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Does Driver+ (Self Drive) Work?

kizamybute'

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Haven't seen any posts. I know Rivian advertised that these things would have driver assist features.

Wondering if it's working on any that have been delivered?

Hoping at least lane keep assist and traffic aware cruise control works on the freeways??

Hoping some owners can respond?

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SeaGeo

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Adaptive cruise control (ACC) works everywhere. Lane centering (highway assist as Rivian brands it) is only mapped highways, and people have mixed opinions of it. When it works I have found it to be excellent minute some randomish bugs that I've notified Rivian about. There is not currently lane centering on unmapped roads. Finding which highways are mapped is currently a bit of a guessing game, but it's generally only interstates and major metro highways as far as I have seen. I'm quite certain the degree of mapping varies by region as well. 5 of the 6 highways Google may tell me to take to work on any given day are mapped. The one that isn't doesn't really surprise me as it's a rather rural State Route. I'm sure that ratio would flip if o lived where I went to school or grew up.
 

the long way downunder

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I wonder if the latest update (.19) brings any self-driving upgrades.

Here's the Out of Spec review of Rivian's self-driving (and several other vehicles, all on a semi-standardized loop.) OoS describe it as both "excellent" and "infuriating" which sums up the hits and misses of Rivian's software game overall: some of it is great, much of it is simply missing.



I use the "lane keep assist" (a separate setting) and the "distance keep" all the time. It's sufficient for driving in slow-n-go traffic. Driver+ is basically non-operative, it basically doesn't work yet. When you find a stretch of road where it will engage, it does fine; like Autopilot with no tricks (no lane change, no nav awareness.)

Right now, Driver+ gets a B- from me. Its excellent performance in the OoS Hogback test notwithstanding – it's a cherry-picked section of road that is pre-mapped. Driver+ is nearly useless due to limited available roads where it will engage (and then frequently disengage for no apparent reason.) It's bizarre … yet another completely inexplicable software snafu from Rivian. It's worth noting Rivian has delivered rear cross-traffic and it works wonderfully. Rivian also has blind spot alerts (audible and warnings visible in the door mirrors.)

Talking with Rivian support, they're consistent on all software topics: "we just haven't written that yet."

I have an F-150 Hybrid and it uses the same "high resolution" mapping (from another vendor?) but Ford BlueCruise engages 99.9% of the time and very rarely warns it might need to disengage. I've driven only a thousand miles in the R1T and given up on using D+. I've driven over 1000 miles in the F-150 Hybrid using BlueCruise which is totally handsfree (no reminders to touch the steering wheel, just an attention monitor to require the driver to be looking at the road … seems like a reasonable thing to ask of a driver … : )

I think Ford BlueCruise shows us what Rivian can deliver in the R1T with no hardware upgrades. This reminds me LIDAR is one of the questionable, surreptitious omissions from the R1, so L4 is "never" (never say never) going to be possible. Rivian has several Tesla people and I'm afraid they've brought the "not invented here" syndrome (insistence upon in-house development despite third party solutions.) Given their previously close involvement with Ford, I think Rivian could have asked "hey, that BlueCruise stuff is decent, can we license that?" and with that small step, leap-frogged Tesla completely to be the first EV with legit hands-free self-driving. I chalk that up to just another inexplicable c-suite decision from Rivian. Still, I'm optimistic that Rivian will have an OTA update in the relatively near future and Driver+ will do everything BlueCruise does.
 
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boardthatpowder

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I guess I’m lucky as driver+ has been available on all the freeways I’ve been driving on (the 470, 70, 285, 76, and 25). It’s limited functionality work flawlessly. I can’t wait for more advanced features to be released, and for it to be opened up on more roads. Shows great promise.
 

DaveA

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Works really well on major highways except for when there is a wide exit ramp without dashed lines....then it occasionally starts turning towards the ramp to exit. I'd drive in the fast lane to avoid this, but that would destroy my efficiency. :cool:
 

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Gshenderson

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My experience is that it tracks well and smoothly on the roads it’s available on. Seems that’s only interstates around me. I’ve used it on winding canyon roads, and it performed well with limited unnecessary slowing through the curves. I find the manual “takeover” of control via pressure on the steering wheel to be much smoother than Tesla. I like the capacitive approach to ensuring you have hands on the wheel better than Tesla’s tension approach.

