Rivian prepares owners for Tesla Supercharger use in latest OTA update

Rivian prepares owners to use Tesla Superchargers equipped with the “Magic Dock” in its latest over-the-air update.

Tesla last month opened select Superchargers in the United States to other electric vehicle manufacturers in what has been a successful program so far.

Tesla’s decision to open up various charging stations in the U.S. to other electric vehicle manufacturers helps the company qualify for $7.5 billion in federal funding that mandated charger manufacturers, unspecified or not, to do so to develop dedicated chargers that only operated at device manufacturers.

Tesla makes its own chargers and has long held a significant advantage in EV charging due to the sheer scale of its infrastructure and its reliability.

Now, Rivian is helping owners take advantage of the Supercharger network by adding locations in in-car navigation.

As part of Rivian software update 2023.10.00, Tesla Superchargers now appear in Rivian’s in-car navigation:

“Your vehicle will now show selected Tesla Supercharger locations with a Magic Dock in the charge filters of the navigation app. A Magic Dock allows you to charge your Rivian at select Tesla Supercharger locations. These locations are also displayed in the Rivian Mobile App version 1.12 or later. To charge on a Tesla Supercharger, you must download the Tesla app.”

Select Rivian owners have already used the Tesla-powered Supercharger network, and reviews have been mixed so far. The most notable is that of well-known tech reviewer Marques Brownleewho said his experience was chaotic due to the overload the program could cause.

“Suddenly you take up two places that normally would be one,” he said.

The superchargers are already optimized for Tesla vehicles with a connection at the rear of the vehicle. Other cars have to park twice or awkwardly to take advantage of the charging system.

“If I were like a big Tesla person, I would probably worry about my own Tesla experience,” Brownlee added. “Will it get worse because more people are loading? Potentially you will have more people in line, more people taking more seats.”

Rivian also adds a new TuneIn Premium Trial, which offers owners one year of free service. Plug and Charge also enables a more seamless experience at Rivian Adventure Network and Waypoint Chargers.

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Rivian’s full release notes for 2023.10.00 are available below (via Rivian.Software):

New TuneIn Premium Trial

An exclusive TuneIn Premium trial for 365 days is now available for Rivian customers. With TuneIn Premium you have access to:

• Every MLB and NHL game. Live. No power outages.
• Non-stop reporting. Ad-free.
• Less advertising on 100,000 radio stations.

Note: You may lose access to TuneIn Premium channels unless you activate the free trial or have a premium account.

Tesla Supercharger Network now available in navigation charging filters

Your vehicle will now show selected Tesla Supercharger locations with a Magic Dock in the navigation app charge filters. A Magic Dock allows you to charge your Rivian at select Tesla Supercharger locations. These locations are also displayed in the Rivian Mobile App version 1.12 or higher. To charge on a Tesla Supercharger, you must download the Tesla app.

Plug and charge

This release enables the vehicle’s plug-and-charge functionality when charging via the Rivian Adventure Network and Waypoint chargers to provide a seamless experience.

Note: This feature will be rolled out on the Rivian Adventure Network and Waypoint Chargers on an ongoing basis.

New third row fan controller (R1S ONLY)

The second and third row seats now have separate controls for your convenience. To access, select the temperature with fan icon on the center display. Then choose center to access the second row air conditioner, or select Return to access the fan controls in the third row.

Additional improvements

• Highway Assist has been enhanced to reduce the frequency of handy alerts when Highway Assist is active in stop-and-go traffic scenarios. However, you must remain alert and ready to take control of the vehicle at any time while Highway Assist is activated. For more information, see the user manual.
• You can now open and close your tailgate with mobile app version 1.12 and higher (R1S ONLY)
• You can now open your tailgate with mobile app version 1.12 and higher (R1T ONLY)
• Improved range loss when a phone key is near the vehicle for an extended period of time.
• Improved consistency when unlocking phone keys and keychains.
• You can now toggle the exterior lock tone on and off. Choose Settings > Vehicle > Access > Lock tone (outside).
• Added a text label to indicate the battery level of your key fob within Settings > Drivers & Keys. The indicator text appears only when the battery level is medium or low.
• Hotspot improvements
  • You can now select the hotspot Button in the status bar to turn the hotspot on or off and open the hotspot settings.
  • Fixed an issue where quickly turning the hotspot on and off would disable it indefinitely until you restarted the vehicle.
• Media fixes and improvements
  • You can scroll through your favorites using the left thumb controls on the steering wheel.
  • Fixed a rare issue where TIDAL would crash when attempting to perform a text search.
  • Fixed an occasional issue where the Bluetooth The media player showed the wrong play/pause status.
  • Fixed an occasional issue where the radio would not resume playing after returning to your vehicle within five minutes.
• After you remove the charge cable, the charge port door no longer automatically closes after 30 seconds. The charge port door closes automatically when you drive the vehicle. You can also close it manually from the center display or using the sensor on the charge port door.
• Fixed an issue where an erroneous notification was displayed when attempting to use adaptive cruise control while stability control was disabled in the vehicle settings.
• Fixed a rare issue that resulted in inconsistent lane centering when Highway Assist was active.
• Fixed an occasional issue where an independent notification would appear when switching between day and night modes.
• Fixed a very rare issue that resulted in internal communication loss when powering on a vehicle, draining the 12V batteries.