KRo
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Kory
- Joined
- Nov 2, 2022
- Threads
- 5
- Messages
- 106
- Reaction score
- 247
- Location
- Portland, OR
- Vehicles
- 22’ R1T, 22", RBlue, OCoast, no Tonneau
- Occupation
- Business owner
- Thread starter
- #1
I just finished a 15 hour 10 minute drive back to Portland from Jackson, WY yesterday, and felt compelled to share a bit of my experience.
So, quick backstory. I had a work project in April ‘26 where I needed to drive from Portland, OR to just outside of Las Vegas, NV. My route took me through the ‘charging desert’ of interior Oregon and Nevada. Vehicle performed wonderful, as it always does. What SUCKED, was all but maybe 5% of the drive took rural highways, and mapped Driver+ highways simply didn’t exist. Oh Lordy, I had to lane-center MANUALLY the whole time! 1100 miles down to LV area.
On the return trip, I pushed up through St. George, SLC and through Boise to get back… used the Driver+ on the freeways for 1300 miles, and it performed as limited as it ever does. Disengaging randomly and such, ping-ponging throughout different land widths, etc.
After that, I spent some time deep ‘YouTube diving’ on Comma. I had another roadtrip to the same destination in July, and then another trip to Jackson, WY in August. Basically, about 4300 planned road miles between these two trips… and the idea of manually driving a large portion of those miles when another option existed, nudged my hand toward the ‘purchase’ button and I clicked it.
I had been watching a lot of the fantastic content on the XNOR/Lukas project by The Electric Valentines on YouTube, but the Out of Spec video on a release of an Adventure Pilot build with the standard Comma harness sold me.
Quick spoiler - I got the basic setup, basic software, and it made all the difference in the world.
I purchased a Comma 4 and the included Rivian harness, and the Janka’s Workshop quick release mount with cabling accessories for a clean install and easy removal. Nothing else.
Once I received the two shipments, I installed the included Comma harness into the passenger footwell (took about ten minutes) and then dressed up the wires to the mirror, installed the Janka’s mount, and plugged in the Comma 4.
I had the ‘Adventure Pilot’ branch of Sunny Pilot in my YouTube spree… and after a minute or two of poking around, I figured out how to load Sunnypilot and point to the Adventure Pilot branch url, and everything downloaded and was ready for my first drive and calibration. All of this took maybe 90 minutes from physical installation start to software completion, including putting my tools away.
I began using the unit in town for my regular commute, about three weeks before my first long journey, getting used to how it activates/deactivates, operates, what its pitfalls are, etc.
Mind-blown. Initiative and seamless operation.
In quick summary, here’s how it works (AdventurePilot), which I didn’t fully understand until I started using the unit.
- Lane assist mode with manual pedal use: One push up of the right stalk engages or disengages its lane assist/centering mode. Two different chime tones from the Comma tell you when it’s engaged and disengaged. You CAN MANUALLY STEER when it’s engaged, and it stays engaged without disengaging like Driver+ or other lane-keep systems. You CAN KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF the wheel forever within the turn radius limitations if desired. Lane changes can be initiated automatically with a left stalk turn indicator press, similar to Driver+ operation. The Comma does NOT use ADAS to pause a lane change if something is there, so that timing judgement is on you. Lane centering works in ALL roads, dirt roads, parking lots, etc. It’s awesome!
- Lane assist mode paired with the Rivian Adaptive Cruise system - this is great for highways/freeways. Everything as listed above, but adding acceleration/deceleration/braking control direct from the Rivian adaptive cruise system. One push down on the right stalk engages/disengages this mode. Works just like it came with the vehicle.
Installation is easy, connecting to the Rivian hotspot and loading the software is also easy, and that’s really about it for technical knowhow.
So, if you’ve been on the fence about a Comma and wish you had a smoother/better Driver+ experience on ALL roads, lane lines or no lane lines, even dirt roads, just do it. It’ll take your Gen 1 and massively leap it forward in assistive driving tech, I’d say beyond Gen 2, and you don’t need to be a software engineer to do it.
