The Newest Rivians Simply Obtained ‘Common Arms-Free’ And A Bunch Of Different Updates

• Rivian on Thursday introduced an enormous software program replace.
• It consists of “Common Arms-Free,” Rivian’s new driver-assistance characteristic.
• The replace additionally brings a brand new cellphone key and off-road options.

Final week, Rivian introduced “Common Arms-Free,” its most superior driver-assistance characteristic but and—the startup claims—a key milestone on the highway to extremely automated options.

On Thursday, the EV maker began rolling out Common Arms-Free to second-generation R1S and R1T drivers by way of its 2025.46 software program replace. The discharge delivers a bunch of different upgrades as nicely, principally for Gen 2 homeowners.

Common Arms-Free

This characteristic takes Enhanced Freeway Help, Rivian’s present hands-off highway-driving characteristic, and expands it to much more roads. Earlier than, Rivian invited homeowners to take their arms off the wheel (whereas conserving their eyes on every little thing) on 135,000 miles of accredited freeways in North America.

Now that is grown to over 3.5 million roads of every kind—highways, rural roads, metropolis streets and anything. “If the lane strains are clearly marked, you’ll be able to interact it,” Rivian stated in a weblog put up on Thursday.

Rivian Common Arms-Free

Photograph by: Rivian

Assuming the system works nicely, that functionality blows options like Basic Motors Tremendous Cruise (750,000 miles of divided highways) and Ford BlueCruise (130,000 miles) out of the water. To make this attainable, Rivian says it stopped relying on high-definition maps for its automated options. This characteristic is rather more reliant on what the automobile really senses about its atmosphere.

Since Common Arms-Free does not cease at visitors lights or cease indicators—it pilots the automobile inside a lane whereas responding to the pace of visitors—there are in all probability many roads the place it is not that helpful, like dense metropolis streets with numerous motion. Nevertheless it does appear useful for the routes that get you from town to and from the freeway. I am desperate to strive it out and see the way it performs in the true world.

Rivian R1T and R1S drivers get a 60-day free trial of Common Arms-Free to start out. After that, they’re going to need to pay $49 a month or $2,500 up entrance for continued entry via Rivian’s new Autonomy+ providing.

That is in all probability the largest replace in Rivian’s newest software program launch. However there are a number of different upgrades which can be price mentioning.

New Autonomy-Associated Options

We realized all about Common Arms-Free at Rivian’s Autonomy and AI Day occasion earlier this month. Rivian’s weblog put up revealed some extra autonomy-related options we did not hear about then.

Rivian is launching “Autonomy Drive Types” throughout its driver-assistance options, much like what Tesla presents for Full Self-Driving (Supervised).

This is how Rivian describes the three choices:

• Gentle: a relaxed fashion with extra hole distance and extra gradual lane adjustments.
• Medium: a balanced fashion to handle cut-ins and speed up with visitors stream.
• Spicy: a extra dynamic fashion with a tighter hole distance and faster steering throughout lane adjustments.

Now you can use the suitable scroll wheel to regulate your cruise-control pace. (Earlier than that was dealt with by buttons.) And there is an replace to the in-vehicle visualization of the encircling atmosphere, which Rivian calls “Autonomy View.”

“With this replace, the Autonomy View now zooms out to indicate extra of the world behind your automobile, so you might have extra context for maneuvers equivalent to lane adjustments and turns,” Rivian says.

Kick Flip

Quad-motor R1 autos now get two attention-grabbing new options. Kick flip sweeps out the rear finish to assist with sharp turns when off-roading. RAD Tuner offers drivers an interface to customise issues like acceleration, stability and torque stability. Mack Hogan already tried these options out when he sampled the upgraded quad-motor Rivians this summer season.

A New Cellphone-Primarily based Key

The brand new Rivian Digital Key replaces the Bluetooth-based cellphone key homeowners have been in a position to make use of for years. Now homeowners of Gen 2 R1 autos can add a Rivian key to the pockets on appropriate Apple, Google and Samsung telephones, permitting them to entry and driver their autos by way of Extremely-Wideband (for passive entry) or Close to-Area Communication (for tapping).

Rivian’s new Digital Key may be added to a sensible watch.

Photograph by: Rivian

Rivian says this could make accessing its automobiles extra seamless than earlier than. Plus, homeowners can share round as much as eight digital keys with mates or relations, which does appear genuinely useful.

One different perk: Drivers can lock and unlock their automobiles utilizing a sensible watch—once they’re out browsing, or what have you ever—which does really feel very Rivian certainly.

Should you expertise any of those options and have ideas, drop us a line within the feedback, or contact me at Tim.Levin@InsideEVs.com