Photo: Rivian, buknaykid via Reddit
Rivian impressed everyone when it demonstrated its AI Assistant during the Autonomy & AI Day in December. The release notes for the 2026.15 update now reveal that the coveted feature will arrive in a couple of weeks, once internal testing is complete.
Rivian Autonomy & AI Day was full of surprises for investors, journalists, and the brand’s fans alike. Rivian impressed with bold autonomous-driving plans, including designing its own inference chips. More recently, reports indicated that Rivian also wants to produce solid-state Lidar sensors in-house, thus building a complete autonomous driving stack.
However exciting autonomous driving might be, the most impressive part of the Autonomy & AI Day presentation was the unveiling of Rivian Assistant. The EV startup showed how an AI assistant could be integrated into a vehicle. Rivian Assistant could not only answer questions, but also integrate with the vehicle’s computers to control specific functions. Even better, it could interact with third-party services to provide more useful automations.
For instance, Rivian showed you can use its AI Assistant to find a restaurant and make a reservation while taking into account the arrival time from the navigation system. Or make an appointment in the Google Calendar and set up a meeting over Messenger using voice commands. Apps from the Google ecosystem will be supported at launch, but Rivian plans to expand to Apple and Microsoft soon, making its assistant universal.
Some Rivian owners have already been able to test the Rivian Assistant, thanks to its installation on loaner vehicles. Many owners expected the intelligent features to be rolled out to all vehicles with the next software update (2026.07 at the time). To everyone’s disappointment, the update rolled out in April as anticipated, but without the Rivian Assistant.
The release notes for the 2026.15 update confirm that Rivian Assistant will soon be available to all, including Gen 1 R1 vehicles. The update has been noticed on employee cars as Rivian began internal tests. If everything goes smoothly, the 2026.15 software update is expected to roll out wide in about two weeks.
Based on the release notes, the Rivian Assistant might miss some of the functions demonstrated during the Autonomy & AI Day. However, owners will be able to control vehicle settings, climate control, navigation, and media. They will also be able to reply to messages with their voice and initiate calls.
Rivian Assistant will also be able to respond to general questions about local restaurants, the weather at the destination, or the song being played. It can also integrate with Google Calendar to create, reschedule, or navigate to events using Rivian Assistant.
Activating the Rivian Assistant is simple once you are subscribed to Connect+ or are in the trial period. It requires long-pressing the left thumbwheel on the steering wheel and tapping on the Rivian Assistant in the status bar on the center display. After that, waking up the Rivian Assistant is done via “Okay, Rivian” or “Hey, Rivian” commands. You can also stop a command by pressing the left thumbwheel or tapping the Rivian Assistant wave graphic on the screen.
