Rivian Recap: 10/03/2025

Let's dive in!

R1

Rivian announced it beat deliveries for R1 in Q3 with the tax credit expiration pulling some sales forward, but lowered their annual guidance.

It's going to be a tough market for R1 in the vacuum between now and R2 launching next year, which is make or break for Rivian.

But! 

We got some awesome goodies this week in 2025.34 so there is a lot to be happy about with the Gen2 R1S/R1T.

Here's my custom EQ for the R1T:

I need more time in the R1S to dial this in, but I plan to start with something similar here and expect the need to push the fade & balance forward to prioritize front seat audio quality.

Overall, this is a pretty big change in audio performance.

Being able to edit any of the preset EQ's, and getting two bonus EQ's to save to your driver profile is a welcome addition.

I've also noticed a significant change in Atmos/Spatial performance for Gen2 premium audio. To the point that I may actually leave it enabled for now.

There does seem to be some funny business with how the system is handling the crossover for frequencies to the sub woofer compared to .26, so some songs with lower frequencies have worse performance.

However, most songs and genres feel far fuller with a better sound stage, as advertised in this update.

I'd put the Gen2 premium at about a B+ now, and it also feels like we are tapping out on what the magic of software can do for these drivers and configuration that underwhelm on quality.

If you enjoy music in your cars, then the "premium" system is a must in my humble opinion. Frankly, at R1 prices this system should be the base system and a far superior system should be offered above this.

Long live OG Meridian sound systems. 

R2 + Beyond

We are now just a few months away from the first R2 builds being sold to customers for the "first half of 2026".

What may come as a surprise to some, that base model $45k trim is very *un*likely to make the initial debut.

Checkout what I'm expecting in the Launch Edition, and approximately what I am expecting that initial model to go for.

Plus, find out why I think it may be a pretty great value.

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Rivian claims there are "hundreds" of the development builds running around the streets now.

This also includes water fording tests, albeit at decidedly lower water heights than what the R1 vehicles were tested and rated for.

Autonomy

I finally got a few drives with 2025.34 in areas where I could test out the latest autonomy updates.

Based on not only AAA survey data, but also my own engagement graphs from YouTube I can tell that less people care about a cars ability to do semi-autonomous functions.

However, I can say that my hunch was right after getting the previous .26 update, that things are likely to move very fast now going forward.

In .34 we got a much improved model for curve performance, I would say this at least matches if not exceeds the previous Gen2 Mobileye performance. That means there is now zero customer downside to being fully in-house.

Additionally, the massive 50% expansion of hands-free is a very welcome improvement. There are multiple sections of the Seattle metro area where it was always hands-on and now those areas are pretty universally hands-free.

We still need to see the full "unmapped" launch so the car can perform like this anywhere it can see lane lines. I'm looking at you I-90 and Convention Center tunnels, but it's a big step forward in coverage.

Lastly, "Co-Steer" is a great stepping stone towards the advertised "Comfort Assist" feature that is likely due before the end of the year.

Being able to nudge the car to one side of the lane and feel some tension on the centering but not 'fighting' it helps a lot around trucks or other vehicles in adjacent lanes. It even helps to avoid rough patches of road.

This feature alone should be enough for my spouse to use any of the assistance features more often, as proximity to trucks was her #1 complaint.

But as I mentioned earlier, this is just a stepping stone. What we are really waiting on is "Comfort Assist" where it can shade away like this automatically, as well as impact speed based on adjacent lanes for safety.

Here's the marketing material about what to expect directly from Rivian's own information on announced Gen2 features.

Lane position:

Adaptive speed for saftey:

Expected delivery in 2025:

With Rivian Autonomy Day scheduled for December of this year (just two months from now!), I'm hoping we see a peek into the future of their features.

What's highest on your wish list?

Auto lane change? Highway interchanges? Self-parking?

Community

A few weeks ago I shared the funny picture I took of Mike Kantorski while we were at Camp Rivian, and it has since turned into a bit of a meme.

Now, it's even turned into a *very* limited run vehicle badge to support the National Park Foundation and these things are selling FAST.

There were only 100 printed and at the time of this newsletter there were only 24 left after just posting on social media 2 days ago.

Good on Mike for doing this!

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Another community note is that we finally get the (rolling) release of Rivian Roamer Plus!

As you've likely seen, I've been beta testing this new premium feature and giving Chad feedback, so it's exciting to see the rollout finally start to happen.

(Don't forget, you can get a free month of Plus here.)

The two main 'telematics' features are driving and charging sessions.

Drive Sessions give you insight into your drive with things like elevation, speed, energy consumed etc.

If you want to see me zipping through some serious elevation towards the end of my summer road trip, here's what that looks like in Rivian Roamer:

When I knew I had juice to spare during this part of the drive, I made the drive a lot more fun vs efficient. Rolling in at 5.9% state of charge.

Good times 😅

You also get insight into charging sessions. Sometimes that shows wild charging station issues as I've documented several times in my coverage from being in sweltering Moab, Utah.

And sometimes it shows an impressively sustained curve, like this:

The point here is that if you're a data nerd like me, you're going to find these insights appealing. That's doubly true for any road trips you may have.

Rivian Roamer is keeping all of their great free features such as software flag tracking and more. But if you want more out of your Rivian experience, you can do so for just $4.99/month.

And if you haven't signed up for Rivian Roamer, you can use my referral link here that gets you a month of free Rivian Roamer Plus.

Way to go, Chad!

Latest Deals

Well, the EV tax credit situation is finally and officially over.

It looks like Rivian missed the boat on getting those R2 reservations converted into binding purchase agreements.

Thanks to a bet I had with Christ Hilbert, we will be giving away a 1:20 Die Cast Rivian R1T (and quite likely more goodies) here very soon.

While leasing had been the go-to move with the stacked incentives, Rivian's current incentives have flipped back to a purchase.

You can now get 1.99% financing for all 2025 R1's or 3.99% financing for all 2026's. Given inflation and time value of money, this is probably worth more, to more people, than the lease incentives available right now.

Must take delivery by October 31st.

2025 R1S with suggested options @ 1.99%

2025 R1T with suggested options @ 1.99%

2026 R1S with suggested options @ 3.99%

2026 R1T with suggested options @ 3.99%

Also, one of the best adventure accessories for Rivian's in my opinion is the Starlink Mini, and it just hit it's best price of the year at $299.

You can get a bonus month of service when you use my link.

I hope enjoyed this weeks edition of the Rivian Recap. Let me know what you'd like to see more of in future editions!

Even if you just want to say hi, hit reply – I'd love to get to know you 👋

Stay curious ✌️,

Travis Ketchum

P.S. Thinking about buying a new Rivian?

Make sure you use a referral code. A friend, a neighbor, or someone who has helped you along the way.

Here's mine: TRAVIS4699411