What’s Coming in 2026.15 Update, Including Rivian Assistant

[VSG]

When I first read your post about all the things RA can't do, it seemed pretty bad. And then I realized most of those things are things I don't want RA to do while driving. In fact, some of them could be dangerous if RA could control them when the truck is moving.

Fold the mirrors: may be useful when parking, but not when driving. Definitely I don't want the mirrors folding when I am on the highway.

[...etc.]

As I said above:

It has been my often expressed opinion over many years that the voice assistant should be able to do everything that can be done through the UI and the physical buttons. The software already exists to control all these things within operating constraints (e.g. can't open the hood, by any means, while the car is in drive) so it's really just a matter of exposing this functionality through the voice interface in addition to the current controls.

Specifically, if you're allowed to fold the mirrors from the UI while driving, how can it possibly be a safety concern to perform that same action through voice commands? If anything, it's SAFER to do it by voice.

Just because you can't imagine a need for this doesn't mean the voice command should be disabled. Perhaps other people would find this useful? And needlessly limiting the ability of the voice assistant to do things that can be done through physical buttons or the UI also greatly limits what can be done through automation.

I'm not going to go over each and every example, but let's consider folding the mirrors again. You don't need it, but if you spend any time reading this forum you will see that many other people have been asking Rivian for some form of geofenced mirror folding. For example, I might need the mirrors folded (and perhaps the ride height lowered) to fit in my garage. Why shouldn't I be able to say "Hey Rivian, prepare for docking" and have all those actions performed for me instead of having to fumble in various places of the UI to get it done, all the while turning into my driveway and trying to avoid kids and toys on the sidewalk? (I would have been able to do this for years, with Alexa routines, if Rivian had allowed Alexa access to more functions.)

Sure you may not find that useful, but others will. What possible reason is there to limit this arbitrarily? It's actually more work for Rivian to have a separate "list" of things that the UI can do vs. what the voice assistant can do, and if Rivian ever does decide in the future that folding the mirrors while driving presents a safety hazard, there are now two different places where they will have to enforce that (voice and UI separately) rather than just one unified means of authorizing actions. That means more opportunities for bugs, because you have different code for performing the action via UI vs. voice.

One of the ways I use Alexa is to "turn on the camera" when I am pulling into tight spots and need to be able to see more things. By definition, I only need to do this when I'm fully engaged turning and driving in a potentially busy situation - my hands are occupied. Being able to do this via voice makes this much safer for everyone.

But frankly, safety has nothing to do with most of these inconsistencies: "turn on defrost" works but "turn on defog" doesn't? - that's not a safety issue. It's just poor integration, whether it's Alexa or Rivian Assistant.

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[R1TCntrlMaIzzy]

Waaah, still no RA for me. I want my C+ money back. Hahaha

 

[godfodder0901]

Yeah, I'd love to know what voice features are available without a Connect+. Hopefully it won't be like the current/previous one where if you ask it something it can't do, Alexa complains it doesn't have internet.

The answer is none. RA is not available at all (can't be enabled) without Connect+.

 

[Supratachophobia]

Interesting find, I asked the VA what my lowest tire pressure was. So that's a pretty neat logic using comparative analysis.

 

[HapticWagon]

Beware of UHF in this update
Routes that worked flawlessly before now have been randomly cancelling UHF midturn. Not very reliable. Almost threw me into the median tonight on the highway curve, after “system fault” disabled UHF. And wouldn’t let me reenable UHF until I pulled aside and did hazard button reset.

 

[Rade]

My R1T got updated late yesterday afternoon and I got Rivian Assistant working. I really like what I am seeing! A lot to get used to; I'll give it a good run this weekend.

 

[BradSholl]

Did the update yesterday and played with it briefly. I can confirm it is able to turn the seat heater on but fails to turn it off, despite acknowledging it has done so.

I asked “her” to report that error to Rivian and “she” said she would…but did “she” really?

