New video "Let's Just Drive" & official letter from RJ provides huge update!

[EarlyAdptr]

@DuckTruck

At the 00:41 mark, someone states:

"I think it was a good opportunity to get a feel for what the truck is capable of. I think the better you understand its capabilities and its limitations the safer it's going to be and the better you're going to understand it. And that (pointing to track outside) provided us an opportunity to do that. And that's important."

I think we all want that type of experience - to have fun and also to understand the vehicle's capability.

Question: Was there any discussion of Rivian 'adding' to their adventure network by creating these off-road / test-track opportunities for all future customers either centrally (in Normal) or regionally (make more sense imo)? The fact that they included this part of the Q&A conversation suggests to me they're thinking about it. I'm wondering if it was discussed (pretty sure not ALL of the Q&A conversation included in the released clip).

I would imagine if offered, exclusively for Rivian buyers, the would have high demand - at least early in.

Thanks!!

Scott

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[crashmtb]

@DuckTruck

At the 00:41 mark, someone states:

"I think it was a good opportunity to get a feel for what the truck is capable of. I think the better you understand its capabilities and its limitations the safer it's going to be and the better you're going to understand it. And that (pointing to track outside) provided us an opportunity to do that. And that's important."

I think we all want that type of experience - to have fun and also to understand the vehicle's capability.

Question: Was there any discussion of Rivian 'adding' to their adventure network by creating these off-road / test-track opportunities for all future customers either centrally (in Normal) or regionally (make more sense imo)? The fact that they included this part of the Q&A conversation suggests to me they're thinking about it. I'm wondering if it was discussed (pretty sure not ALL of the Q&A conversation included in the released clip).

I would imagine if offered, exclusively for Rivian buyers, the would have high demand - at least early in.

Thanks!!

Scott

Land Rover had little off road tracks at their dealers, they don’t seem to have many now.

perhaps rivian will do something similar

 

[johnbro23]

Started at 2mph (Technically rollingish) at 8/9 seconds

12 Seconds at 61mph

This is actually 3.7-3.8 sections 2-60mph - timed it a few times on a stopwatch. 4 people in the car is an extra 600lbs ish vs just 1 for an official 0-60mph, 10% of the total car's weight (using Model X as proxy). Subtract 0.1-0.2 seconds for the weight, add 0.1-0.2 seconds for the 0-2mph and you get an official time around 3.7 seconds. Their website still says 0-60 in "3 secs". 0.7 seconds isn't nothing - Tesla charges an extra $6-7k for about 1.2 seconds faster in performance M3/Y; or $40k for 1.2 seconds in MS/X.

I hope other specs aren't wildly off like this... we still don't know official range or charging speed...

 

[crashmtb]

This is actually 3.7-3.8 sections 2-60mph - timed it a few times on a stopwatch. 4 people in the car is an extra 600lbs ish vs just 1 for an official 0-60mph, 10% of the total car's weight (using Model X as proxy). Subtract 0.1-0.2 seconds for the weight, add 0.1-0.2 seconds for the 0-2mph and you get an official time around 3.7 seconds. Their website still says 0-60 in "3 secs". 0.7 seconds isn't nothing - Tesla charges an extra $6-7k for about 1.2 seconds faster in performance M3/Y; or $40k for 1.2 seconds in MS/X.

I hope other specs aren't wildly off like this... we still don't know official range or charging speed...

Keep in mind all the trucks in the video are on all terrain tires, not the 22” performance tires. Those will probably get 0-60 at 3 seconds, in the right conditions.

 

[sevengroove]

Keep in mind all the trucks in the video are on all terrain tires, not the 22” performance tires. Those will probably get 0-60 at 3 seconds, in the right conditions.

Not to mention, RJ just floored it. Almost every other vehicle requires enabling a launch mode to hit the advertised 0-60 mark. No doubt Rivian will have a launch mode as well which will bring that time down even further.

 

[sevengroove]

Did anyone else notice the mismatch in trims on this photo on the stories page:

Ocean Coast dash trim and seat colors, but all black steering and black wood trim in the center console?

 

[SANZC02]

Keep in mind all the trucks in the video are on all terrain tires, not the 22” performance tires. Those will probably get 0-60 at 3 seconds, in the right conditions.

Not to mention timing a video with a stop watch and thinking you can get an accurate timing to a fraction of a second....

The average reaction time for humans is 0.25 seconds to a visual stimulus, 0.17 for an audio stimulus, and 0.15 seconds for a touch stimulus.

 

[crashmtb]

Not to mention timing a video with a stop watch and thinking you can get an accurate timing to a fraction of a second....

The average reaction time for humans is 0.25 seconds to a visual stimulus, 0.17 for an audio stimulus, and 0.15 seconds for a touch stimulus.

To bad none of the invitees thought to bring a v-box timer with them ??

 

[Canthoney]

This is actually 3.7-3.8 sections 2-60mph - timed it a few times on a stopwatch. 4 people in the car is an extra 600lbs ish vs just 1 for an official 0-60mph, 10% of the total car's weight (using Model X as proxy). Subtract 0.1-0.2 seconds for the weight, add 0.1-0.2 seconds for the 0-2mph and you get an official time around 3.7 seconds. Their website still says 0-60 in "3 secs". 0.7 seconds isn't nothing - Tesla charges an extra $6-7k for about 1.2 seconds faster in performance M3/Y; or $40k for 1.2 seconds in MS/X.

