Welcome to the future, where your car is a computer and a “fat finger” can stop your songs.
On Monday, Rivian released (and then abruptly canceled) an over-the-air software update that promised bug fixes and improvements to a feature called proximity lock. Instead, the update bricked some Rivain R1T and R1S infotainment systems.
“This is on us: we made a mistake,” Rivian. told the drivers. The company blamed “a big finger where the wrong version was shipped with the wrong security certificates.” Rivian said it has canceled the update and that its service staff will contact people with locked systems to resolve the issue. Doing so “may require physical repair in some cases,” the company said.
Proximity locking automatically locks or unlocks the doors when you leave or approach your vehicle. Last year, the feature was the subject of numerous complaint threads in reddit.
The software flaw was present in Rivian update 2023.42.0. The company told TechCrunch: “In most cases, the rest of the vehicle’s systems are operational.” Rivian did not say how many vehicles were affected by the bug.
