Updates continue to add features but reduce dependability

[Chunter415]

We've had a 2025 R1S for about two years now and it's been an up-and-down ride with the software. There are months where everything in the car — which is mostly software-driven given the lack of physical buttons — works great and as expected, but for the most part it's been one step forward and two steps back in some new area. I know the audio issues are well documented here and elsewhere, so I won't get into that.

What has me consistently annoyed — and I'm curious to hear others' feedback, or find out if my car is just unique — is driver profile switching. My wife and I are about a foot apart in height, so the driver profile is a huge quality-of-life function. With our other cars, there are physical buttons on the door to change settings, or the profile is tied to the key fob so it detects the driver automatically and works 100% of the time.

In the December update, Rivian introduced Ultra-Wideband (UWB) to the car, and it was genuinely amazing. It finally dependably unlocked as you approached instead of requiring you to stand next to it, and it was excellent at detecting who was driving and setting the correct profile. However, each update since then has made profile detection progressively worse — from near-perfect right after that December release to the point where it's now dependably wrong.

Are we the only ones noticing this, or have others seen the same thing?

While new features like Rivian Assistant are nice, I honestly don't care about them. I'd rather have a dependable car that just works. I've had so many friends ask about our Rivian, and we've had to be honest: the software is what's holding it back. It may have more features than a Ford, Toyota, or Honda, but those cars have far more dependable software — you just know it'll work.

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[Donald Stanfield]

No, this is not unique to you. As a Rivian owner since 2022, the software started out unstable, then Rivian hit a really good reliability spot for a bit, and now updates are messing stuff up again. The profile thing happens to me on almost every drive that both my wife and I are in the car, despite me being the primary driver.

My wife's BMW almost never has this issue. I agree with you on the software overall. My wife's i4M50 doesn't have all the features Rivian does, but it works every single time.

 

[justinkitswa]

Two steps forward, three steps back sometimes feels like the pattern for Rivian software development.

I suspect part of the problem is the OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) set for Wassym and his team do not include adequate objectives/key results for software resiliency and systems stability. They're wholly focused on the latest marketing objectives, like the R2 rollout.

Rivian is laser focused on paving the way for "software defined vehicles" but haven't really done a good job of selling that as a concept.

 

[Chunter415]

Thanks for the feedback, and while I'm sad to hear others have the same experience it also helps to know we are not alone!

I 1000% agree with the thinking that R2 software is the main reason behind the R1 software impact, I believe resources have been focused on the new OS, R2 functions and thus minimal development has been spent on R1 software besides getting Rivian Assistant and R2 functions launched. I do hope it goes well but it's getting increasingly frustrating and had us cancel our R2 reservation due to the unreliability over the last 2 years.

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