The Rivian R2 was designed and engineered differently than the R1. In the name of cost, both for Rivian to build and for consumers to have to pay, the R2 was designed through simplification. Except for one bit: the rear window wiper. That is one piece that is complicated.

Rivian Chief Design Officer Jeff Hammoud, told The Drive, “Yeah, that was something we spent a lot of time debating.” The reason? As the automaker’s CEO, RJ Scaringe put it, nothing like it existed today.

“Where we wanted to have a rear wiper on the drop glass, but we didn’t want it to sit on the body. And so you’ve seen probably cars that have wipers on the body, and then we also didn’t want to put it, we couldn’t put it, in the spoiler, because it was a pass through. 
And so, we actually hid it in that ledge, which is complex, because there’s not any wipers like that. So we had to develop and design a complete wiper system from scratch,” Scaringe said.

This led to challenges, according to Scaringe. “We had to design a way to deal with all the obvious challenges of that, let’s say, it fills with water, and it’s cold outside, how does it not freeze? So it sits in a heated trough. We had to design for ways for it to have a snow mode, so it pops up, it stays out,“ Scaringe said. He continued, “and if you’re in a cold climate, you can set it to pop up just so that there’s no risk of it getting stuck. So there’s a ton of work that went into that. We actually put out an image of it in a cold chamber testing, where the whole car is covered in ice, and the wiper’s still working.”

Hammoud told The Drive, “You can see on the version that doesn’t have it [referring to the wiper in the trough], attached to the glass [pointing to the base Standard trim]. You don’t have to worry about it because it’s integrated. So for this vehicle [referring to the Premium and Performance trims with the inset wiper design], because we have the pass through a spoiler, we can’t put it in the back of the spoiler, right? 
Because it just doesn’t work because it’ll wreck the pass through, which we need for aero. So the other option was we could attach it to the body. Aside from it looking bad, even if it’s attached to the body, you still need a way for it to get off the glass. “

Hammoud continued, “So, I think we came up with a really nice solution that’s very well integrated and hides it, and that way you can get full glass drop. 
And that way when you’re pulling things in and out of the vehicle, it’s not in the way. Because that’s the other problem with the ones that are attached to the body during the way when you’re pulling stuff out.”

But creating an entire rear wiper system from scratch was a hurdle. Scaringe noted, “There’s a whole team that had to work on that.”

“Sweat, nights, and weekends to get that to come together, but it was, as a finished product, what we hope a customer sees is they see it just, as a beautiful detail, and then they’ll [think], when they pull the thread, and they’re like, oh, wow, they’ve thought of you developing the trough properly and developing all the kinematics properly, but those are great details,” Scaringe said.

Scaringe closed the topic by saying, “Came out well. It was hard.”

Got a tip about how a product was engineered? Drop us a line at tips@thdrive.com

• Rivian says that AI in the cabin is the future of in-car controls.
• This essentially puts the debate over Apple CarPlay integration to bed, at least in Rivian’s eyes.
• Whether consumers agree remains to be seen.

A lot of people love Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The idea of mirroring your phone to the infotainment system is a huge selling point. But an increasing number of automakers, including Tesla, General Motors, and Rivian, to name just a few, are turning their nose up at the idea and instead using their own in-house solution.

Recently, Rivian’s chief software officer, Wassym Bensaid, elaborated on the company’s software philosophy. It turns out that the EV maker still isn’t a huge fan of stuffing CarPlay into its cars and instead believes that no amount of buttons or screen mirroring can replace the interface that really matters: your voice.

Photo by: Rivian

Bensaid revealed the automaker’s software direction during a recent interview on the Decoder podcast. He noted that screen-mirroring tech like CarPlay presents the unique challenge of taking over every single pixel of a car’s infotainment, which isn’t how Rivian sees itself interacting with the people using its software.

Moving forward, Rivian believes that everyone’s favorite buzzword—AI—will be the preferred way that drivers interact with their cars. This means that features like Rivian Assistant will be front and center, controlling major vehicle functions as the tech matures.

That last nugget about the tech maturing is the most important part. We all know that using voice assistants has been a subpar experience on certain vehicles. Even Rivian’s customers have complained about the in-car voice recognition in the past, which means putting a lot of trust in the company to fixing the software moving forward (and won’t accidentally turn off your headlights while driving like some other brands).

Bensaid says that the use of AI makes the CarPlay argument moot. Here’s an excerpt from Decoder’s interview:

What we’re seeing right now with the advancement of AI technologies is just another reason why I deeply believe that RJ and Rivian made the right choice by investing into our own technology and software. Cars are moving from, as you said, the buzzword “software-defined” to “AI-defined.” The possibilities now for such deep AI integration in the car make the entire CarPlay debate completely obsolete.

