Does anyone else want Drive Mode pre-selection?

[runwithscissors]

I switch sport lowest when picking up people/dropping them off because kneel mode is way too slow and someone always opens the door. Biggest complaint from passenger is getting into/out of the truck. Rivian is missing out on a ton of people who would happily pay for running boards.

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[SoCal Rob]

For the entry, don't change modes, just press the height button. Or keep the kneel mode enabled.

I was fewer nannies and confirmations, not more. Let's get rid of the "are you sure" for dog mode, please.

Unless something changed that I didn’t notice, I can’t get to lowest in on road All-Purpose. I’m typically in All-Purpose so if I’m picking up my mom, when I get to her place I switch to Sport then select Lowest. When we get in I go back to All-Purpose then back to Sport (to get Lowest) when we get to our destination. When I eventually drop her off at home I’ll usually select All-Purpose Which is great, until the next time I want to use Sport for actual sporty driving and then I want the height at low.

I completely agree about the nannies! I think there should be an option for audible feedback when you press an on-screen control, though. Just a little click type noise to let you know you tapped something. This way there’s less chance of someone accidentally tapping a control and not realizing they did (probably why the pet mode confirm is there) and, as an added bonus, you’ll know if your tap actually registered and was recognized by the system. So many times I would swear that I hit the Camera app but I must’ve been off a bit.

 

[Bullwinkle]

If it's a quad, that's why. Rivian didn't screw those up.

It is

 

[beatle]

I completely agree about the nannies! I think there should be an option for audible feedback when you press an on-screen control, though. Just a little click type noise to let you know you tapped something. This way there’s less chance of someone accidentally tapping a control and not realizing they did (probably why the pet mode confirm is there) and, as an added bonus, you’ll know if your tap actually registered and was recognized by the system. So many times I would swear that I hit the Camera app but I must’ve been off a bit.

I didn't think about the audible feedback, but that's another simple improvement that could make interacting with the screen easier. Opening the apps (such as drive modes) almost always requires a second or third tap, even if I know my tap was registered by seeing the icon briefly change contrast. This is assuming the audible beep/boop wouldn't also be a false positive and would only sound when the new screen is selected.

I'm sure there are some who would eschew any unnecessary sounds from the infotainment - maybe even me if I had them - but it might be worth a try.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Come on now folks...we can't be a havin' any functional changes on the drive mode settings because it's more important to have a team of graphic designers updating those "pretty" wireframe graphics in those screens every month.

Many people have been saying stuff like this lately, so don't think I'm singling you out when I say this. No matter what Rivian focuses on, someone is going to bitch that their priority wasn't made first. If they went all in on functionality but didn't update the graphics or interface, the complaint would become how the graphics are garbage and that they should make it look nicer than it does.

Rivian has made tons of functional changes, yes, even to the drive mode settings, since I purchased the vehicle in September '22. I can't name another manufacturer besides Tesla that has made as many regular software additions in the same time frame as Rivian has.

I know it's not perfect. I know there are bugs, and sometimes software is messed up by updates or doesn't work perfectly. That comes with how many new features are added. How many software-driven things, not just cars, give you updated features once a month? Apple does feature additions yearly, and Microsoft doesn't add them outside of new Windows versions.

For the results made, Rivian has done an admirable job. My wife's i4 hasn't gotten a new feature or software look since we bought it almost a year ago. That was an 84K dollar car too, and a small sedan to boot, yet hasn't seen anywhere near the software improvements my R1T has in the same time period.

 

[VSG]

I’ve bumped into issues where I wish that I could choose my Drive Mode settings (without the vehicle doing anything) and then commit the change with a button labeled, “OK,” “Do it!” “Make it so,” or whatever is on brand for Rivian.

Why? Here are two examples:

There are times when my Rivian remembers settings from the last use that I don’t want to use now

OK, what you want is not wrong, but it is the opposite of what a lot of other people want. A recurring theme in these forums is the ask that Rivians remember settings - which they do in some cases and don't in other cases.

When *I* switch to off-road mode (or conserve, or sport, etc.), I *expect* the mode to be configured the same way as I left it the last time I used that mode. I don't want to have to check all the settings then confirm that they're set the way I want them to be, I want to be able to instantly switch with one button.

In the case of drive mode, Rivian remembers the settings that you used previously, so it IS a one-tap choice to switch to those settings. At least on my Gen1. IMO this is by far the more common use-case.

 

[Mathme]

Sorry if my message above was misunderstood...I was hoping the little laughing emoji would show the sarcasm meant in it.

