Questions on Driver+ with Automatic Steering (if you have more please add them!)

[SANZC02]

Thank you for the clarification. I wrongly assumed Rivian used the same setup that Tesla has on my Model 3. I’ll pay closer attention to that on my next drive.

Just an additional point, it uses both capacitive and resistance. If on a longer stretch of crazy straight highway it will occasionally ask you to move the wheel just to verify you are still there. Just a slight pressure left or right on the wheel does clear the message.

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[SwampNut]

I use D+ whenever possible, unfortunately that's a very limited set of places and I really miss my Tesla Autopilot. I used AP 98% of the time, basically everywhere.

I mostly have my left arm rested so I can keep two fingers in the capacitive sensing part of the steering wheel, or with a couple fingers draped over it. At around the lower left "notch" made by the bend in the steering wheel. It's very comfortable once I found my right spot and seat/wheel adjustments. I'm working on a way to fool the capacitive sensors and get more hands off time, but it's pretty good at letting you have no-hand driving for a while.

Yes, a little bit of adjustments, it was annoying, then I got used to it.

I mostly cancel with a little manual turn of the wheel. This keeps adaptive on, stops the steering part only. Or press the stalk upward while also holding the accelerator to keep it from jerking. You get used to its needs. Depends on what I need at the time; do I want to leave the highway and take full control, or just correct for an area that it can't self-drive, like construction.

 

[WorldComposting]

Thanks for all the responses everyone. I'll have to move my seat around to try and find the right spot for long drives.

 

[Mellowyellow]

What part of the wheel is capacitive?

 

[SwampNut]

What part of the wheel is capacitive?

I've done some testing (bored long drive, let's experiment with fooling the truck!). It seems to be all around the wheel and on the back/outer areas. I don't get anything from the inside area, with the stitching. And the front seems to have no sensing or maybe I didn't get it right. So mostly I touch the back/outer part. It takes at least two fingers a few mm apart at minimum. I have some capacitive touch material and I'm going to make up a little thing to see if I can fool it.

 

[Mellowyellow]

Good to know. I always thought it was a torque sensor. I stopped using D+ because it doesn’t use regen to slow the vehicle. I thought that was a total miss on their part.

 

[godfodder0901]

Good to know. I always thought it was a torque sensor. I stopped using D+ because it doesn’t use regen to slow the vehicle. I thought that was a total miss on their part.

It has both capacitive and torque sensors.

And Driver+, more accurately HWA and ACC, both use regen to slow the vehicle. Thay both also use slight hydraulic brakes (even if Regen Brake Assist is off).

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

I did a search but didn't come up with anything relevant. So sorry if this has been posted before.

I've had my R1S for over a year now (Gen 1) and have gone on some long trips but never used the Driver+ system. After being in my friends Teslas that always seem to have issues I was very hesitant to use the system other than just the radar cruise control.

Saying that I have been taking a lot of longer trips recently and began to try it out and I have a couple questions.

• How do you rest your arm while using Driver+? I can't hold the wheel normally (9 and 3) or I put too much pressure and it deactivates or I have to hold my arms up and have a light grip on the wheel which is tiring. I have pretty long arms but I can't use the door window or arm rest as they are not comfortable. I rest my elbow on the door side. The Rivian has a capacitive steering wheel so all it needs is one finger on the back of the steering wheel. No force feedback is needed. Unfortunately, its not a hands free system so the easiest way is to have one hand on the wheel. On long trips you can swap them from left to right and vv
• Does anyone else find the Driver+ sort of keeps doing micro adjustments to stay centered? I can feel the wheel move slightly left then right almost the entire time even on straight roads. Yes, its a known problem with gen1 and gen2 reports the same thing ...trouble staying centered especially on curvy roads. Hopeful lane centering performance will improve with future updates.
• If I'm using Driver+ will it send drive information to Rivian to improve the system if you have share data turned on? While I know I'm a beta tester having a new vehicle I would actually try to use it more if I knew Rivian would benefit. Yes, Rivian should collect data from the fleet and use that to improve the performance of the highway assist.
• How is everyone cancelling out of Driver+? Right now I'm just tapping the brake pedal but as the car goes into regen quickly it sometimes makes the ride feel jerky Just like with Tesla on Gen1 you tap up on the stalk to disengage and tap down twice to engage auto steer. With Gen2 its push to disengage and double pull to engage auto steer.
• For those that have used Gen 1 and Gen 2 are the vastly different when using Driver+? Don't own gen2 but the demo unit I had seemed to perform very similar to gen1. The difference right now seems to be features. Gen2 will get new features as it has the upgraded cameras and compute hardware. Gen2 will also get lane change on command (auto lane change) and to where Gen1 will only get assisted lane change (auto disengage/renegage)
• Lastly how often are you using Driver+? I only started using it a month ago but I'm trying to use it more often. I use it infrequently. I mainly limit my use in medium to light traffic and on straight stretches of highway. Heavy traffic and curves can get pretty stressful.

Responses in bold inline.

 

[CANCERDOC]

I love Highway assist for if there’s stop/go traffic. If I’m traveling 75-80 down the highway, I can’t leave it on with anyone in the passenger seat. I and they feel it is way too close to the vehicles in the lane to the right, especially if it’s a semi. Looks like the upcoming update may help with that.

Agree completely - it tries to lock you right in the middle of the lane, which is often too close to the semi's on the right lane. I wish there was an option to be closer to the left side.

 

[WorldComposting]

Responses in bold inline.

Thanks for the reply. I figure Rivian is using the data but couldn't seem to find anything confirming that they do. I want Rivian to succeed since I'm a shareholder so I'm going to start using it more often so they get more data.

Agree completely - it tries to lock you right in the middle of the lane, which is often too close to the semi's on the right lane. I wish there was an option to be closer to the left side.

With the 8-10 times I've used it I noticed the same thing and it is worrying being that close to a semi!

 

[R1TCntrlMaIzzy]

To me HWA must be fixed and soon. It is worthless.

No, I do not seek for FSD or whatever the proper techie term is. What I'd like is for my "T" to still have HWA active even after I sneeze that causes me to abruptly move the steering wheel, but not cross over the "lines".

 

[godfodder0901]

To me HWA must be fixed and soon. It is worthless.

No, I do not seek for FSD or whatever the proper techie term is. What I'd like is for my "T" to still have HWA active even after I sneeze that causes me to abruptly move the steering wheel, but not cross over the "lines".

So, don't jerk the wheel when you SNEEZE? Perfect use of HWA - LET GO OF THE WHEEL...

 

[R1TCntrlMaIzzy]

My 2021 Subie Outback handled that just fine. I expected my "pc on wheels" to be better.

I have slept ok irrespective of this annoyance.

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