5 Rivian Features That Don’t Get Enough Attention

Rivian has been getting a lot of attention in the automotive industry lately, mostly due to its modern-looking vehicles with excellent software, as well as the fact that it has announced an exciting roadmap for the future. However, Rivian vehicles are generally packed with features, and not everything about them makes headlines. Of course, that makes sense, but after driving the second-generation Rivian R1S for the past week, I have discovered a number of features that do not get the attention they deserve.

There are dozens of little software features and buttons that make driving a Rivian that much better. Here are a few of my favorite Rivian features that don’t get enough attention.

Driver presets

One of the advantages of a car like Rivian is that it is incredibly software dependent, and everything in the car is mechanical and controlled by software. That has its drawbacks, of course, but there are also many advantages.

The most obvious of these benefits is the fact that you can set up your car exactly the way you like it, every time you get in. If you’re the only person driving, this isn’t such a big deal—your car is always the way you like it. But if multiple people in your family drive the same car, this can have some serious benefits. Modern Rivian vehicles use phone buttons to detect who’s driving, and can adjust things like seats, drive modes, and even fan positioning based on who’s in the driver’s seat.

The downsides are obvious — having to constantly dig through software to adjust the climate control instead of turning a knob can be a pain. But if everything is set up the way you want, you may not need to change much.

Kneeling mode

I don’t think she’d mind me saying this (she doesn’t read my work anyway), but my wife is short. Whenever I review an SUV, she usually describes getting in and out of it as a climb. But while the Rivian R1S can’t circumvent the laws of physics, it can make getting in and out a bit easier for people like my wife.

This is largely due to Rivian’s air suspension technology, combined with settings like Kneeling Mode. When this mode is active, when you put the vehicle in Park Mode, the suspension will lower to its lowest setting, making it easier to get in and out.

Rivian takes this technology a step further, offering features like Camp mode, which uses the air suspension to level the vehicle as much as possible, making camping inside more comfortable. Camp mode also optimizes the vehicle’s energy when parked and powers camping accessories.

iPhone Widget

Modern car software isn’t just about the software built into the car’s infotainment system. It’s also about how the car integrates with other devices. Rivian doesn’t use CarPlay, but it’s made a concerted effort to provide solid integration with other devices. I particularly appreciated the iPhone widget while using the second-generation Rivian R1S.

This widget lets you quickly control settings like locking and unlocking, opening and closing the tailgate, and the front trunk. To be fair, I noticed that these settings sometimes didn’t work directly from the widget itself, but I’m also using the iOS 18 beta, and it’s entirely possible that had an impact. And even when that happened, tapping the widget quickly took me to the right place in the Rivian app to control the setting I was looking for. Overall, I found the app to be relatively well-designed and easy to use, and it gave me access to all the settings I needed. Plus, it was nice not having to carry around my keys. Your phone is your key.

Built-in garage door opener

This feature might not get a lot of attention because it’s not that important, but Rivian has gone to great lengths to make opening and closing your garage door when you get home a lot easier. You can program your garage door remotes directly into your vehicle, then press a button at the top of the interface when you get home to activate them. It’s a minor feature, to be sure, but it’ll save you from having to use the old remotes that clip to your sun visor. I’ve seen comments from Rivian users online who particularly love this feature, including the fact that it lets you program multiple garage doors. It also works well, rarely, if ever, opening or closing your garage door.

Charging Status Light Bar

This option is specific to the second-generation R1S and R1T models. For these models, Rivian added a segmented LED light bar to the front of the vehicle that can be used to indicate the vehicle’s status. The most useful use case is charging, as it essentially highlights how charged the vehicle is without having to manually check. Of course, it’s not hard to check in the app, especially if you have an iPhone widget on your home screen that tells you how charged your car is, but it can be handy to be able to see your car’s charge at a glance.

After a week of driving the R1S, I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of all the features and switches available for the vehicle. If you decide to purchase one, I recommend spending the hours necessary to go through each menu, both in the app and in the car itself. Save your presets to your profile and help anyone else who drives the vehicle save their presets to theirs. This will allow you to take full advantage of the powerful software that Rivian cars have to offer.