Some negatives that hopefully get improved over time:
  • Biggest one is that it only works on roads they’ve mapped. They should allow it to track lines in the road regardless of whether it’s been mapped like every other car that has a lane keep feature.
  • Does not support lane changing. You essentially have to take over control, execute your lane change(s) and then reinitiate it.
  • Does not have a “resume” feature. After taking control or canceling adaptive cruise via hitting the brake, you need to manually get back to your desired speed and then reinitiate it.
  • Limits you to top speed of 85mph. Many interstates in the west are 80mph speed limit, so topping out at 10 over would be better for me (90mph).
  • Adaptive cruise seems to react too slowly and aggressively to a curve vs. my Tesla. It’s waits until you are into the curve and then overcompensates.
  • I’ve had two phantom braking incidents in about 500 miles of driving. First instance there was nothing around me, so that one is still a mystery. Second was on a 2 lane road with a car coming at me in the other lane.
  • Adaptive cruise leaves a bit too big of a gap for my taste even at the closest setting. People still cut in. 😡
 

BoltEVowner

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My experience is that it tracks well and smoothly on the roads it’s available on. Seems that’s only interstates around me. I’ve used it on winding canyon roads, and it performed well with limited unnecessary slowing through the curves. I find the manual “takeover” of control via pressure on the steering wheel to be much smoother than Tesla. I like the capacitive approach to ensuring you have hands on the wheel better than Tesla’s tension approach.

Some negatives that hopefully get improved over time:
  • Biggest one is that it only works on roads they’ve mapped. They should allow it to track lines in the road regardless of whether it’s been mapped like every other car that has a lane keep feature.
  • Does not support lane changing. You essentially have to take over control, execute your lane change(s) and then reinitiate it.
  • Does not have a “resume” feature. After taking control or canceling adaptive cruise via hitting the brake, you need to manually get back to your desired speed and then reinitiate it.
  • Limits you to top speed of 85mph. Many interstates in the west are 80mph speed limit, so topping out at 10 over would be better for me (90mph).
  • Adaptive cruise seems to react too slowly and aggressively to a curve vs. my Tesla. It’s waits until you are into the curve and then overcompensates.
  • I’ve had two phantom braking incidents in about 500 miles of driving. First instance there was nothing around me, so that one is still a mystery. Second was on a 2 lane road with a car coming at me in the other lane.
  • Adaptive cruise leaves a bit too big of a gap for my taste even at the closest setting. People still cut in. 😡
Ditto on most of above. One exception is that the lane keep assist does appear to work for me on most roads as long as I have the adaptive cruise control active, but as you noted above, it isn't nearly as good as the Driver+, but much better than my Chevy BoltEV which is almost useless in comparison.
 

jjswan33

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Similar feedback to others here. Worth noting the system is not hands free right now.

- Only on mapped highways for steering assistance (driver+)
- ACC braking around corners is annoying because it happens mid corner when you should be accelerating not braking
- Phantom braking in my experience the most common is when it thinks a car in the lane right of you is in your lane. This is especially true for semi trucks it will see the trailer in the right lane but the cab in your lane.
- Lane changes would be great
- A resume for ACC would be very useful
- The system does not work well in the rain, it does better if it can see a car in front of you but otherwise almost unusable
- I have had it fail around corners due traction control, mostly in conserve mode
- For some reason Driver+ needs to have my left hand on the wheel, it doesn’t’ recognize my right hand and starts yelling at me

So the system works well but room for improvement.
 

RexRemus

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I wonder if the latest update (.19) brings any self-driving upgrades.

Here's the Out of Spec review of Rivian's self-driving (and several other vehicles, all on a semi-standardized loop.) OoS describe it as both "excellent" and "infuriating" which sums up the hits and misses of Rivian's software game overall: some of it is great, much of it is simply missing.



I use the "lane keep" (a separate setting) and the "distance keep" all the time. It's sufficient for driving in slow-n-go traffic. Driver+ is basically non-operative, it basically doesn't work yet. When you find a stretch of road where it will engage, it does fine; like Autopilot with no tricks (no lane change, no nav awareness.)

Right now, Driver+ gets a B- from me. Its excellent performance in the OoS Hogback test notwithstanding – it's a cherry-picked section of road that is pre-mapped – it's nearly useless due to limited available roads where it will engage (and then frequently disengage for no apparent reason.) It's bizarre … yet another completely inexplicable software snafu from Rivian. It's worth noting Rivian has delivered rear cross-traffic and it works wonderfully. Rivian also has blind spot alerts (audible and warnings visible in the door mirrors.)

Talking with Rivian support, they're consistent on all software topics: "we just haven't written that yet."

I have an F-150 Hybrid and it uses the same "high resolution" mapping but Ford BlueCruise engages 99.9% of the time and very rarely warns it might need to disengage. I've driven only a thousand miles in the R1T and given up on getting D+. I've driven over 1000 miles in the F-150 Hybrid using BlueCruise which is totally handsfree (no reminders to touch the steering wheel, just an attention monitor to require the driver to be looking at the road … seems like a reasonable thing to ask of a driver … : )

