Questions on Driver+ with Automatic Steering (if you have more please add them!)

[WorldComposting]

I did a search but didn't come up with anything relevant. So sorry if this has been posted before.

I've had my R1S for over a year now (Gen 1) and have gone on some long trips but never used the Driver+ system. After being in my friends Teslas that always seem to have issues I was very hesitant to use the system other than just the radar cruise control.

Saying that I have been taking a lot of longer trips recently and began to try it out and I have a couple questions.

• How do you rest your arm while using Driver+? I can't hold the wheel normally (9 and 3) or I put too much pressure and it deactivates or I have to hold my arms up and have a light grip on the wheel which is tiring. I have pretty long arms but I can't use the door window or arm rest as they are not comfortable.
• Does anyone else find the Driver+ sort of keeps doing micro adjustments to stay centered? I can feel the wheel move slightly left then right almost the entire time even on straight roads.
• If I'm using Driver+ will it send drive information to Rivian to improve the system if you have share data turned on? While I know I'm a beta tester having a new vehicle I would actually try to use it more if I knew Rivian would benefit.
• How is everyone cancelling out of Driver+? Right now I'm just tapping the brake pedal but as the car goes into regen quickly it sometimes makes the ride feel jerky
• For those that have used Gen 1 and Gen 2 are the vastly different when using Driver+?
• Lastly how often are you using Driver+? I only started using it a month ago but I'm trying to use it more often.

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[SANZC02]

I did a search but didn't come up with anything relevant. So sorry if this has been posted before.

I've had my R1S for over a year now (Gen 1) and have gone on some long trips but never used the Driver+ system. After being in my friends Teslas that always seem to have issues I was very hesitant to use the system other than just the radar cruise control.

Saying that I have been taking a lot of longer trips recently and began to try it out and I have a couple questions.

• How do you rest your arm while using Driver+? I can't hold the wheel normally (9 and 3) or I put too much pressure and it deactivates or I have to hold my arms up and have a light grip on the wheel which is tiring. I have pretty long arms but I can't use the door window or arm rest as they are not comfortable. I just rest my arm on my knee with a finger or 2 and thumb around the wheel
• Does anyone else find the Driver+ sort of keeps doing micro adjustments to stay centered? I can feel the wheel move slightly left then right almost the entire time even on straight roads. I find it does pretty well on straighter sections of highway with sweeping curves. On highways with sharper curves like you find in sections of Colorado, Montana, etc it does do a lot of adjustments so I usually just turn it off on those stretches of road.
• If I'm using Driver+ will it send drive information to Rivian to improve the system if you have share data turned on? While I know I'm a beta tester having a new vehicle I would actually try to use it more if I knew Rivian would benefit.
• How is everyone cancelling out of Driver+? Right now I'm just tapping the brake pedal but as the car goes into regen quickly it sometimes makes the ride feel jerky. I lift up on the lever that engages the system
• For those that have used Gen 1 and Gen 2 are the vastly different when using Driver+?
• Lastly how often are you using Driver+? I only started using it a month ago but I'm trying to use it more often. I’ve been using it since I picked up my vehicle in January 2023. I only use it on longer trips on open highways and find it has improved a lot since I first started using it. I have 25k on my vehicle, did 2 really long trips around the country and probably have over 10k miles with driver+ engaged.

See my answers above, I have a Tesla with AP1 that I have had for 8 years. Rivian is not as smooth as that but is getting closer with the latest updates. When I first started using Driver+ it would disengage frequently for various reasons but the last trip I took I had sections where it literally would stay engaged for the entire highway section between chargers.

 

[DeafPug]

to keep the hand detection system happy, I generally hold the steering wheel at the 7-8 o’clock position on the wheel and let my arm rest in my lap. That’s enough weight to keep the torque detection algorithm happy. It’s detecting some turning force or resistance to its motion to detect your hand.

 

[EVTrukHog]

I will sometimes place my left knee against the wheel at the 7 o'clock position to mostly achieve hands free operation for brief periods of time.

 

[godfodder0901]

to keep the hand detection system happy, I generally hold the steering wheel at the 7-8 o’clock position on the wheel and let my arm rest in my lap. That’s enough weight to keep the torque detection algorithm happy. It’s detecting some turning force or resistance to its motion to detect your hand.

It also has capacitive touch capabilites. There is no need to have any weight or resistance.

 

[godfodder0901]

I did a search but didn't come up with anything relevant. So sorry if this has been posted before.

I've had my R1S for over a year now (Gen 1) and have gone on some long trips but never used the Driver+ system. After being in my friends Teslas that always seem to have issues I was very hesitant to use the system other than just the radar cruise control.