I really believe that the way you interact with apps—which are mono-threaded with single buttons or single icons—will be completely reshaped into a world where an agentic integration presents itself as a wholesome user experience.

He continued to note that Rivian believes that voice “has the chance to be the primary interface in the car,” meaning that while buttons do exist, they shouldn’t be the primary way that the driver interacts with features inside of the vehicle.

This, of course, minimizes the need for additional hardware and helps to cut the cost of physical parts. But it also eliminates the need to dig deep into software menus to find certain features.

The problem with CarPlay’s integration is that this sort of agentic use of AI isn’t really available to Rivian or other automakers, at least not yet. So Rivian can quickly pump out new features and improve functionality much more quickly than if it were waiting on a third-party partner.

Bensaid also noted that Rivian’s number one requested feature was CarPlay. Five years ago, more than 70% of respondents surveyed by Rivian said they wanted CarPlay in their vehicle. Rivian didn’t budge, though, and that request has recently dropped to less than 25%. Bensaid attributes that success to the number of features that Rivian shipped over the last five years, essentially upping the level of convenience of the in-car tech faster than Apple could pump out similar integrations in CarPlay.

And while you may be burning tokens with frontier models, using AI as your primary control interface, Rivian says it could rate-limit users if they spend hours talking to the assistant like a conversation partner, to keep compute costs low. But even better, Bensaid says that much of the AI inference could be moved down to local compute, presumably thanks to the upcoming XMM3 infotainment chipset. That means the vehicle would be able to process conversational commands using its own hardware and software, rather than fully relying on data centers thousands of miles away.

Rivian is probably right that future cars will eventually stop revolving around mirroring our phones. The industry will eventually pivot to the solution that provides greater convenience for the driver and more usable data for the automaker. That very well could be a homegrown solution like the one Rivian has built.

Now, whether Rivian or any other automaker can truly deliver the magical AI-powered car at scale remains another question entirely. Admittedly, these voice assistants have become alarmingly good at interpreting what humans are asking for, as we’ve seen with the latest Volvo EX60 that InsideEVs recently reviewed and came away impressed with its Gemini integration. So the long-awaited future of making in-car voice assistants truly capable may arrive sooner than we think. 

Welcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short, The Drive’s morning news roundup bringing you the biggest automotive headlines from around the world.

The Downshift recaps news in a few short sentences, fit with links for the deeper story. Here’s the bulletin for Thursday, May 28, 2026.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened a probe into Rivian regarding left rear toe links in the R1S SUV and R1T pickup. The automaker had recalled nearly 20,000 vehicles earlier this year for toe links that had been improperly reassembled in service; since then, two owners have reported the joint separating while driving, causing loss of control. NHTSA’s investigation will assess the part’s durability as well as Rivian’s protocols for repair. [Reuters]

In other Rivian news, the company plans to deliver the first batch of R2 SUVs to buyers on June 9. [TechCrunch]

Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winklemann reflected on the automaker’s decision to cancel its EV in development in the wake of the Ferrari Luce’s cold reception, saying that, “By observing the market … we saw that the acceptance curve [of EVs] for our type of customers is not increasing, and that therefore we decided to move away from a full-electric car into a plug-in hybrid.” Winklemann added that while its decision was right for Lamborghini, “every brand, every company has to decide for themselves.” [CNBC]

Toyota reports that while production globally increased by 2% in April versus a year ago, sales fell by 3.1%, marking the third-straight month of decline for the company. [Reuters]

American Honda sales VP Lance Woelfer said that he does not anticipate tariff-related price increases for Honda or Acura products this year, as the company’s existing production basis in North America has seemingly insulated it from damage due to tariff increases. [Automotive News]

Nio CEO William Li says that China is “no longer a growth market, but rather a saturated market,” for EVs, and that the “golden era” for the country’s automotive industry is over. [Reuters]

Got a tip or feedback for TDS? Send it to tips@thedrive.com

Rivian has officially launched the online configurator for its much awaited Rivian R2. The American manufacturer has more than 200,000 reservations for this specific model. The online tool allows future owners to choose their preferred features, packages, and colors, while also shedding light on when specific configurations will actually reach driveways.

The entry point for the lineup is the Standard trim, which starts at £35,300. In its base configuration, this rear-wheel-drive version offers an estimated driving range of 345 miles. Buyers who want better traction can select the all-wheel-drive upgrade for an additional £2,500. Choosing all-wheel drive drops the estimated driving range to 330 miles, and this drivetrain upgrade also unlocks the ability to add a tow package for an extra £692.

Moving up the ladder, the Premium trim has a starting price of £39,300 and comes with all-wheel drive as standard. For early reservation holders who want the vehicle immediately at launch, the company offers the Performance trim with the Launch Package for £42,210. This special package bundles several options, including the Autonomy+ software, the tow package, a unique physical key fob, and exclusive access to the Launch Green exterior paint. A completely maximized Performance trim with all available options reaches a final price of £45,672.