Also, the Comma 4 is small enough that I don’t feel like I’ve lost any of my forward visibility, which was one of my concerns.
Anywho, thanks for spending time hearing a little bit of my experience.
So, quick backstory. I had a work project in April ‘26 where I needed to drive from Portland, OR to just outside of Las Vegas, NV. My route took me through the ‘charging desert’ of interior Oregon and Nevada. Vehicle performed wonderful, as it always does. What SUCKED, was all but maybe 5% of the drive took rural highways, and mapped Driver+ highways simply didn’t exist. Oh Lordy, I had to lane-center MANUALLY the whole time! 1100 miles down to LV area.
On the return trip, I pushed up through St. George, SLC and through Boise to get back… used the Driver+ on the freeways for 1300 miles, and it performed as limited as it ever does. Disengaging randomly and such, ping-ponging throughout different land widths, etc.
After that, I spent some time deep ‘YouTube diving’ on Comma. I had another roadtrip to the same destination in July, and then another trip to Jackson, WY in August. Basically, about 4300 planned road miles between these two trips… and the idea of manually driving a large portion of those miles when another option existed, nudged my hand toward the ‘purchase’ button and I clicked it.
I had been watching a lot of the fantastic content on the XNOR/Lukas project by The Electric Valentines on YouTube, but the Out of Spec video on a release of an Adventure Pilot build with the standard Comma harness sold me.
Quick spoiler - I got the basic setup, basic software, and it made all the difference in the world.
I purchased a Comma 4 and the included Rivian harness, and the Janka’s Workshop quick release mount with cabling accessories for a clean install and easy removal. Nothing else.
Once I received the two shipments, I installed the included Comma harness into the passenger footwell (took about ten minutes) and then dressed up the wires to the mirror, installed the Janka’s mount, and plugged in the Comma 4.
I had the ‘Adventure Pilot’ branch of Sunny Pilot in my YouTube spree… and after a minute or two of poking around, I figured out how to load Sunnypilot and point to the Adventure Pilot branch url, and everything downloaded and was ready for my first drive and calibration. All of this took maybe 90 minutes from physical installation start to software completion, including putting my tools away.
I began using the unit in town for my regular commute, about three weeks before my first long journey, getting used to how it activates/deactivates, operates, what its pitfalls are, etc.
Mind-blown. Initiative and seamless operation.
In quick summary, here’s how it works (AdventurePilot), which I didn’t fully understand until I started using the unit.
- Lane assist mode with manual pedal use: One push up of the right stalk engages or disengages its lane assist/centering mode. Two different chime tones from the Comma tell you when it’s engaged and disengaged. You CAN MANUALLY STEER when it’s engaged, and it stays engaged without disengaging like Driver+ or other lane-keep systems. You CAN KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF the wheel forever within the turn radius limitations if desired. Lane changes can be initiated automatically with a left stalk turn indicator press, similar to Driver+ operation. The Comma does NOT use ADAS to pause a lane change if something is there, so that timing judgement is on you. Lane centering works in ALL roads, dirt roads, parking lots, etc. It’s awesome!
- Lane assist mode paired with the Rivian Adaptive Cruise system - this is great for highways/freeways. Everything as listed above, but adding acceleration/deceleration/braking control direct from the Rivian adaptive cruise system. One push down on the right stalk engages/disengages this mode. Works just like it came with the vehicle.
Installation is easy, connecting to the Rivian hotspot and loading the software is also easy, and that’s really about it for technical knowhow.
So, if you’ve been on the fence about a Comma and wish you had a smoother/better Driver+ experience on ALL roads, lane lines or no lane lines, even dirt roads, just do it. It’ll take your Gen 1 and massively leap it forward in assistive driving tech, I’d say beyond Gen 2, and you don’t need to be a software engineer to do it.
Also, the Comma 4 is small enough that I don’t feel like I’ve lost any of my forward visibility, which was one of my concerns.
Anywho, thanks for spending time hearing a little bit of my experience.
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