According to the Rivian rep at my recent test drive, the 2027 R1S / R1T is due out next month. So I thought I would start a thread speculating on what changes we should expect. My starter random list of likely and unlikely upgrades
I don't see us getting the haptic wheels any time soon, on account of the entirely different software ecosystem running in the R2. I don't think Rivian builds software modularly, so the code to run the haptic wheels is likely nestled very deep in the R2 operating system.
I actually see air suspension as a liability off road - I get that it is a cool party trick to raise the ride height, but inflating the air springs to the max actually hurts things like articulation and the ability of the suspension to absorb washboards, etc. I think the air suspension is really there more for complaint ride quality on the beat to shit roads we all have. And to be fair it does a good job of managing that task. That being said, I see eventually someone coming up with a coil over strut system to replace the Monroe air springs in the R1 platform once we get a bit more into the "out of warranty" territory on these...
Idk if I see it as a liabilty, as much as I see it as a tradeoff. You can't get 14.9 inches of ground clearance without adapative air suspension. if the ride height was permanently that high it would not handle well, put too much stress on certain components, and be dangerous at highway speed. You would also lose a ton of highway efficiency. And a permanently lower height would cause problems in off-road performance. I don't see how you can achieve favorable results in both on and off-road without it?