Saying that I have been taking a lot of longer trips recently and began to try it out and I have a couple questions.

• How do you rest your arm while using Driver+? I can't hold the wheel normally (9 and 3) or I put too much pressure and it deactivates or I have to hold my arms up and have a light grip on the wheel which is tiring. I have pretty long arms but I can't use the door window or arm rest as they are not comfortable.
• Does anyone else find the Driver+ sort of keeps doing micro adjustments to stay centered? I can feel the wheel move slightly left then right almost the entire time even on straight roads.
• If I'm using Driver+ will it send drive information to Rivian to improve the system if you have share data turned on? While I know I'm a beta tester having a new vehicle I would actually try to use it more if I knew Rivian would benefit.
• How is everyone cancelling out of Driver+? Right now I'm just tapping the brake pedal but as the car goes into regen quickly it sometimes makes the ride feel jerky
• For those that have used Gen 1 and Gen 2 are the vastly different when using Driver+?
• Lastly how often are you using Driver+? I only started using it a month ago but I'm trying to use it more often.

Small point of clarification; what you are referring to is actually Highway Assist (HWA), which is part of the Driver+ suite of features (along with LKA, LDW, ACC, and more).

 

[gbanx111]

I love Highway assist for if there’s stop/go traffic. If I’m traveling 75-80 down the highway, I can’t leave it on with anyone in the passenger seat. I and they feel it is way too close to the vehicles in the lane to the right, especially if it’s a semi. Looks like the upcoming update may help with that.

 

[Claudef2]

Yes, I do find the system is constantly making micro adjustments. Frankly I do not feel very comfortable with the system at all and after 2 months of ownership I no longer use it. As far as I am concerned I would be happier if the car did not have any of these gimmicks.

As far as cancelling Driver+, just push on the stalk towards the dashboard. You will hear a short sound and it will disconnect.

 

[godfodder0901]

As far as cancelling Driver+, just push on the stalk towards the dashboard. You will hear a short sound and it will disconnect.

Gen 1, the stalks only go up and down.

 

[godfodder0901]

I love Highway assist for if there’s stop/go traffic. If I’m traveling 75-80 down the highway, I can’t leave it on with anyone in the passenger seat. I and they feel it is way too close to the vehicles in the lane to the right, especially if it’s a semi. Looks like the upcoming update may help with that.

That part of the update only applies to Gen 2.

 

[f1racer328]

If you want to seamlessly cancel Highway Assist, then push up on the drive stalk to the first detent.

If you want to go from Highway Assist to adaptive cruise control, push up to the first detent, then push down one detent. It's a seamless transition when you do it correctly.

This is for Gen 1. I know Gen 2 the stalk moves towards and away from the driver for Highway Assist. I'm sure the same thing works.

Using the brake to cancel Highway Assist is really a redundancy to the stalk, unless you want full regen and some brakes right away for whatever reason.

 

[KBabione]

I use Driver+ all of the time on highway drives - for me it's just an extension of cruise control. As mentioned above, I rest my arm in my lap and keep a couple of fingers loosely on the bottom of the steering wheel - ready to grab it if anything happens. To disengage I just push the stalk upward (the opposite of how you engaged). It felt a little weird at first to push the stalk up because it felt like I was throwing it into reverse at highway speeds since that's what the stalk does when you're not moving.

I would love a resume option, but it never takes me more than a couple of seconds to re-engage Driver+ after I've turned it off for some reason.

 

[ndmiller]

I've driven on a couple 6-8 hour each way roadtrips and it takes some overhead off the driving experience when putting on miles. Not perfect and don't trust it, but 3-4 hours at a time does exactly what I expect with a few disconnects here and there.

 

[DeafPug]

It also has capacitive touch capabilites. There is no need to have any weight or resistance.

Thank you for the clarification. I wrongly assumed Rivian used the same setup that Tesla has on my Model 3. I’ll pay closer attention to that on my next drive.

 

[WorldComposting]

I use Driver+ all of the time on highway drives - for me it's just an extension of cruise control. As mentioned above, I rest my arm in my lap and keep a couple of fingers loosely on the bottom of the steering wheel - ready to grab it if anything happens. To disengage I just push the stalk upward (the opposite of how you engaged). It felt a little weird at first to push the stalk up because it felt like I was throwing it into reverse at highway speeds since that's what the stalk does when you're not moving.

I would love a resume option, but it never takes me more than a couple of seconds to re-engage Driver+ after I've turned it off for some reason.

I feel the same way it is one thing to push the stalk towards drive another thing to push it towards reverse.

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