 

[SoCal Rob]

OK, what you want is not wrong, but it is the opposite of what a lot of other people want. A recurring theme in these forums is the ask that Rivians remember settings - which they do in some cases and don't in other cases.

When *I* switch to off-road mode (or conserve, or sport, etc.), I *expect* the mode to be configured the same way as I left it the last time I used that mode. I don't want to have to check all the settings then confirm that they're set the way I want them to be, I want to be able to instantly switch with one button.

In the case of drive mode, Rivian remembers the settings that you used previously, so it IS a one-tap choice to switch to those settings. At least on my Gen1. IMO this is by far the more common use-case.

The current setup where some driver preferences are stored and others aren’t is an ongoing pain point and I completely agree with you that the vehicle should recall the last used state. The problem is not that the drive mode settings remember the last state, but that when I go to change drive modes, I cannot see in advance exactly what I’m getting with that last state. It puts the burden on me, the human who may or may not remember correctly.

Believe it or not, you might not always remember what the last setup was (I didn’t recall the last off-road mode being rock crawl, because it was over a month since I last used off road mode at all) and those settings may put the vehicle in a state you don’t want it to be in and may even prevent changing the mode to what you want without further distraction.

I think I’ve listed at least three reasonable examples I’ve encountered in this thread which show how this can be undesired to downright bad when the timing is less than ideal, but it’s not because the system recalls what the last settings were. It’s because it doesn’t let me see them before I commit to them. Taking it a step further, it doesn’t let me change them to avoid an issue. I have to change modes blindly, deal with the consequences, and decide whether I want to pay attention to the road or adjust things right now because hitting the on-road or off-road tab gave me things I didn’t want.

I want the option of interacting with the system when I have time to do so safely, even if I get interrupted with a driving task and have to split the interaction. This option can either be a toggle in settings or via a fly-out from the left like the audio from the right. People who like the current behavior can keep things exactly as they are.
Edit:clarity

 

[Treebeard]

I’ve bumped into issues where I wish that I could choose my Drive Mode settings (without the vehicle doing anything) and then commit the change with a button labeled, “OK,” “Do it!” “Make it so,” or whatever is on brand for Rivian.

Why? Here are two examples:

There are times when my Rivian remembers settings from the last use that I don’t want to use now. The last time I used Sport Mode, over 2 weeks ago, I had selected it just to lower the suspension to Lowest to make it easy for my mom to climb in. Today, I find myself driving down the road and I want to switch to sport mode. I’m at a red traffic light so I switch to Sport and as the light changes I realize that I’d forgotten it was in Lowest and I only want it in Low. I don’t want the rough ride so I have to switch back to Low as quickly as possible. What I would like is if I could‘ve selected Sport, seen the ride feel and height settings, changed them if desired, and then commit the change to go directly to what I want. This means I don’t have to handle any follow-up changes because I made all the choices up front when I had low/no workload as a driver.

Another scenario is that we’ve gone from pavement onto a rough dirt road where Rally would be more comfortable. When I tap Off Road I get a message that I can’t until I slow down under 25 mph because the last time I used an off road mode I was in Rock Crawl. So I have to slow down, tap Off Road, and then select Rally. Only then can I go back up to 30 mph. It would be better if I could just go into Off Road (where the options which are unavailable at current speed are grayed out), tap Rally, and then commit the change.

These are just two examples and I’m wondering if anyone else trips across these kinds of issues and would like to see a similar change.

Oh, and at a bare minimum Rivian, please, PLEASE change the ride feel control from a tap-to-toggle between 3 states to an up/down as done with items which permit 3+ states.

Mine has some issues, but I’ve never liked how you go in and out of off road mode. Too much safety built in. Just let me do my thing.

 

[SoCal Rob]

Mine has some issues, but I’ve never liked how you go in and out of off road mode. Too much safety built in. Just let me do my thing.

I agree that the initial pop-ups for some mode changes are annoying, and worse in my opinion: they don’t show you exactly what you’re going to get before you get it.

When I tried to go into off-road mode at 30 mph because I wanted to go to Rally, my recollection is that
1. I tapped the off-road tab
2. I got the are-you-sure type dialog
3. Which I had to acknowledge with a tap
4. Then it popped up a too-tiny warning (ridiculously difficult to read on a bumpy off-road surface) telling me that I needed to slow down to get into off-road mode
5. When I dropped below the speed I recall that I had to select off-road again
6. Before I could finally select Rally

With the option I’m envisioning it would be
1. I tap the off-road tab so it displays the current settings along with options I can select
2. I tap Rally
3. I tap Go, OK, Commit, or whatever and it makes the changes

It’s easier and I think safer because if I start the process I can focus on driving and then go back to the process when I can.

