Over-the-air updates enable vehicles to get better with age and that’s certainly the case at Rivian as the R1T and RS1 have gained a handful of useful features.
Thanks to the latest update, the models have an enhanced Gear Guard system that now includes Drive Cam and Incidents functions. Drive Cam acts as a dashcam and it uses the vehicle’s existing cameras to record and save videos of your journey.
Owners need to connect a 128 GB to 2 TB USB-C flash drive and then turn on Drive Cam. Once activated, cameras record and save video of your entire trip. If you want to create a separate video, you can tap “Save Clip” on the infotainment system and it will film a two-minute video. Rivian notes this is ideal for scenic drives and off-road adventures.
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Incidents is focused on capturing accidents as it can automatically record “certain driving events such as collisions or hard braking.” When the feature is activated, “cameras continuously record video, but no footage is saved.” If someone cuts you off and you slam on the brakes, 15 seconds of video prior to the event are saved as are the following 1 minute and 45 seconds. This footage is recorded directly onto the internal hard drive, so no external flash drive is needed.
Besides the aforementioned features, cameras for the Driver+ assistance systems can operate in a “much wider range of conditions” as tweaks have enabled them to handle “smudges or splashes on the windshield due to rain, or glare on the camera” itself.
Owners can also name their vehicle and set a charge limit of between 50 and 100%. Rivian says the latter is useful when using public charging stations, so “you won’t need to pay for more charge than you need.”
