Rivian software stability is a real issue we don't talk about

[ATLRivvy]

How quickly we forget.

I bought an original iPhone in July 2007. Part of the hardware-software integration was keeping it simple - no app store, only one phone carrier in the US (AT&T), had to update via tethering to a laptop running iTunes (no OTA). Simplicity led to high function, high reliability experiences - it just worked - and the rest is history. If you preferred Blackberry, that was much the same in the early years - clean, simple and directed.

Having a cutting edge vehicle doesn't mean putting up with bad software. I believe Rivian's path would be clearer if they tried to fewer things better - maybe go with coil springs and shocks for the suspension for a while, stick with the Meridian or Bose audio systems (yes, their sound engineers are superior to Rivian's right now), just get basic adaptive cruise control with highway lane centering working reliably, don't re-architect the entire CPU, wiring and networking stack to save a few bucks which only adds to software complexity leading to more customer service issues and expenses due to forking the code for Gen1 and Gen2.

If you want to accept recurring software failures leading to dead apps or entire vehicles as part of your purchasing consideration set on a $100K vehicle that's on you. Heck, people bought Land Rovers when they were owned by Ford which was anything but a paragon of reliability. I don't care about brand image or posing for neighbors, I want what I paid (a lot of money) for to work - the first time and every time. I did not buy a 2021 or 2022 R1 for these reasons, I was willing to wait for the bugs to get worked out.

The problem is Gen 2 software/hardware seems less stable than Gen 1. That shouldn't happen. And I'm not going to accept it laying down, you do you.

Apple does not make “cutting edge” devices and haven’t done so in well over a decade.. the few times they have tried they ended up underdelivering (Apple AI now, MacBooks with touch function keys, etc.). They pitch simplicity and lag “cutting edge” features by years often times. As an example, they are considering underscreen fingerprint scanner in their next phone - a feature that the Asian manufacturers have had for 4-5 years now.

My Mach-E is indeed very stable - but the tradeoff is that it’s been nearly a year since I got any meaningful updates and the UI is extremely dated with the drivers screen borderline useless.

Tesla is definitely the gold standard - but remember they have 13 years of experience with OTA updates now. Might be better to turn off automatic updates for your Rivian for now.

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[InTheMatrix]

For the most part, the software on my R1S has been stable until the very last update. My navigation is very buggy and zooms out to show the whole United States every time I’m putting in a new address. Has completely restarted itself randomly.

 

[DB88]

I couldn't agree more.. My Gen 1 was great.... my Gen 2 is back in service for multiple issues.. Every update comes with new issues i get that.. Rivian has had vehicles on the road for years now.. It's time to get the software issues figured out... FWIW... in Canada, my 2025 Gen 2 R1T Dual performance purchase price is .... wait for it........... $160,000 plus taxes.. and no rebates. So please, tell me I should understand the problems of new a start up company and except sub par software issues and build quality. At this price point Rivian should do better. My neighbours are always asking if I got another new Rivian... my response is , no its a loaner.. I've been Rivian enthusiast from day 1. But this is getting old.

 

[babylou]

Wait until a soft reset AND hard reset don't work. Happened to me this weekend on a long road trip when at a Tesla charger in Ft. Smith AR. Couldn't put it in drive or anything. Rivian told me to leave the area for 45 min so the vehicle can go night night. Had to eat a burger at Braums that seemed to be made of canned dog food. After I ate the damn vehicle worked normally. I will never, ever forgive Rivian for making me eat the shyte!

 

[Ecupip]

Personally, in nearly 3 years and 30K miles, I've only had 1 automatic soft reset while driving, 1 user-performed soft reset, zero hard resets, and only 1 software issue that caused strange HVAC behavior, which was resolved with an update. Heck, I've never even had a single PAAK problem. I couldn't be more pleased with my early Gen1 hardware and software.

 

[TomServo2112]

This statement is a bit counterintuitive, don't you think? I would expect a product with 6 years of development to be MUCH better sorted than a 3-month-old product. I get the frustration, but your very new product is significantly more likely to suffer from these kinds of things, not less. This isn't unique to Rivian, it happens to ALL tech to some degree, especially those that are highly software dependent.

Nah I think I get what he's getting at here. A 6 year old smart device likely has a lot more problems trying to execute new code than a brand new device designed for that code might have.

 

[KootenayEV]

I have had one experience with my Rivian restarting the main screen in 18 months that I can recall. I've had my Model 3 for 6.5 years (and 3x the mileage) and it has had periods where the software seemed really glitchy and restarted fairly frequently, and other periods where it has been stable.

I agree with the sentiment that pushing stuff out monthly just to say you are doing something is not the path I would prefer. I would rather have stable releases that function properly.

 

[SoCal Rob]

I'm not sure if this is practical or not, but maybe Rivian could have maintenance releases every 6 months where the target is to address all existing bugs and performance issues so a bundle of tested stable features are released at once for people who prioritize stability. All other releases would be feature releases where new features are made available and known issues are fixed, as we're getting now.

If that's possible then we should be able to specify installing all releases or maintenance releases only in the UI. I think this would satisfy the people who value stability over everything else (maintenance releases only) and the people who want the latest features and sign up for all releases.

I'd stick with all releases but I understand why others would rather have a completely stable platform, even if it means being behind on the latest features for a while.

Just a thought.

As an example using the pretty reliable 4-week timing:

2024.51 would have been the second maintenance release of 2024 and it would have included all features through the previous release of 2024.47 and fixed all previously-identified issues.