 

[HaveBlue]

Every software update the driver screen gets worse and worse about resetting automatically. It so bad now that it keeps resetting to heated seats and it's going to be another 90+ day again. Every two minutes the compressor runs on the freeway raising and lowering the car because of auto mode. Makes everyone nauseous with the nose dipping out of the blue. The performance upgrade keeps deselecting. What a waste of money because it switches back to a 7000lb front wheel drive Dodge Caravan. Honestly fuck Rivian and their stupid updates.

 

[clostridium]

I really like the idea of presets which can be selected from the steering wheel controls and the left side of the driver display could benefit from some changes. Ever since the gauges were added to the driver display mode screen, I’ve wondered why 1 of the 3 choices we have is TPMS. That made sense when there was no other way to view it, but it seems like a waste of real estate to me. I always pictured getting a media display there so you could see playing song/podcast info, select from different sources, see upcoming track, etc. Even that seems redundant since most of the information could be displayed in a banner or crawl so given a choice I’d go for drive mode presets instead.

I think the limited number of steering wheel controls can hamper how interactive the left side of the driver display can be, though. So, even if I’m in a drive modes favorite list, I still want to be able to adjust volume and mute/pause the audio which means all we have left are the left and right buttons. What I’m picturing is that we could move sequentially through a list of presets in either direction and then what is showing becomes the active selection after a delay. What I don’t like about that is part of what I dislike about the current drive modes interface: once you start interacting with it must continue to pay attention to it until you’re satisfied with what you have. So, as an example, if I start changing presets on the highway and someone nearly changes lanes into me, it could be that while I’m avoiding a collision the drive mode settings get changed to whatever preset I happened to be on when my focus changed to actually driving.

tesla has it setup so you can long press the up/down button and a specific thing to adjust or a menu can come up. Rivian could let you customize a page or two of the left hand display and you could interact with it via a long press then roll up or down.

 

[Kaiju]

I get the impression mode presets would be more helpful here. Mode C being Offroad/Rally/High and Mode D being Offroad/Rock Crawl/Highest or whatnot. Set by the driver so the driver knows what they are and chooses accordingly with one push. The divide here is going to be that wanting to confirm/whatever is for people who want to make complex changes vs simple ones. I have a dual motor that at least at the moment has very few drive mode options. Personally, I would despise a change that made any action require another button press to confirm, because usually I only want to change exactly one thing and I hate trying to use touch screens when moving.

I don't like looking at the screen to push buttons at all while driving. Most of the time I ever change anything while in motion it's just to change the drive height, usually only because that software bug put my truck on auto-level without me noticing and it's gone into low and is taking bumps very poorly. It sometimes takes a few stabs to get the touch to register when moving, because touch screens.

I think any change that was forced on everyone would be recieved poorly, because some people do like it the way it is. But optional presets? I suppose some people would still complain about an option they don't use but at least everyone would get to choose which way they wanted it to work.

 

[SoCal Rob]

I get the impression mode presets would be more helpful here. Mode C being Offroad/Rally/High and Mode D being Offroad/Rock Crawl/Highest or whatnot. Set by the driver so the driver knows what they are and chooses accordingly with one push. The divide here is going to be that wanting to confirm/whatever is for people who want to make complex changes vs simple ones. I have a dual motor that at least at the moment has very few drive mode options. Personally, I would despise a change that made any action require another button press to confirm, because usually I only want to change exactly one thing and I hate trying to use touch screens when moving.

I don't like looking at the screen to push buttons at all while driving. Most of the time I ever change anything while in motion it's just to change the drive height, usually only because that software bug put my truck on auto-level without me noticing and it's gone into low and is taking bumps very poorly. It sometimes takes a few stabs to get the touch to register when moving, because touch screens.

I think any change that was forced on everyone would be recieved poorly, because some people do like it the way it is. But optional presets? I suppose some people would still complain about an option they don't use but at least everyone would get to choose which way they wanted it to work.

What I’m proposing would be a user-selectable option so I’m not sure where the concept of change forced on everyone made it into the conversation. I’m not proposing any changes at all, even with the optional one I’d like to make, when making changes on a screen you can already see. So, if in all-purpose and you want to change something visible like ride feel, height, or traction control, everything behaves the same way.

The way the conversation is going in this thread, I can’t figure out if 1) I am doing a REALLY bad job of describing what I’m suggesting and why I’m suggesting it, 2) People are coming in, only reading the first post/a few posts and hitting reply, or 3) My use cases are atypical and/or nobody else is tripping across the issues I’m experiencing

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