Rivian Pushes Software Update That Breaks Infotainment System

Update: About 36 hours after the initial problem was reported, Rivian told 404 Media that it discovered a method to fix the problem in an over-the-air software update: “Our customers’ experience matters tremendously to us. We’re making an over-the-air update available for an R1T and R1S infotainment issue that will restore full functionality to the 3% of Rivian vehicles that were impacted. From here, we’re deeply evaluating our process and quality checks to prevent this from happening again.” Rivian added that about 3 percent of Rivian customers downloaded the broken software update. The headline of this piece has been updated to reflect that a physical repair ultimately was not necessary.

An issue with an over-the-air software update that was accidentally issued by the electric truck company Rivian is going to require a physical, in-the-shop repair, according to social media posts by the company.

Monday, Rivian, which makes the R1S SUV and R1T pickup truck, as well as electric delivery vans for Amazon, pushed a software update called 2023.42 for its trucks. The update included “proximity locking and unlocking improvements, vehicle access improvements, and additional improvements and bug fixes,” the company said. Soon after pushing the update, however, the company learned that the update had broken security certificates that caused issues that cannot be fixed without a “physical repair.”

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