So much for the heated radar (gen 2) - EDIT: IT WORKS!

[mpshizzle]

A while back there was a video where a Rivian engineer was talking about safety and repairability changes made to Gen 2. In that video he mentioned a heater grid for the radar to prevent ice/snow buildup. Unfortunately I am having a hard time finding that thread again

Utah has had an unusually dry winter thus far, but this morning we had snow for the first time in about a month. I took my R1S out in the snow for the first time this morning on the way to the gym. It did wonderfully for the first 20 minutes or so (highway assist, lane changes, everything great). But then I got the "sensors blocked" message. When I got to my destination there was, indeed a layer of slushy ice covering the entire front of the vehicle. A relatively thin layer, but it was there.

So... What gives?
I'm thinking there are 3 options
1) mine is broken
2) the engineer misspoke and there's no heater over the radar
3) I don't know how to activate it

As a sanity check I RFTMed and there's 0 mention of a radar heater that I can find.

If it does exist, is it activated alongside the window and side mirror defroster? Has anyone else played with this?

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[lefkonj]

I don't recall ever seeing a notice this function was coming. The sensors on my Audi A7 used to have this happen all the time in snowy weather. Sucks but so is life. Personally no one should be using cruise control when it is snowing outside, need to be in complete control of the vehicle.

 

[DuncIT]

A heater would be nice. Pretty sure it doesn't exist on my gen 2 R1T, as I had the same thing happen the other night. The alerts were really annoying - I would much rather have a constant light / message on the screen indicating that the radar was non-functional rather than the giant warning box popping up repeatedly reminding me over and over again they were not working.

 

[Supratachophobia]

A while back there was a video where a Rivian engineer was talking about safety and repairability changes made to Gen 2. In that video he mentioned a heater grid for the radar to prevent ice/snow buildup. Unfortunately I am having a hard time finding that thread again

Utah has had an unusually dry winter thus far, but this morning we had snow for the first time in about a month. I took my R1S out in the snow for the first time this morning on the way to the gym. It did wonderfully for the first 20 minutes or so (highway assist, lane changes, everything great). But then I got the "sensors blocked" message. When I got to my destination there was, indeed a layer of slushy ice covering the entire front of the vehicle. A relatively thin layer, but it was there.

So... What gives?
I'm thinking there are 3 options
1) mine is broken
2) the engineer misspoke and there's no heater over the radar
3) I don't know how to activate it

As a sanity check I RFTMed and there's 0 mention of a radar heater that I can find.

If it does exist, is it activated alongside the window and side mirror defroster? Has anyone else played with this?

Same happened to me last week. Great for 30 miles, then eventually enough snow/ice built up to throw an error.

 

[Asmith]

Wasn't there a mention of the headlights getting a heater? That was a real safety hazard for me driving with ice building up and not being able to see.

 

[ThumprMN]

This is the first I’ve heard of this… I agree with the others that heated headlights /sensors/cameras would be a good thing for those of us who live in snow/ice regions.

 

[R1Tom]

This is the first I’ve heard of this… I agree with the others that heated headlights /sensors/cameras would be a good thing for those of us who live in snow/ice regions.

I'd prefer heated headlights even over the matrix headlights. Also would like the radar unit to have heat to keep that snow buildup from defeating the system when it snows.

 

[happy hodag]

I think the radar heater for Gen 2 is discussed in this video, 6min 30sec in.

 

[mpshizzle]

A heater would be nice. Pretty sure it doesn't exist on my gen 2 R1T, as I had the same thing happen the other night. The alerts were really annoying - I would much rather have a constant light / message on the screen indicating that the radar was non-functional rather than the giant warning box popping up repeatedly reminding me over and over again they were not working.

Same happened to me last week. Great for 30 miles, then eventually enough snow/ice built up to throw an error.

Did either of you happen to try running the rear window defogger to see if that activated the heater grid?

I think the radar heater for Gen 2 is discussed in this video, 6min 30sec in.

THANK YOU! This is exactly the video I was referring to but was unable to find. It definitely sounds like it should be there. But it also sounds like either it's not working for everyone, or nobody knows how to use it LOL

 

[schlosrat]

I know we'll never see a FSD-like capability on our G1 vehicles, but I thought that they did want to have this as an eventual capability in G2. If that's so, then I think a heater for the radar sensor would be not just a nice-to-have feature, but a must-have. It's odd that some G2 owners are seeing this sensor freeze up, and that there isn't an apparent way to activate it.

Perhaps a better way to activate it will come in a future SW update?

 

[mpshizzle]

I know we'll never see a FSD-like capability on our G1 vehicles, but I thought that they did want to have this as an eventual capability in G2. If that's so, then I think a heater for the radar sensor would be not just a nice-to-have feature, but a must-have. It's odd that some G2 owners are seeing this sensor freeze up, and that there isn't an apparent way to activate it.

Perhaps a better way to activate it will come in a future SW update?

I sure hope so, because if I am correct about it being tied to this circuit that runs the window defroster, that seems kind of silly to have to drive around with that whole system running just for the sake of the radar

 

[portdirect]

slightly changing subject, but is any of the radar used at all yet? I thought that we are still using mobileye in our gen2’s and they were yet to move to using rivians own autonomy package?

 

[JACE]

A while back there was a video where a Rivian engineer was talking about safety and repairability changes made to Gen 2. In that video he mentioned a heater grid for the radar to prevent ice/snow buildup. Unfortunately I am having a hard time finding that thread again

Utah has had an unusually dry winter thus far, but this morning we had snow for the first time in about a month. I took my R1S out in the snow for the first time this morning on the way to the gym. It did wonderfully for the first 20 minutes or so (highway assist, lane changes, everything great). But then I got the "sensors blocked" message. When I got to my destination there was, indeed a layer of slushy ice covering the entire front of the vehicle. A relatively thin layer, but it was there.

So... What gives?
I'm thinking there are 3 options
1) mine is broken
2) the engineer misspoke and there's no heater over the radar
3) I don't know how to activate it

As a sanity check I RFTMed and there's 0 mention of a radar heater that I can find.

If it does exist, is it activated alongside the window and side mirror defroster? Has anyone else played with this?

I had the same experience on our road trip from Chicago to Toronto in our 2025 Gen2 Ascend , within 20 minutes of a snow/rain event , the front senors blocked error appeared and I lost all ADAS features until we stopped to charge. I cleared teh front nose of the car , back on the raod after the charge it was all snowed/iced up again about 20 minutes later. Frustrating for sure when you're counting on ADAS for the longer drives.

 

[mpshizzle]

slightly changing subject, but is any of the radar used at all yet? I thought that we are still using mobileye in our gen2’s and they were yet to move to using rivians own autonomy package?

Yes, the mobile eye hardware uses it too.

Plus it's used for the forward collision warning system which as far as I know is not part of Mobile eye

 

[JACE]

Yes, the mobile eye hardware uses it too.

Plus it's used for the forward collision warning system which as far as I know is not part of Mobile eye

what is Mobile Eye?

are our Gen 2s not yet really using any of the updated telemetry hardware ?

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