I'll say it... Driver+ getting worse, not better

[KeithPleas]

I don't use D+ (or adaptive cruise control) very much but I feel that - over time - it has gotten better.

That said, coming over Snoqualmie Pass yesterday there was snow/slush and I got a brief warning for radar sensors that showed locations to be cleaned - then it disappeared. I _think_ there was a new red icon on the...tray?...but I haven't seen a way to bring that graphic warning back - they just sit there and make you go "hmm". Eventually the snow/slush disappeared and D+ was back.

I don't trust D+ enough to use it in snow/slush even if it were operable. But the entire alerting mechanism is poor. I had another event a couple of weeks ago...left home with a heavy coat, decided to remove my coat, put on D+, unbuckled belt...keeping a hand on the wheel...and the system went nutzoid. FFS, removing a coat seems like a good use case for D+ but...no. Couldn't even engage ACC. Said I had to have the vehicle serviced. Went on for a couple of hours. Stopped for lunch and...on resuming it was back to normal. Truly shitty experience overall.

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[cjust2006]

I'm having the opposite experience. It's killin it here in Houston. I use it to do nearly all my highway driving. When I have a problem, it's one of the ten (right?) cameras, or driving into the sun, or bad lane lines.

That said, I had a bad GPS antenna early on. Could be a factor.

 

[Marchin_MTB]

I'm having the opposite experience. It's killin it here in Houston. I use it to do nearly all my highway driving. When I have a problem, it's one of the ten (right?) cameras, or driving into the sun, or bad lane lines.

That said, I had a bad GPS antenna early on. Could be a factor.

I agree with you about the bad lanes and low-sun conditions. Have noticed this too. Used to live in Houston spent many an hour traveling the beltways and I-10. So I would definitely want this working if I still lived there ?… we also had a bad gps antenna/harness/interference. Two spoilers later and it seems to be fixed.

 

[strykerwsu]

With my rtt off for winter it has improved lol. Overall I would say mine has gotten much better since delivery 14 months ago.

We don't have a ton of Mapped areas here in Dorthyville. BlueCruise still puts it too shame but that still has plenty of issues as well.

 

[raylepper]

I use both ACC and Highway assist whenever I can. Both work quite well. I keep a couple fingers and a thumb lightly on the wheel pretty much all the time. Rarely get the warning.
I do have one complaint and one 'wish for':

Complaint: Highway assist noticeably wanders inside the lane, perhaps 6" either way. (Less wandering at night, interestingly.) I can actually see the little vehicle in the driver display moving left and right along with the actual vehicle. I can feel the steering wheel moving slighty.

Wish for: Passing a semi that's drifting toward my lane has me bailing out of Highway assist quite often. I wish I could just nudge the wheel a bit to gain some space on the side without disengaging Highway assist. (and for a really cool improvement, I'd love to be able to use a thumb button to bias lane centering left or right during a session. I'd use it to bias left when I'm in the left lane on the highway and right when I'm in the right. I think that's kinda what humans do anyway)

I think (yeah, what do I know?) that both my complaint and my wish for could be addressed through software.

 

[MA927]

Just did a trip from SF to Salt Lake. D+ worked great on 1-80 through Nevada and Utah. Very helpful. But expanding the roadways you can use it on would be on top of my enhancements list. Looking forward to it

 

[Jakelake]

I use it every time I drive. Works fine. No problems.

 

[Rivian Head]

Just license Tesla’s FSD, and I will be a repeat customer for many years to come. Already using superchargers any way. No apple car play, sucky Alexa, subpar D+ are not going to bring customers back.

