So I finally went on a longish trip with my wife's R1S Rivian SUV, driving from San Diego to Big Bear Lake. I was keen to test out Rivian's Driver+ lane keeping system comparing it to Tesla's Autopilot on the freeway.
Once I got onto a divided highway (15N in CA), I turned on the Driver+ lane keeping. The system worked great. Very, very few nags compared to a Tesla. I think it senses hand pressure on the steering wheel, so no need to jiggle it every few miles. The few times I had both hands off for a significant amount of time, the reminders were gentle, yet immediately obvious (unlike Tesla, in both respects). The actual lane keeping/driving was rock solid. No weaving, it handled enlarged lanes (like when merging) well, and I was running it at 82 MPH, even around sweeping turns. No false stops or slow downs, worked perfectly.
The user controls were really easy and intuitive including the graphics shown. Unlike my Model X with no stalk, there are numerous buttons and roller wheels to control all aspects of the lane keeping. On the Rivian, the right button/wheel complex has a roller wheel surrounded by 2 buttons. You use the roller wheel to set follow distance (and a nice graphic shows you where you are in your choice selection on the center console). Left and right buttons set speed.
Now, it has limitations compared to Tesla. It doesn't do lane changing, so if you want to lane change, you've got to turn off Driver+ (press up on stalk to turn it off, press it down twice to turn it on). It also won't take you through a freeway to freeway interchange. But it nicely warns you ahead of time that it'll be disengaging for the interchange. Likewise when your lane merges, it warns you ahead of time of the merge. Also, there were sections on the 215 that didn't support lane keeping, and thus I had to back down to TACC where the car did traffic aware cruise control and I did the steering. I don't know why, maybe because some sections of the 215 were under construction.
And, of course, it won't work on non-divided highways (which wasn't a big deal for me since those were twisty mountain roads anyways).
After about three OTA software updates, the Rivian R1S finally has a nicely tuned suspension. It drove great on the twisty mountain roads with single pedal driving (ironically, coming from a Tesla, I have to back down regen to mid-range since the highest setting is TOO aggressive for me, mid-range is approx equal to my Model X).
Oh, and the battery. I arrived at my condo with 35% charge after starting at 100% - this is about what my 2022 post refresh (with yoke) Model X LR does. And that's with the range gobbling 20" AT tires - people have been saying that you can get up to 10% more range with the Rivian road tires.
"Rivian R1S, Howard Ave, Burlingame 3" by Mliu92 is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Admin note: Image added for Blog Feed thumbnail
Once I got onto a divided highway (15N in CA), I turned on the Driver+ lane keeping. The system worked great. Very, very few nags compared to a Tesla. I think it senses hand pressure on the steering wheel, so no need to jiggle it every few miles. The few times I had both hands off for a significant amount of time, the reminders were gentle, yet immediately obvious (unlike Tesla, in both respects). The actual lane keeping/driving was rock solid. No weaving, it handled enlarged lanes (like when merging) well, and I was running it at 82 MPH, even around sweeping turns. No false stops or slow downs, worked perfectly.
The user controls were really easy and intuitive including the graphics shown. Unlike my Model X with no stalk, there are numerous buttons and roller wheels to control all aspects of the lane keeping. On the Rivian, the right button/wheel complex has a roller wheel surrounded by 2 buttons. You use the roller wheel to set follow distance (and a nice graphic shows you where you are in your choice selection on the center console). Left and right buttons set speed.
Now, it has limitations compared to Tesla. It doesn't do lane changing, so if you want to lane change, you've got to turn off Driver+ (press up on stalk to turn it off, press it down twice to turn it on). It also won't take you through a freeway to freeway interchange. But it nicely warns you ahead of time that it'll be disengaging for the interchange. Likewise when your lane merges, it warns you ahead of time of the merge. Also, there were sections on the 215 that didn't support lane keeping, and thus I had to back down to TACC where the car did traffic aware cruise control and I did the steering. I don't know why, maybe because some sections of the 215 were under construction.
And, of course, it won't work on non-divided highways (which wasn't a big deal for me since those were twisty mountain roads anyways).
After about three OTA software updates, the Rivian R1S finally has a nicely tuned suspension. It drove great on the twisty mountain roads with single pedal driving (ironically, coming from a Tesla, I have to back down regen to mid-range since the highest setting is TOO aggressive for me, mid-range is approx equal to my Model X).
Oh, and the battery. I arrived at my condo with 35% charge after starting at 100% - this is about what my 2022 post refresh (with yoke) Model X LR does. And that's with the range gobbling 20" AT tires - people have been saying that you can get up to 10% more range with the Rivian road tires.
"Rivian R1S, Howard Ave, Burlingame 3" by Mliu92 is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Admin note: Image added for Blog Feed thumbnail
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