Displayed speed limit often wrong

[davei3]

I’ve been on a 65mph road and the dashboard is showing 35. I agree it “feels” like it has gotten worse. We have an XC90 and that does legit read the signs and within 3-5 seconds it registers on the dash, very consistent and feels to be seldom wrong. Now, I’ll take the improved UHD as a trade off for worse sign recognition, but it’s a refinement that would improve the user experience for sure.

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[SwampNut]

I have never noticed it being wrong except for weird/conditional signs such as school zones during certain times of the day. The Tesla read them as always applying, and now I can't remember what the Rivian does, but it's also not able to read the times or any "when flashing" type signs. I wonder if there are regional differences in visibility of signs or how they are maintained?

 

[godfodder0901]

I can also verify that historically from the time I got my Gen1 R1S the speed is imaged from signs. On a particular section of highway that I used to drive frequently the posted speed was increased from 40 to 45. It would display 40 mph and change to 45 immediately after passing a sign. And then after about a minute it would revert to 40. And then back to 45 when the next sign was passed.

I have not paid attention to this feature for months, but I guess there is the possibility that this was a feature of the previous map integration, and changed recently in 2025.22 when Rivian switched to Google. Perhaps the imaged speed was abandoned. I'll check it out.

I verified this behavior again 20 min ago. Gen 1, 2025.46.0. It still uses vision for speed limits in addition to Google Maps data.

 

[ENVErider]

Has anyone else noticed that their Rivian no longer reads speed limit signs? The displayed speed limit seems to often be in error (we are currently travel in South Carolina), particularly on secondary roads.

I did notice one instance earlier this week, but didn't think much about it. I will pay attention and try to notice if there's a consistent pattern. It's a first-world, premium-vehicle problem, but something we should be able to expect in 2026 in a software-based vehicle.

 

[slillie]

Hmmm, maybe the car is right and the signs are wrong...ever considered that?

 

[jrmbadger]

I've noticed on my Gen 1 that when you turn onto a road, it keeps the same speed limit from the last road until it sees a new sign. So, if you turn from a road that is 35 MPH to a road that is 55 MPH, the speed limit in the car will stay at 35 MPH until it sees a new sign that says 55MPH.

 

[KBabione]

We have a 2023 Gen1 R1S and it definitely reads the signs. There was a window where it stopped for one update and relied on the Rivian maps, but that was fixed the next update. I don't remember when that was.

I did have a funny experience recently in my Gen1 PDM loaner:

It showed 85 MPH and I have NO idea where it got that. I was driving to the airport in downtown Columbus OH and I know the speed limit was 55. Usually it's dead on and you can watch it change as you pass the speed limit sign.

 

[iowa_don]

Hmmm, maybe the car is right and the signs are wrong...ever considered that?

Interesting viewpoint. I believe the officer writing your ticket will be using the POSTED speed limit as the correct one.

 

[iansriv]

I've seen some pretty crazy numbers on my speed limit like 55 MPH on a twisty mountain road where it's actually 25 and 95 on one section of freeway. It seems very optimistic!

I'd use that to explain speeding to the nice officer.

 

[iansriv]

I'm in TX most of the time. Speed limits seem to be a suggestion there. There's a stretch near Austin with a 85mph limit and every time I'm on it everyone seems to be going about 100. I do agree that the cars should read the information correctly IF that was the intention. For my purposes, I use it as a rough guideline and read the posted limits myself.

 

[mkhuffman]

I'm in TX most of the time. Speed limits seem to be a suggestion there. There's a stretch near Austin with a 85mph limit and every time I'm on it everyone seems to be going about 100. I do agree that the cars should read the information correctly IF that was the intention. For my purposes, I use it as a rough guideline and read the posted limits myself.

IMO all speed limits are rough guidelines.

 

[Dave Cundiff]

In one part of my area, the posted speed limits are correct and unambiguous. There is no secondary sign to confuse the vehicle. These speed limits haven't changed since at least 2018.

Both our Rivians consistently display a speed limit 10 mph higher than the actual speed limit on this stretch.

My conclusion is that, at least here, someone loaded an incorrect database and Rivian has no way of finding out that the database is wrong. Does anyone know what an owner could reasonably do?

Thanks in advance, and best to all!

 

[godfodder0901]

In one part of my area, the posted speed limits are correct and unambiguous. There is no secondary sign to confuse the vehicle. These speed limits haven't changed since at least 2018.

Both our Rivians consistently display a speed limit 10 mph higher than the actual speed limit on this stretch.

My conclusion is that, at least here, someone loaded an incorrect database and Rivian has no way of finding out that the database is wrong. Does anyone know what an owner could reasonably do?

Thanks in advance, and best to all!

Put on a change with Google Maps.

 

[iowa_don]

In one part of my area, the posted speed limits are correct and unambiguous. There is no secondary sign to confuse the vehicle. These speed limits haven't changed since at least 2018.

Both our Rivians consistently display a speed limit 10 mph higher than the actual speed limit on this stretch.

My conclusion is that, at least here, someone loaded an incorrect database and Rivian has no way of finding out that the database is wrong. Does anyone know what an owner could reasonably do?

Thanks in advance, and best to all!

The car cannot rely on map speed data. End of story. It has to actually READ and UNDERSTAND the signs, even when they are contradictory as in temporary speed changes for construction zones or "permanently" temporary as for school zones. Until it can do that, Universal Hands Free or Full Self Driving is pretty useless as it needs driver input for the speed it needs to go.

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