 

[zymolysis]

What gives with Driver+ lately? Am I the only one that thinks the behavior got worse the past few OTA updates? It's always been rather finicky and often frustratingly inconsistent. But recently the "Keep Hands On Wheel" sensor/sensitivity has gone haywire basically. Time and time again (lately) it starts flashing on the driver's screen and beeping to alert yet I've already got my hand (or hands) on the wheel more than enough to provide the feedback "proof" to the sensor. Even MORE upsetting is that many times lately on familiar, demonstrated highway drives it can only "work" for like a mile or so before all these intervention alerts disable it. When it displays that message about Driver+ unavailable until next drive my response (in my head) is something like, "Good, it's pissing me off."

Adding to my angst is that using just the lane-keep cruise control has also become way more "hold the steering wheel" sensitive. For instance, I don't recall that caution box always coming on the very moment you activate it but it does now. Maybe my vehicle has a faulty sensor. I guess I'll find out based on how other RIviots respond to this post.

This is primary a venting post. I am a true-believer Riviot having owned an R1T and now having the R1S. I reserved two R2's and would have reserved the R3X had that been possible. So I'm not some ex-Tesla guy complaining its nothing like AutoPilot.

I think Highway Assist has gotten better, and will stay engaged for longer stretches. Perhaps there is an issue with the capacitive sensor on your steering wheel.

 

[Bart57266]

I'm suddenly getting all kinds of warnings about keeping my hands on the wheel. It's like the steering wheel sensitivity is failing to detect my hands, because they are definitely on the wheel before the warnings.

This is very frustrating, because it is making Adaptive Cruise Control and Highway Assist basically unusable at times. Yes, I have performed a hard reset on three different days.

 

[beyondgravity]

My typical commute I take I78 from clinton nj and pretty much put it on Driver+ until my work in Summit. I had never seen this - “keep hands on steering or wheel“. This weekend I went to Montauk Music festival and through New York center I started getting this message with there are lot of curves ahead. So is this warning message only when it sees road curving back and forth. I still let it roll; but certain places I took control; may e it was due to my tiredness or NY drivers.

I am not coming from Tesla. For me Driver+ has been so awesome; but I really don’t know better though.

 

[RexRemus]

Adding to my angst is that using just the lane-keep cruise control has also become way more "hold the steering wheel" sensitive.

Wait a minute... you guys have lane-keeping cruise control?!

Do you mean JUST set ACC and then "let the vehicle ping-pong like you're itching for a DUI" mode?

Because I don't even consider that a valid mode/feature/function. 10+yr old vehicles do that better and actually keep the centered in the lane aka Highway assist or whatever (without any mapping required). but if you're saying what I think you're saying you mean having lane keep assist on and just letting it "bounce off the rails" - I don't think that's like an actual "mode". Or... is that actually a thing that "works" now without it being absolutely horrible?

 

[f1racer328]

Wait a minute... you guys have lane-keeping cruise control?!

Do you mean JUST set ACC and then "let the vehicle ping-pong like you're itching for a DUI" mode?

Because I don't even consider that a valid mode/feature/function. 10+yr old vehicles do that better and actually keep the centered in the lane aka Highway assist or whatever (without any mapping required). but if you're saying what I think you're saying you mean having lane keep assist on and just letting it "bounce off the rails" - I don't think that's like an actual "mode". Or... is that actually a thing that "works" now without it being absolutely horrible?

There's only ACC which does not actively steer ... love the DUI analogy.

And then highway assist on mapped roads.

That's it.

 

[dleepnw]

Driver+ is a limited and immature product. it has difficulty with multiple, continuous curves (id say it gets dangerous in some instances). it has trouble staying centered in a lane. it doesn't approach curves the way a good driver will - you'd typically approach a curve at speed by favoring the outside of the lane and just about every time Driver+ does the opposite. it cuts out on sections of highways where theres no toll or other obstruction. it doesn't respond fast enough to traffic slowing down in front of it.

i rented a 2023 Lexus RX and the assisted driving, lane centering, ACC was so much more refined. you felt safer and built a level of trust with it quickly. with the Rivian, the trust is fragile.

i really hope the rumor of a partnership with Apple will be about the driver assistance s/w.

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