2025.06 would have introduced new features

2025.10 would have fixed issues from 2025.06 and introduced new features

2025.14 would have fixed issues from 2025.10 and introduced new features

2025.18 would fix issues from 2025.14 and introduce new features

2025.22 would fix issues from 2025.18 and introduce new features

2025.26 would be the first maintenance release of 2025 and it would include all features through the previous release of 2025.22 and fix all previously-identified issues

edit: clarity

 

[MrMetlHed]

I'm hit by a new bug in my Gen2 almost daily. In 19 months of Gen1 ownership I really didn't have issues. Maybe I was lucky?

So far this week:

Map stuck in dark mode, requiring infotainment reset. This fix it temporary, however.
When in Nav, map view randomly zooms out to see the full North American continent. I haven't found a fix. Nav on the driver screen still works fine. Only the center screen affected.

Always an Adventure. It's in the Rivian moto, right?

Came here looking to see if anyone else was experiencing this. Pretty annoying. Gen1 map keeps switching to dark mode (And no satellite view, toggle does nothing) and then it refuses to do anything else without a soft reboot. That only fixes it temporarily. Sigh.

 

[ThirteenElectrics]

I'll happily discuss Rivian software stability. I normally don't use much of it, but I've switched to Apple Music for streaming. That app crashes about once every day.

The Infotainment system itself hard reboots perhaps once every two months. It would reboot more often except for Rivian software updates. And that, my friends, is the real reason to do OTA: it allows Rivian to proactively reboot the system rather than have the owners see a crash. Maybe someday Rivian will get to a place where they schedule a reboot of infotainment every night...

 

[carsly]

Maybe someday Rivian will get to a place where they schedule a reboot of infotainment every night...

Funny that you mention this because the other night we were in our living room and through the window caught a glimpse of the interior of the R1S lighting up with what appeared to something happening on the screen as we saw the reflections of various colors on the seats (OC FTW) moving quickly. The car was otherwise off, no external lights and no one walking nearby with PaaK. I was going to go check it out but then after a minute it just stopped. I walked over later to take a look, vehicle unlocked and nothing looked amiss. It also was NOT the scheduled time for software updates to install. Just some weird Rivian voodoo. I wonder if the remote reboots are already happening quietly.

Wish I had caught it on camera. Come to think of it, I have multiple security cameras in the area, now I just have to figure out which day it happened.

 

[carsly]

I'm not sure if this is practical or not, but maybe Rivian could have maintenance releases every 6 months where the target is to address all existing bugs and performance issues so a bundle of tested stable features are released at once for people who prioritize stability. All other releases would be feature releases where new features are made available and known issues are fixed, as we're getting now.

If that's possible then we should be able to specify installing all releases or maintenance releases only in the UI. I think this would satisfy the people who value stability over everything else (maintenance releases only) and the people who want the latest features and sign up for all releases.

I'd stick with all releases but I understand why others would rather have a completely stable platform, even if it means being behind on the latest features for a while.

Just a thought.

As an example using the pretty reliable 4-week timing:

2024.51 would have been the second maintenance release of 2024 and it would have included all features through the previous release of 2024.47 and fixed all previously-identified issues.

2025.06 would have introduced new features

2025.10 would have fixed issues from 2025.06 and introduced new features

2025.14 would have fixed issues from 2025.10 and introduced new features

2025.18 would fix issues from 2025.14 and introduce new features

2025.22 would fix issues from 2025.18 and introduce new features

2025.26 would be the first maintenance release of 2025 and it would include all features through the previous release of 2025.22 and fix all previously-identified issues

edit: clarity

I'm all for patches and fixes taking priority and an opt-in.

Having the R1S infotainment screen die on my wife on the way to a doctors appointment with one of our kids is an annoyance. Having it die completely in the parking lot after the appointment as my son, who is contemplating surgery for an injury, had to figure out how to hard reboot and hope to get it working completely shook her confidence in the vehicle. We've had it three months and have 2 years and nine months to go, not sure if or when she'll feel comfortable driving it again. In the fifth model year this shouldn't be a thing.

 

[AaronTV]

Still working for you today? Mine reverted to this issue again this morning.

Yeah, still working normally today. Has been fine since Sunday. Did you try a full reset (left steering wheel + hazard)?

 

[Donald Stanfield]

I'm not sure if this is practical or not, but maybe Rivian could have maintenance releases every 6 months where the target is to address all existing bugs and performance issues so a bundle of tested stable features are released at once for people who prioritize stability. All other releases would be feature releases where new features are made available and known issues are fixed, as we're getting now.

If that's possible then we should be able to specify installing all releases or maintenance releases only in the UI. I think this would satisfy the people who value stability over everything else (maintenance releases only) and the people who want the latest features and sign up for all releases.

I'd stick with all releases but I understand why others would rather have a completely stable platform, even if it means being behind on the latest features for a while.

Just a thought.

As an example using the pretty reliable 4-week timing:

2024.51 would have been the second maintenance release of 2024 and it would have included all features through the previous release of 2024.47 and fixed all previously-identified issues.

2025.06 would have introduced new features

2025.10 would have fixed issues from 2025.06 and introduced new features

2025.14 would have fixed issues from 2025.10 and introduced new features

2025.18 would fix issues from 2025.14 and introduce new features

2025.22 would fix issues from 2025.18 and introduce new features

2025.26 would be the first maintenance release of 2025 and it would include all features through the previous release of 2025.22 and fix all previously-identified issues

edit: clarity

I agree; Rivian needs to utilize these updates to refine and polish the software, especially since they spend a significant amount of time adding and adjusting features.

 

[Robin]

Wait until a soft reset AND hard reset don't work. Happened to me this weekend on a long road trip when at a Tesla charger in Ft. Smith AR. Couldn't put it in drive or anything. Rivian told me to leave the area for 45 min so the vehicle can go night night. Had to eat a burger at Braums that seemed to be made of canned dog food. After I ate the damn vehicle worked normally. I will never, ever forgive Rivian for making me eat the shyte!

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