Weekly Rivian Responds Roundup - Cruise Control

[COdogman]

You may be in the minority but you're not totally alone. I never use CC. Partly because I want to be in total control of the situation and partly because being actively engaged in driving helps keep me focused and alert on longer trips. And I just plain enjoy driving.

I don’t use cruise control very often for the same reasons you stated, but there are some rural highways in the eastern plains of CO that are basically straight lines for hours and the local cops have nothing better to do than pull people over for going 2 mph over the speed limit. CC helps me stay off their radar (Literally).

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[Donald Stanfield]

I get that if cruise control is there it should work properly but do that many people use it a lot.

I’ve had cruise on every car since probably 1980, most of them I probably never even turned it on to see if it works. My 2014 Jeep GC I can count on one hand how many time I’ve used it. The Tesla Model S I admit to using it several times on long trips but rarely if ever have used it within 100 miles of my house.

Not being antagonistic, I’m generally interested if I am in the minority here.

You’re not alone. I very rarely use cruise control. A couple times a year at most. Only on long trips of 3-4 hours on the freeway or longer do I use cruise and lane keep. Especially where I live, in the mountains, cruise control doesn’t really help me down the narrow and winding roads.

 

[electruck]

One of the really scary things we’ve experienced using Driver+ is how it handles Toll Roads here in California. Our tolls roads don’t have booths. Everything is handled via camera rigs above the freeway. There is no slowing down. Traffic maintains full speed you blast under the cameras and they bill you. In the Rivian with Drivers+ turned on, with almost no warning, the vehicle will hit the breaks aggressively and start flashing “toll booth take control.” Driver+ should be smart enough to know the highway hasn’t had a “toll booth” on it in 15 years… If I don’t immediately press the gas pedal the vehicle will stop in the middle of traffic on the freeway.

To me, this type of behavior from Driver+ is FAR more dangerous than any scenario with conventional cruise control where we know exactly what to expect. Conventional CC is both reliable and predictable, neither of which can be said of Driver+ at this point. Frankly, I find it less stressful to just drive than to always have to second guess what a system like Driver+ might decide to do at any given moment.

 

[mabowden]

My Driver+ story:

In Southern California, 20 minutes away from Rivian HQ, Driver+ is very much a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde situation.

If you are driving in ideal situations on not too crowded roads, it works very well. I've gone 20 miles at a time with no interruptions, albeit with a little "ping ponging" in lanes.

On my commute home, every day during this time of the year, I am driving mostly into the sun. On my drive home, Driver+ is basically unusable. The sun will play with the ground markings to look like there are some lane lines that aren't physically on the ground (were removed years ago), and Driver+ disengages constantly, phantom brakes quite a bit, and frankly is just no good. ACC still works decently here minus the phantom braking.

Other Quirks:

• Driver+ disengages saying there is a toll booth 3 miles before the toll booth (which isn't a booth, its a drive through at reg driving speed-70mph or so).
• On the same freeway there are cracks in the freeway, or old striping that has since been removed. The car will think I'm crossing lanes and automatically attempt to correct fairly dangerously. I might have to turn off auto lane assist or whatever it's called. I haven't decided yet.

I hope it improves over time, but as of right now my wife's Kia Seltos (MSRP $29k) highway assist (not solely camera based- has lidar/radar sensor) is pretty far superior to this product in terms of usability. When driver+ works well, it is better than the Kia, however currently I simply can't use it over 50% of the time spent on the highway currently. YMMV, but I feel Socal is a pretty decent test-bed for this kind of feature.

 

[mabowden]

One of the really scary things we’ve experienced using Driver+ is how it handles Toll Roads here in California. Our tolls roads don’t have booths. Everything is handled via camera rigs above the freeway. There is no slowing down. Traffic maintains full speed you blast under the cameras and they bill you. In the Rivian with Drivers+ turned on, with almost no warning, the vehicle will hit the breaks aggressively and start flashing “toll booth take control.” Driver+ should be smart enough to know the highway hasn’t had a “toll booth” on it in 15 years… If I don’t immediately press the gas pedal the vehicle will stop in the middle of traffic on the freeway.

I'm on the 91 freeway almost every day. On the 91 east driver+ disengages almost immediately in the toll lanes even though the "booth", which like you said isn't a booth and is simply a lane with traffic at speed, is like 3 miles in...

