Rivian is rolling out its AI-powered voice assistant

Rivian Rivian is rolling out its AI-powered in-vehicle voice assistant with the automaker's latest software update. It will be available to all Rivian Gen 1 and Gen 2 owners paying for the company's Connect+ cellular subscription service, which costs $15 a month or $150 a year, or are in the middle of an active trial. The assistant will also be available on Rivian's upcoming R2 mid-size electric SUV that has recently started production. Rivian is expected to make the first deliveries of the R2 EV's most expensive variant later this spring and to offer its $45,000 base model in 2027.

The automaker first announced Rivian Assistant at its inaugural Autonomy and AI day in December 2025, where it said that the assistant will "orchestrate different models and choose the best one for the task." Rivian is calling this multi-modal AI foundation "Rivian Unified Intelligence." It understands the products and operations as one continuous system and learns from users to deliver a personalized driving experience. Assistant saves any learned personal context to specific driver profiles, so it doesn't get information between multiple users in one household confused.

To summon Assistant, users will only have to say "Hey, Rivian" or press the left steering wheel button. Rivian says its Assistant, which is built directly into its system, gives users direct control over hardware that other phone-mirrored assistants can't do. It can understand natural language, so drivers don't have to memorize commands. If a user asks it to make everyone's seat "toasty" except theirs, it will turn up heating for the passengers' seats. It can change drive modes, adjust ride height, open the front trunk, adjust the climate and check the EV's other features hands-free.