 

[freshpow]

I think that's a fair rebuttal. But I'll respond that I think wipers, mirrors, dash cam are specific things that would really help to cut down on driver distraction. I would throw fogs and the LED go around lights in there as well. I actually think that changing drive modes by voice is a larger safety concern and wonder how that made it in. Hotspot as well; basically I'm thinking of QOL improvements where either the button is tiny or the setting is nested in menus.

A great example is "show rear view camera", which actually works. Despite the broken software toggle, the voice command takes the place of hitting a very small and specific part of the screen while I'm trying to pay attention to not running over children.

Regarding seats, I want the position to be able to be moved back to the profile setting. So actually improving safety on that one.

Hazards could go either way, I was thinking of some situation where a driver was incapacitated enough they couldn't find the button or physically press it; like a severed arm.

Consumption data would be useful if I could ask it a natural language question, "what is my remaining range at XXX miles per hour". As it stands now, it just gives me what the dash is telling me with no analysis based on the question or current driving telemetry.

Seats, how many times has your significant other needed to throw a Costco TV in the back and you had to jump out like a schloob to arrange the seats. "Rivian, TV transpo mode", boom, fixed.

But keep this in mind, the car understood what I wanted it to do in 99% of cases. So this isn't Rivian slacking off on the programming side of things. It's not the Rivian can't do it, it won't do it.

I can’t believe Rivian wasn’t thinking about someone severing their arm and needing to turn on the hazard lights with this initial release. The rest of your complaints are just about as ridiculous as that “use case”.

 

[Supratachophobia]

Did the update yesterday and played with it briefly. I can confirm it is able to turn the seat heater on but fails to turn it off, despite acknowledging it has done so.

I asked “her” to report that error to Rivian and “she” said she would…but did “she” really?

That's another interesting thing, The voice Assistant told me specifically that it could not report feedback to Rivian.

 

[tate16t]

That's another interesting thing, The voice Assistant told me specifically that it could not report feedback to Rivian.

When I simply asked the question ‘is Rivian assistant is able to report feedback to Rivian’, I get nothing it just cancels out. Jose from Riviantracker was able to do this on camera actually. Perhaps you have to be within a failure scenario?

 

[tkauftheil]

The RA is neat. But for me I don’t really have a use case (yet). Granted it’s only been a day. I can see a good use for me would be getting directions and plotting a route.
My 1 complaint so far is the RA/texting. I don’t need the full number of someone who texts read out at EVERY step.
“You have a test from 1-555-1212”
Would you like to hear the message from 1-555-1212”
Yes
“The message from 1-555-1212 reads…”
Would you like to reply to 1-555-…..

I get it. The number is 1-555….

Much better experience with Siri.

Just my 3¢

 

[Dark-Fx]

I can’t believe Rivian wasn’t thinking about someone severing their arm and needing to turn on the hazard lights with this initial release. The rest of your complaints are just about as ridiculous as that “use case”.

Some people can't lift their arms high enough to even hit the button due to past injuries. Easy to assume everyone could do it if you've never experienced severe shoulder injuries.

 

[freshpow]

Some people can't lift their arms high enough to even hit the button due to past injuries. Easy to assume everyone could do it if you've never experienced severe shoulder injuries.

Please spare me. Some people don’t have arms or hands to begin with. I’ve never once seen a post or heard a complaint about the positioning of the hazards button in the vehicle. But now that Rivian has rolled out this awesome new functionality people (or person) want to complain about these “problems” that don’t really exist. Just sick of the complaints when our vehicles continue to get drastically better over time but maybe that’s my issue and I should just steer clear of Internet forums in general.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Please spare me. Some people don’t have arms or hands to begin with. I’ve never once seen a post or heard a complaint about the positioning of the hazards button in the vehicle. But now that Rivian has rolled out this awesome new functionality people (or person) want to complain about these “problems” that don’t really exist. Just sick of the complaints when our vehicles continue to get drastically better over time but maybe that’s my issue and I should just steer clear of Internet forums in general.

Consider yourself spared.

 

[tate16t]

If you want the Assistant to access your personal data, Rivian now requires a Profile PIN for security. What’s everyone’s thought on this? I don’t recall whether this is optional or not, but it appears every time I get in the car.

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