Buy a Rivian today or tomorrow and it will gain new features, functionality, and different software interfaces for years to come unlike a Toyota or Honda.
Rivian Chief Software Officer Wassym Bensaid told The Drive “we like to think about 7 to 10 years” in terms of how long the automaker will upgrade the software within its vehicles. And Rivian’s baking that plan into the development of its vehicles.
Bensaid said the electrical architectures developed, which the automaker’s now buttoning up its third that will debut in the smaller R2 electric crossover in 2026, are designed with that 7 to 10 year timeline in terms of headroom for upgradeability. A functional concept not seen anywhere else in the automotive industry outside of Tesla to date.
But updates won’t stop after just 7 to 10 years, as that timeline is simply limited to functional feature updates. Bensaid said “for anything related to safety or security, it would go beyond those 7 to 10 years.”
Bensaid noted that Rivian is developing its own operating system that runs on multiple sets of hardware and that the beauty of doing that is it’s flexible and modern enough to run on different versions. “It’s not easy, it requires a lot of work,’ Bensaid said.
Bensaid’s team has delivered to date. Staying far away from software updates that enable fart noises, Rivian’s have gained Soft Sand mode along with low and high regenerative braking settings since the R1T and R1S launched. That’s in addition to a myriad of other software updates, including one that redesigned the 15.6-inch touchscreen’s user interface.
Ford has updated the F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E’s software multiple times enabling bits of extra functionality through the touchscreen. But the automaker’s limited by its electrical architectures and outsourcing of components to simple tweaks. No Ford EV on sale today is going to suddenly ride better because of a free over-the-air (OTA) software update. The same can be said about most EVs on sale in the U.S. for the same reasons. The vertical integration and in-house developed electrical architecture at Rivian has paid dividends in this arena.
The upgradeability will be put further on display later this year. In September the Rivian RAD Tuner software and Kick Turn function will both arrive via a free (OTA) software update, but only for the 2026 R1T and R1S Quad.
Cars are expensive. The average transaction price of a new car in May was $48,799 according to Cox Automotive. Trucks and large SUVs cost even more. Bensaid acknowledged cars aren’t like smartphones stating, “this is a big purchase and a lot of our customers will keep their cars for a long time, it’s important for us that those cars feel fresh.”
Bensaid is right about consumers keeping cars for a long time. The average age of a vehicle on U.S. roads today is 12.8 years, according to a S&P Global report. Sticking to the smartphone comparison, Apple typically provides consistent software updates for 5 to 7 years before deeming a phone obsolete, but it too continues to provide security updates after that timeframe.
Addressing concerns of how a software-defined vehicle will operate in 12 years (sticking to that average age of a vehicle on the road today timeline), Bensaid said Rivian’s will “it will absolutely work” but that “it just will not necessarily get new features.”
“I think that’s the point where sometimes people don’t necessarily get it, which is like, there will be no degradation, it will not be a brick, it will be a perfectly functioning car,” Bensaid said.
Bensaid is open to evolving the mindset. “We own our own destiny,” the exec said. Today’s goal is to continue to update the automaker’s vehicle software about every month, but things change. “Maybe we’ll change our opinion,” Bensaid said while noting maybe the automaker shifts its 7 to 10 year software upgradability to “9 to 11 (years).” At least Bensaid went up in terms of years and not down in his theorizing, which is great news for Rivian buyers.
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