Rivian offers a new dynamic roof option for its second-generation R1S and R1T vehicles. It’s a fantastic option for those who want a little extra privacy or are looking to add a little wow factor to their vehicles.
The Dynamic Glass Roof delivers the ultimate flexibility, allowing you to switch seamlessly between privacy mode and panoramic views of the world above your Rivian — all at the touch of a button.
Price
The Dynamic Glass Roof is an option for both the R1S and the R1T and costs the same on both vehicles. In the United States, it is $1,500 USD, while in Canada it goes for $2,200 CAD. In turn, you receive an electro-chromatic glass roof which can change between tinted and clear at the press of a button. In the future, Rivian can even switch it automatically based on whether the vehicle is locked, the outside temperature, or the time of day.
Electro-Chromatic Glass
The electro-chromatic glass takes about 10 seconds to dim, and 5 seconds to brighten up. The shading is lighter on the inside than on the outside. When you look from above, with the roof dimmed, it is almost completely black, with little to no light leakage.
When the roof is brightened up, it is fairly transparent, but slightly less so than a regular glass roof. It’s comparable to a roof with a very light tint when in transparent mode.
How It Works
If you’re curious about how it works, the glass roof has an electro-chromic film sandwiched between glass layers. This film is best used in flat applications, and when it is energized, the particles in the film change direction, allowing the transparency of the glass to change alongside it. It’s a very cool application of physics, and Rivian has done an excellent job integrating it into their vehicles.
Heat Rejection
If you were hoping to pick up the roof for its heat rejection properties, you’ll find this data helpful. While the dynamic glass roof does offer some heat rejection when in privacy mode, it’s minimal. Most of the light and heat that enters a Rivian instead comes through the windshield and the driver and front passenger windows – which are not tinted heavily due to laws around North America.
For jurisdictions where tinting the windshield and front windows is legal, and you’re looking to keep your vehicle considerably cooler, you’re better off tinting those two versus picking up Rivian’s Dynamic Glass Roof.
The Dynamic Glass Roof, when shaded, lets in about 1/3rd of the light as regular glass, but that’s insignificant compared to the amount the windshield and front windows let in. This table, summarized by @Hook_K, provides additional details.
Surface
Watt/m2
Dynamic Glass Roof (Opaque)
10.9
Dynamic Glass Roof (Transparent)
14.0
Panoramic Roof
28.7
Windshield
506.3
Front Side Windows
400.3
Rear Side Windows
116.0
While the Dynamic Glass Roof does indeed provide slight benefits over the standard panoramic roof for heat rejection, it's not a whole lot when you compare it to the heat that comes in through the windshield or front windows.
We’d consider the glass roof an excellent option to keep a bit more of the sun out of your passenger’s eyes and provide you with a bit of privacy if you drive in a city regularly, where there are many places to see inside from above. We’d also recommend it if you love seeing that electro-chromatic glass change from dim to transparent, which is a cool experience.
While Rivian’s dynamic glass roof is a great option, it should be looked at more as a privacy-focused, fun feature rather than a way to keep heat out of your vehicle.
If your Rivian is experiencing odd issues or the screen has become frozen or unresponsive, a reboot of the infotainment system may fix the issue.
There are several ways to reboot the computer that powers all of Rivian’s screen, including the rear display for passengers in the back. It doesn’t matter which Rivian you have, as these reboots are applicable to both Gen 1 and Gen 2 vehicles.
Fix Frozen Display - Infotainment Reboot
Rebooting the infotainment unit is the simplest reboot and should be your first choice when you encounter an issue with your Rivian. Infotainment reboots, also known as the “two-finger salute,” involve holding the far left and far right buttons on the steering wheel down. These are the outermost buttons located next to the scroll wheels on the steering wheel. Press them and down them down for 15 seconds to reboot the computer.