 

[mabowden]

I haven’t had any issues with cruise control at all. Like a lot of other complaints it seems to be completely hit or miss between vehicles.

It is very much what roads you are driving on and in what conditions... In certain conditions, it is basically unusable.

 

[Riviot]

I can see the headlines already: "7000 LB EV Rivian Truck cruise control causes fatal crash in [state].. "

Stupid question: do tractor trailer drivers have cruise control?

Also, we see these headlines every time someone dies in a Tesla, because autopilot scares people, even if it wasn't used. Ooooooo scary technology and automation

 

[Prime]

So not having my Rivian yet, a little confused about Drivers +. In Tesla there’s two modes, 1) where vehicle handles steering and controls speed according to the car in front of you and 2) steering left to driver but speed is controlled based on car in front of you. Is Drivers + on Rivian all or nothing? So if it isn’t steering for you you can’t use it or are people having issues on “2)” the much more simple adaptive cruise control that just handles speed based on vehicle in front of you without steering?

 

[Inkedsphynx]

I get that if cruise control is there it should work properly but do that many people use it a lot.

I’ve had cruise on every car since probably 1980, most of them I probably never even turned it on to see if it works. My 2014 Jeep GC I can count on one hand how many time I’ve used it. The Tesla Model S I admit to using it several times on long trips but rarely if ever have used it within 100 miles of my house.

Not being antagonistic, I’m generally interested if I am in the minority here.

I haven't used cruise control in 20 years. I've used Driver+ once or twice, but generally speaking, I prefer being in control of the vehicle myself. If I'm going to die, I want it to be my fault damnit

 

[godfodder0901]

Stupid question: do tractor trailer drivers have cruise control?

Overwhelmingly, no, they don't. They have a throttle lock that is very similar in concept to the throttle lock on some motorcycles. As a qualifier, I've had a CDL for over a decade and have driven many different Volvo and Freightliner tractors more miles than I care to remember.

 

[zefram47]

I haven't used cruise control in 20 years.

All these people proclaiming how they never use cruise control. You're all the folks that people who use cruise dislike because you can't maintain speed.

 

[Inkedsphynx]

All these people proclaiming how they never use cruise control. You're all the folks that people who use cruise dislike because you can't maintain speed.

Definitely not a problem for me. Especially since I'm usually just matching speed for the person in front of me. Not a lot of places where I live that you end up being out in front all the time. Regardless, I have no issues maintaining a steady speed.

What drives me bonkers is people that don't realize you have to actually depress the pedal harder when you go uphill if you don't want to shed 15mph and piss of the person behind you

 

[RivChris]

So not having my Rivian yet, a little confused about Drivers +. In Tesla there’s two modes, 1) where vehicle handles steering and controls speed according to the car in front of you and 2) steering left to driver but speed is controlled based on car in front of you. Is Drivers + on Rivian all or nothing? So if it isn’t steering for you you can’t use it or are people having issues on “2)” the much more simple adaptive cruise control that just handles speed based on vehicle in front of you without steering?

It's the same 2 options as Tesla. People have issues with both but my personal frustration is not being able to use option 2 when there are camera issues from: the sun being low or rain or just random times it doesn't think the camera is working.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

All these people proclaiming how they never use cruise control. You're all the folks that people who use cruise dislike because you can't maintain speed.

I can maintain speed just fine, but I’d rather not take hairpin turns labeled at 15MPH at the 55 I’m doing before the turn. Most of my driving is on back country roads. Also I’m as if not more accurate with my foot as cruise control is.

Besides most of the time when I’m on the freeway I’m too busy passing to worry about maintaining a constant speed going around all the slow pokes with their cruise control set to 72 in the left lane.

 

[cbrcanuck]

I haven't used cruise control in 20 years. I've used Driver+ once or twice, but generally speaking, I prefer being in control of the vehicle myself. If I'm going to die, I want it to be my fault damnit

If I died because of an accident while using a self-driving car, it would be 100% my fault. I’m not sure I understand trusting your life to brand new and heavily “under development” software that is already known to be super glitchy. Risk v. Reward. Who do you trust as the better driver? Right now, I trust me a lot more.

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