Rivian OS 2 Officially Confirmed To Come to R1S and R1T Vehicles in October

Rivian R1 owners are in for a treat in the coming months. The carmaker confirmed that both Gen 1 and Gen 2 vehicles would get Rivian OS 2 that powers the R2. According to Rivian software chief Wassym Bensaid, the change should happen with the 2026.31 OTA update, which could roll out in October.

Rivian has always been appreciated for its clutter-free and functional software interface. However, things went up a notch with the launch of Rivian OS 2, which powers the R2 crossover. We already knew that Rivian OS 2 would eventually be ported to older vehicles, although few believed Gen 1 would qualify.

The good news is that Rivian OS 2 will soon roll out to all R1S and R1T vehicles, including Gen 1. Despite the inferior hardware, the Rivian software team managed to squeeze the new software and make it run smoothly. Rivian software chief Wassym Bensaid confirmed that the new Rivian OS iteration would roll out with the 2026.31 OTA update. If everything goes smoothly, this should arrive in customer vehicles sometime in October.

The move marks another step toward unifying the software experience across the Rivian fleet. Many feared that, once the model lineup expands, owners would have to grapple with software fragmentation and delays. Having all vehicles on the same software branch would significantly ease the burden on Rivian's software team.

Even though both R1 and R2 vehicles will run the same Rivian OS 2, not all functions will be available on all vehicles. Some features are limited by hardware capabilities, and, predictably, the Gen 1 R1S and R1T owners will get the short end of the stick. For instance, the most advanced driver assistance features, including point-to-point automated driving, will not be offered on Gen 1 vehicles.

Rivian has made tremendous efforts to improve the software experience across its products, including by designing a unified UI theme. Rivian UX designers speak of a whole new design language that has recently been developed from scratch. This covers not only vehicle interfaces, but also web, mobile, and even Rivian's internal tools, all sharing similar visuals.

The Rivian OS 2 promises not only a more visually appealing user interface, but also more fluid interactions. The operating system, which is based on Google's Android Automotive OS, has been rewritten from scratch to be more intuitive and react faster to input. The latter has always been an issue with the Rivian OS in R1 vehicles.

Many R1 owners have reported memory leaks, with apps not being correctly purged from RAM when no longer needed. Even though the interface was fast and responsive at first, it would get more laggy over time as the memory filled up with orphan files. This forced owners to reboot their vehicles frequently to clear the memory. Hopefully, this is a thing of the past with the Rivian OS 2.

We rebuilt the R1 experience from the ground up, faster and more intuitive. Rivian OS 2 arrives on R1 Gen 1 and Gen 2 with the 2026.31 OTA update. pic.twitter.com/Blssvb8eRg

— Wassym Bensaid (@WassymBensaid) August 19, 2026

Here's what we've been up to these past months! A whole new design language for Rivian, across the vehicles, web, mobile, and even down to our internal tools. We put together a little something to celebrate the hard work that went into every last pixel. pic.twitter.com/VuOTzoG6ay

— Casper Kessels (@CasperKessels) August 19, 2026