Key Takeaways
- Rivian’s OTA update includes driver recognition, lane changing, and sound system enhancements. Perfect for top-of-the-line electric vehicles.
- Gemini offers AI summaries of destinations and enhanced convenience features, developed in partnership with Google.
- Rivian’s collaboration with Google signals an innovative step towards smart driving and electric car advancement.
Rivian, maker of renowned electric adventure vehicles, has pushed an over-the-air update with a host of improvements to both first- and second-generation models. The added functionality includes streamlined driver recognition, profile loading, personalized media playback and more. Even Gemini is getting in the game, offering AI summaries of your destination if you subscribe to Rivian’s Connect+ service, an immensely useful offering. Here’s everything the new software will provide your top-of-the-line electric vehicle.
Convenience and autonomy, familiar bedfellows
Rivian’s been working on this with Google for a while
The AI-heavy 2024 Google I/O included a little-heralded announcement of Gemini’s Places API, built to add meaningful, user-friendly context to Google Maps. The feature leverages the vast Google Knowledge Graph to tell you about where you’re traveling to and through, with varying levels of depth based on user preference.
Months later, Gemini is starring in an important OTA update to Rivian electric vehicles, but the innovations don’t stop there. An improved ability to tell who’s driving, pull up their mirror preferences, log into their music streaming account, and change lanes quicker without human input support Gemini’s newly informative abilities in improving some of the best, most rugged EVs on the market. Either worryingly or promisingly, engineers went so far as to take the advice of Redditors — for better or worse.
Here’s what the latest Rivian update brings to the table.
Automated day/night door lock sounds
Forget your phone’s dark theme. Nothing keeps your neighbors happy and the baby from waking up like a gentle, natural door lock tone. You can now set your Rivian to chirp like a bird during the day, hoot like an owl at night, or switch between the two based on time of day. Reddit’s r/Rivian demanded it, the engineers delivered. Who knows what features they’ll adopt from anti-social media next.
Generative AI summaries of destinations
Google Gemini can now elucidate the place you’re going and the region it’s in. Are we finally at Knight Rider levels of automated transport and AI-based car bodyguards? No. Will increasingly useful LLM tools make the driving and traveling experiences better? Yes. This is one worthwhile step toward that goal.
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Upgraded automatic lane changing
This part’s not flashy or attention-grabbing, but it could save a life. The Lane Change on Command system can now slow the vehicle autonomously to find a gap where the truck fits, instead of needing to charge past every other nearby vehicle to avoid collisions.
Driver detection and profile streamlining
Two keys for the same car, and riding the same car? Don’t worry — the new software will figure out which person’s actually behind the wheel, and adjust accessories like mirrors to their present specs, so you can see safely and won’t hurt your eyes squinting.
Gen 2 sound system quality enhancement
You can’t download more RAM, but you can, apparently, upgrade a car audio system with over-the-air software delivery. Rivian reexamined and reformulated its proprietary processing and equalization pipelines, leading to better music and phone calls for owners of the newer models.
Rivian isn’t turning back due to overwhelming obstacles
If any EV company can really claim a premium product, it’s Rivian
These vehicles are not cheap, and self-driving and AI-powered navigation aren’t quite ready to save the world (yet).
But Google and Rivian have put together a partnership that could help pave the way forward for smart driving and electric cars in general. It’ll be interesting to see how the next several months play out for the talented EV manufacturer.