Personalizing the exterior of the R2 comes with extra costs and varying wait times. Silver is the only standard paint color that does not cost extra. Selecting any other paint color adds between £700 and £1,500 to the final bill. Buyers must practice patience if they want specific colors – Rivian will not offer the Forest Green option until late 2026. Those who want the Borealis purple paint, which is exclusive to the Performance trim, must wait until 2027. Paying thousands of dollars extra just to wait an extra year for paint is certainly an interesting sales strategy.

Inside the cabin, the manufacturer provides a Dark interior theme as the standard option. A lighter interior color scheme, called Coastal Cloud, will cost an additional £700 and will become available for ordering later this year on all versions except the base Standard trim. Wheel choices also vary by tier. The Standard trim comes with 19-inch wheels, but buyers can pay £700 to upgrade to the 20-inch bi-color carbon wheels. These 20-inch wheels come standard on the Premium trim, which offers its own £1,500 upgrade to 21-inch Liquid Tungsten wheels.

The Performance trim comes standard with the 21-inch wheels, but buyers who plan to take their electric cars off the beaten track can swap them for 20-inch Black Sand wheels wrapped in 32-inch BF Goodrich all-terrain tires for an extra £700. For added peace of mind, Rivian offers a compact spare tire package for £550. This package includes a jack and wheel chocks, and the SUV has a dedicated storage space directly under the rear floor to hold the wheel. Finding a dedicated spare tire space is a rare feature among modern EVs.

Technology upgrades include the Autonomy+ package for £1,800. Buyers should note that Rivian is not equipping these vehicles with LiDAR sensors at this time, and the company has stated it has no plans to offer a hardware retrofit in the future. Production of the Rivian R2 started roughly three weeks ago at the main assembly plant in Normal, Illinois. Company executives confirmed during a recent update that the production line is operating efficiently. The manufacturer projects a production volume between 20,000 and 25,000 vehicles at the Illinois facility by the conclusion of 2026. A second assembly plant in Georgia is under development with a targeted annual capacity of 300,000 vehicles.

Initial vehicle deliveries have already started for company employees. General reservation holders will not have to wait too long to lock in their designs. Rivian announced that regular customers will begin receiving email invitations to access the online configurator in June. The company will send these invitations out on a rolling basis, prioritizing early order holders as production volume scales up throughout the year.

Source

There’s a key challenge with some electric vehicles’ door handle design. If the door handles pop out electronically, a dead battery can leave you locked out, and unable to open the hood. Without hood access, you probably won’t know how to jumpstart a dead low-voltage battery, leaving you locked out. 

Here’s how you solve that issue, at least if you own a Rivian R1T or R1S. The latest video from Out Of Spec Bits breaks down the process, which is similar to the process for most EVs with pop-out door handles. 

In the video, Kyle and Scot from Out Of Spec start with a 2026 Rivian R1S that is completely dead. Both the low- and high-voltage batteries are dead, a worst-case scenario for an EV. Without a functioning 12-volt battery, you often can’t engage the charging system on the high-voltage battery. That’s why jump-starting the 12-volt battery is the first step.

For most EVs, there is a manual way to get into the cabin or hood. On Gen 2 Rivian R1s, there’s no manual way to get in, but there are a pair of wires in the trailer wiring harness that can be used as jump leads. By connecting a jump box or another vehicle’s battery to these cables, you can power up the vehicle’s low-voltage power system and engage high-voltage charging.

Unfortunately, the video shows that this is all easier said than done. The Rivian requires a consistent 12-volt signal to power up its door handles and screens, and a portable roadside jump-box isn’t quite enough. Even a larger lead-acid model isn’t enough to get the on-board charger to accept an AC connection and begin charging. 

This is where you connect the jump box to a Rivian R1S or R1T.

Photo by: Out of Spec Reviews (YouTube)

To solve that, Out Of Spec jumps the Rivian the old-fashioned way, with a pair of jumper cables and a gas car. The Rivian takes so much load that you can hear the Ford Crown Victoria’s engine rev up, but that’s enough to get it charging. From there, the DC-to-DC converter handles the rest of the low-voltage charging, while the wall plug and onboard charger juice up the traction battery.

For most EVs, it won’t be this challenging. Modern EV battery systems are designed to keep the 12-volt batteries topped up, and most are easy to jump start when they inevitably expire. Still, if you want to avoid dealing with this, the advice is the same. Always replace your car’s 12-volt battery every three to five years, or at least get it tested to ensure it’s still strong. You’d hate to walk up one day and find your power door handles tucked away, unable to open.

Contact the author: Mack.Hogan@insideevs.com