I hope other specs aren't wildly off like this... we still don't know official range or charging speed...

I would not make a judgement yet. We don’t know what mode he was in, or if the 22 sport tires are what the 3.0 time was quoted for. There’s a lot of different factors

 

[echerod]

I live in the same flat, cold place and am looking forward to “tank turn”. Sounds like it will come later once they figure out how to not have people tearing stuff up. seems like a ticket to broken half shafts and CV joints.

It shouldn’t be too hard to get it to rotate within its own wheelbase without a dedicated mode, though.

Don’t know if this will sound like heresy to this crowd, but quite frankly I think of tank turn as nothing more than a parlor trick. And one that should be performed only under very specific circumstances to avoid damaging the vehicle or nature. I can’t think of one real world situation where it would’ve been useful to have. I think these vehicles will have more than enough wow factor to impress all our friends, so at least I wouldn’t be upset if this feature never gets added. Just my humble opinion.

 

[Gator42]

Tesla doesn’t have a comparable SUV, nevermind truck. A couple of crossovers, sure.

It's an interesting question. I see those YouTube diehard Tesla fans that see any other EV as a Tesla competitor but as a Rivian fan I don't see anything in Tesla's present or future in the same category as Rivian...

...but if you like EVs that's a good thing- it means we're now thinking about the same segments we think about with ICE vehicles...

 

[crashmtb]

Don’t know if this will sound like heresy to this crowd, but quite frankly I think of tank turn as nothing more than a parlor trick. And one that should be performed only under very specific circumstances to avoid damaging the vehicle or nature. I can’t think of one real world situation where it would’ve been useful to have. I think these vehicles will have more than enough wow factor to impress all our friends, so at least I wouldn’t be upset if this feature never gets added. Just my humble opinion.

nothing wrong with a fun gimmick every now and then. For me it would be fun in winter, and on gravel parking lot type situations.

But not out in nature.

Keep the skidmarks in your pants and off the trail, as the saying goes.

 

[kylealden]

Don’t know if this will sound like heresy to this crowd, but quite frankly I think of tank turn as nothing more than a parlor trick. And one that should be performed only under very specific circumstances to avoid damaging the vehicle or nature. I can’t think of one real world situation where it would’ve been useful to have. I think these vehicles will have more than enough wow factor to impress all our friends, so at least I wouldn’t be upset if this feature never gets added. Just my humble opinion.

Yeah. I really like the demo and want the feature, but it’s a gimmick. And one of the things I like about Rivian is the seemingly genuine approach to sustainable and responsible recreation. A tank turn feature that shreds trailheads and wetlands is not that.

Honestly, I’m skeptical that there’s a good way to location-gate the feature in a way that pleases many customers while still being responsible. My guess is you just limit it to ORV parks and (maybe?) private property. Even allowing logging/forest service roads seems too generous.

Compare Tesla, who were so eager to rush out a token Smart Summon feature to check a stupid preorder box that creates actual dangerous conditions in parking lots and incentivizes YouTubers to pull dumb stunts. This is the antipattern I think they’re smart to avoid.

 

[johnbro23]

Not to mention timing a video with a stop watch and thinking you can get an accurate timing to a fraction of a second....

The average reaction time for humans is 0.25 seconds to a visual stimulus, 0.17 for an audio stimulus, and 0.15 seconds for a touch stimulus.

Good point- so its actually 4 seconds if I watch the video on Youtube at 0.25x speed (16 seconds), so that reaction time stat actually seems right (the difference is the 0.25 sec visual stimulus). Timing it at 1x speed, pressing "start" 0.25 sec after the car starts to go and having a count-down to 60mph making the "stop" more right on the money.

Good points regarding the wheels. Seems their main goal was to show off the traction /smooth ride so maybe they ran with lower than normal tire pressure with all-terrain tires. Fwiw Teslarati did a test and found about a 0.3 sec gap using different wheel types https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-model-y-wheel-size-0-60-acceleration/

I saw the "driving mode config" screen up a lot in the videos, I'd be surprised if RJ was punching it in anything but performance mode.

 

[Driveout]

The most important thing for me was the the commitment to deliveries beginning September. This means all the important hurdles have been cleared and production has been finalized. I don't really care about the cameras recording my drive (several insurance companies currently offer a discount if you install their dongle in your OBD port so they can monitor your driving), knowing I can smoke someone off the line is more important than doing it. The potential for V2H with an upcoming software release is great news. This means the hardware is accounted for in the current build. No matter when any of us jump on this wagon, future iterations of the R1T/R1S will be improved in ways that haven't been thought of yet. These mobile computers will be upgradable within the hardware limitations built in. The future builds will be better. We, the early adopters, are a large base of beta testers with a new unproven company and extremely complex product that inspire confidence by limiting their output. Conundrum... I don't really hear much doubt about their product, I mostly hear frustration about the delays and lack of communication.

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