preset configurations that can be recalled via Alexa. My wife and I primarily adjust the vents to either point directly at or away from us and this varies with weather, time of day, direction of travel, etc. I don't mind using the touch screen to set up the preset vent positions but this isn't safe while driving and the touch screen isn't accessible to my visually impaired wife. Storing driver/passenger presets that can be recalled via Alexa would improve driving safety as well as provide better Accessibility for the vent controls.

This is a great idea.

"Alexa, blow me."

 

[Scott]

So I sent off our list of suggestions to RJ. He actually responded (or is executive assistant). I wasn't expecting that and less than 2 hours after I sent the message.

Man it is awesome that you might actually get to talk to RJ about this.

Since that might happen, one other thing to add to the list: improved navigation. From the reviews I have seen the POI db is lacking, in many areas the maps are way more out of date than google / apple etc, and I don't think you can enter waypoints.

<insert standard 'this would work with aa/carplay' rant>

 

[jjswan33]

Man it is awesome that you might actually get to talk to RJ about this.

Since that might happen, one other thing to add to the list: improved navigation. From the reviews I have seen the POI db is lacking, in many areas the maps are way more out of date than google / apple etc, and I don't think you can enter waypoints.

<insert standard 'this would work with aa/carplay' rant>

Yeah, will be interesting to see what he wants to discuss if it actually happens.

Yes the POIs are not great, its already in the list. Fortunately I found that you can enter GPS coordinates in the Rivian navigation app. I wanted to see how far I could get up the NW side of MT Hood so I tried to go to Vista Ridge TH, of course it wasn't there but I pulled the GPS and entered it in to see what would happen. It worked but wanted me to go over Lolo pass to get there... so then there is that

It's a tough test location since coordinates for that type of POI are not in most apps (Google is the best in my experience) but it is exactly the type of POI that would fit the brand.

 

[godfodder0901]

To current Rivian owners who have the app paired, is there a way to enter a destination on the phone and have the car navigation take on that location?

No.

 

[OverZealous]

Fortunately I found that you can enter GPS coordinates in the Rivian navigation app.

I wonder if they’d want to add support for What3Words for a similar reason. Much easier to enter coordinates that way, and they could show you the words for sharing with other folks.

 

[Voronbrg]

I would love a trip planner from desktop/phone referencing google maps and a way to export it to the truck.

Don't require doors unlocked to open the frunk/tailgate. Just let me keep the key fob in pocket.

Auto open/lock too sensitive.

Fix the app, it's draining my phone's battery pretty bad.

 

[Joel]

This is... really out of touch. I've been driving a Tesla since 2015, and they were still adding major functionality that was requested until I stopped getting meaningful updates in the last year or so. On top of that, there's major complaints that were never improved for MCU1 drivers. (Including lack of waypoints, the text messaging is horrid and occasionally gets frozen on the driver's display, and bluetooth music playback is truly bare bones.)

We still experience relatively serious bugs, as well. Tesla isn't perfect, and they honestly don't improve the core product that quickly. They seem have most of their resources focused on the stupid FSD and asinine crap like video games, fart noises, and karaoke.

Our friends recently got a brand new Model 3, and while it's definitely a much better car (and at 7 years newer, it better be), it's not like the majority of software changes meaningfully improved the driving experience.

Tesla has a great software team, and they definitely revolutionized the driving experience. I don't think I would be happy going back to a "legacy" automaker experience. But comparing a company who's effectively put out 2 software releases with someone who's been pushing software for 10 years and expecting similar results is asinine.

We have had a Tesla since 2018 and of course tesla isn‘t perfect. I never said they were. I definitely agree that they have spent a large amount of time and energy on FSD. But a result of that effort is Robo taxis in Vegas soon. Even if a lot of people don’t want it or like it.

But what I was inferring in my above statement is Rivian stated many times leading up to the IPO and other statements they are not a brand new company. Rivian is 10 years old or so, new based on product release absolutely. I also will acknowledge that Rivian did not start on software 10 years ago obviously. What I am saying is it is amazing the lack of features including on the phone compared to Tesla. I would assume Rivian has been working software for at least five years but maybe not.

All of this is based on feedback from owners on the forum. At this point I am glad the truck didn’t launch 2 years ago or even a year ago. The software would have not been anywhere remotely ready. I do understand that software for anything is a huge undertaking.
I know it’s early and Rivian shows huge promise.

Again this is just my opinion. I have the same one of Polestar regarding functions in the app and what you can and can’t do. And yes a lot of that has been added to Tesla in the past few years. Which I think was also because there is finally some competition.

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