I think Ford BlueCruise shows us what Rivian can deliver in the R1T with no hardware upgrades. This reminds me LIDAR is one of the questionable, surreptitious omissions from the R1, so L4 is "never" (never say never) going to be possible. Rivian has several Tesla people and I'm afraid they've brought the "not invented here" syndrome (insistence upon in-house development despite third party solutions.) Given their previously close involvement with Ford, I think Rivian could have asked "hey, that BlueCruise stuff is decent, can we license that?" and with that small step, leap-frogged Tesla completely to be the first EV with legit hands-free self-driving. I chalk that up to just another inexplicable c-suite decision from Rivian. Still, I'm optimistic that Rivian will have an OTA update in the relatively near future and Driver+ will do everything BlueCruise does.
I've been a little confused on lane keep vs lane centering insofar as Rivian's terminology/implementation. So, in my MDX, I can turn on ACC and LKAS (basically distance keeping cruise and lane keeping assist). Any time I'm going over 45MPH (ACC works to much lower speeds) LKAS will kick in on any road, anywhere, day and night - provided the lane markings are reasonably visible - and basically steer/center the vehicle in lane, including taking reasonably sharp curves pretty much on it's own. Is this equivalent to Rivian's Lane Keeping or is this considered Lane Centering?

I get the sense it's lane centering in Rivian terminology and I cannot wrap my head around how that can only be on mapped highways, and Rivian considers lane keeping as ping-pong "bumps" of the wheel to nudge you back into a lane (but not"center" you). How is lane centering not just... always available (above a certain speed or whatever similar to many 8+ year-old vehicles)

Is my assessment accurate? Rivian breaks things into 3 categories? - Lane Keeping (ping-pong steering nudges), Lane Centering (actual steering assistance, including navigating curves), and Driver+ which is... I don't really know but something closer to a hands-off (?) mode that's like lane keeping+?

The split between keeping and centering (and the mapped requirement) makes literally no sense to me
 

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jjswan33

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I've been a little confused on lane keep vs lane centering insofar as Rivian's terminology/implementation. So, in my MDX, I can turn on ACC and LKAS (basically distance keeping cruise and lane keeping assist). Any time I'm going over 45MPH (ACC works to much lower speeds) LKAS will kick in on any road, anywhere, day and night - provided the lane markings are reasonably visible - and basically steer/center the vehicle in lane, including taking reasonably sharp curves pretty much on it's own. Is this equivalent to Rivian's Lane Keeping or is this considered Lane Centering?

I get the sense it's lane centering in Rivian terminology and I cannot wrap my head around how that can only be on mapped highways, and Rivian considers lane keeping as ping-pong "bumps" of the wheel to nudge you back into a lane (but not"center" you). How is lane centering not just... always available (above a certain speed or whatever similar to many 8+ year-old vehicles)

Is my assessment accurate? Rivian breaks things into 3 categories? - Lane Keeping (ping-pong steering nudges), Lane Centering (actual steering assistance, including navigating curves), and Driver+ which is... I don't really know but something closer to a hands-off (?) mode that's like lane keeping+?

The split between keeping and centering (and the mapped requirement) makes literally no sense to me
Driver+ - is what can handle turns, speed and basically drive the truck but you have to pay attention and keep a hand on the wheel
Lane Keeping Assist - Will nudge you if you get too close to the lines
Lane Warning - Will alert or nudge you, depending on settings if you cross the lanes without a blinker

These are the available options to my knowledge on the R1T. Note you can’t use LKA unless you have the lane warning settings on - My R1T tends to turn this off on it’s own all the time.
 

mgc0216

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Is my assessment accurate? Rivian breaks things into 3 categories? - Lane Keeping (ping-pong steering nudges), Lane Centering (actual steering assistance, including navigating curves), and Driver+ which is... I don't really know but something closer to a hands-off (?) mode that's like lane keeping+?

The split between keeping and centering (and the mapped requirement) makes literally no sense to me
You are correct on the first two - but lane centering is called highway assist. There is also adaptive cruise control - maintains speed and distance from the car in front of you

Driver+ is the branding for all those features.

https://rivian.com/support/article/what-features-are-included-in-rivian-driver
 

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Driver+ - is what can handle turns, speed and basically drive the truck but you have to pay attention and keep a hand on the wheel
Lane Keeping Assist - Will nudge you if you get too close to the lines
Lane Warning - Will alert or nudge you, depending on settings if you cross the lanes without a blinker

These are the available options to my knowledge on the R1T. Note you can’t use LKA unless you have the lane warning settings on - My R1T tends to turn this off on it’s own all the time.
So LKA will NOT steer you through a curve for example? Or at least not in any "smooth" way - it would just bounce you off the lines?
 

mgc0216

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So LKA will NOT steer you through a curve for example? Or at least not in any "smooth" way - it would just bounce you off the lines?
Right. Highway Assist steers you, but only on mapped roads.
 

jjswan33

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So LKA will NOT steer you through a curve for example? Or at least not in any "smooth" way - it would just bounce you off the lines?
Thats correct, if it takes too much of a correction it will give warning to take control of the vehicle/keep hands on the wheel.

It’s not like for example the HDA2 on Hyundai/Kia models (or for example your MDX it sounds like) that can operate on any road with good lane markings.
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