The vehicle will beep, and a graphic will be displayed on the driver’s display. Continue holding the buttons down until the screens flash to black. Once the screen goes dark, you can let go of the buttons and the infotainment unit will reboot. The whole process takes about 30-45 seconds, and you’ll soon see the displays come back on with the Rivian logo.
While this reboot can also be done while driving, we don’t recommend it, as you’ll lose access to key vehicle information during the reboot.
This reboot should be your first step when encountering an issue, especially if it’s due to the display being unresponsive or frozen. Other reboot types focus on restarting specific vehicle subsystems, so if a particular feature isn’t functioning correctly, a different reboot method may be necessary.
Sleep Reboot
Begin by unplugging everything from your vehicle, including any USB cables, devices, and the Rivian Guard USB drive. Remember to disconnect any items plugged into the Utility Panel and ensure the Gear Guard Cable Anchor (if applicable) is detached.
Next, unbuckle all seatbelts and remove any child seats or heavy items from the vehicle. If the vehicle is plugged in, disconnect it, then lock the doors. Make sure to keep all keys—including phone keys—away from the vehicle for at least 30 minutes.
This sleep reboot is simple and effective, although it could be more of a hassle, especially if you have car seats installed.
Full Reboot (1 Hour)
The full reboot resets all of the vehicle’s systems, essentially rebooting everything from the ground up. Important: Rivian support advises against performing this procedure multiple times in a short time period. You must wait at least an hour between full reboots to ensure all systems initialize correctly. Attempting back-to-back reboots may result in some vehicle systems not fully starting, which could require a service visit.
To initiate a full reboot, hold down the far-left button on the steering wheel and the emergency flasher button near the ceiling for 15 seconds. This will reset all vehicle systems. While it’s possible to drive immediately after the reboot, Rivian recommends letting the vehicle sit for at least an hour before resuming your journey to ensure everything is functioning correctly.
With more and more information beginning to slowly trickle out about what the R2 will be packing, we’ve finally got the details on the R2’s next-gen infotainment chipset. Just like the Gen 2 R1 series vehicles, the R2’s chipset will also be responsible for all the AI capabilities - which includes addressing Rivian’s autonomy ambitions.
Infotainment on Gen 1 and Gen 2
Rivian’s Gen 1 processor had three ECUs on board and was relatively capable—but hamstrung in its own ways. It couldn’t process high-resolution imagery and was only as capable as the Mobileye EyeQ4 that was on board. Many users also noted the distinct lag that occasionally happened in the infotainment, especially when rapidly scrolling the map with the satellite view mode.
Gen 2, on the other hand, consolidates those three original ECUs down to one and packs 3.3x the neural processing power on board—alongside 4K image processing. That, along with an effective, smooth, and precise infotainment system, made Gen 2’s XMM2 infotainment chipset a highlight. Now, the R2’s infotainment unit is going to take it to another level.
More Power, More Compact
The R2 and the R3 will feature the XMM3 chipset, which consolidates chips—including memory and power chips—at a 4:1 ratio. This unit will also have 2.4x the compute power of the current Gen 2 XMM2 unit.
This sparks a pretty interesting question—what about Autonomy? Rivian has said they’ve gained a renewed interest in addressing vehicle autonomy. Rivian plans to launch “eyes-off” highway autonomy in 2026 and hands-free highway assist will launch on the Gen 2 in just a couple of weeks with software update 2025.06.
That begs the question, will Rivian require the XMM3 chipset for future autonomy goals such as eyes-off or future Platform+ features?
What About R1S & R1T?
Just like the improvements to the drive units that are coming to the R2, these infotainment improvements will likely eventually make their way over to R1S and R1T as well. Given that Rivian just recently finished retooling their production lines for R1 Gen 2 vehicles, we’d expect them to arrive after the launch of the R2.
With that said, Gen 2.5 or Gen 3, whichever Rivian decides to call it, it’s likely still a couple of years away, but expect it to take advantage of a lot of newer R2 components.
