Rivian is preparing to pull back the curtain on the digital architecture powering its next-generation vehicles. Following a highly active week for the young automaker, the company has announced that Chief Software Officer Wassym Bensaid will be hosting a live Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit to address customer questions regarding the upcoming R2 midsize SUV.
According to the official announcement shared on the r/RivianR2 subreddit, this session marks Bensaid’s third formal Q&A with the digital enthusiast community. The discussion will focus heavily on how the new vehicle platform scales, specifically "how R2 encompasses the richness of everything you know in R1, all the new features unlocked by the capabilities of the hardware, and more."
R2 is almost here!
— Wassym Bensaid (@WassymBensaid) May 20, 2026
Tomorrow we're doing our first AMA on the r/RivianR2 subreddit. So excited to hear from our community & answer any questions about this amazing new vehicle and our software.
Submit a question or upvote the ones you want to see answered:… pic.twitter.com/wy2FIScFZU
Start Time
The interactive event is scheduled to take place on Thursday, May 21, 2026. Bensaid will be answering community questions live from Rivian's corporate offices in Palo Alto, California.
The live session will run for three and a half hours, kicking off at 12:30 PM PT and concluding at 4:00 PM PT. Users can participate by dropping their questions into the dedicated thread on the r/RivianR2 forum and should keep an eye out for the u/WassymRivian handle, which will carry a verified "Rivian Official" flair banner.
Wassym Bensaid Reddit AMA
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Your Time
- Pacific Time: May 21, 12:30 PM
- Eastern Time: May 21, 3:30 PM
- UTC: May 21, 7:30 PM
- London, England: May 21, 8:30 PM
- Berlin, Germany: May 21, 9:30 PM
- Sydney, Australia: May 22, 5:30 AM
What to Expect: A Preview of the Questions
The announcement lands at a highly critical moment for Rivian. The firm officially launched its interactive R2 order configurator last week, inviting reservation holders to spec out their builds. With mass production well underway at the Normal, Illinois, plant, initial customer handovers of the R2 Performance Launch Package are firmly on track to hit the targeted late-spring delivery timeline.
Because the upcoming R2 platform integrates upgraded infotainment processing and specialized AI compute hardware, users are eager to learn how the operating system handles the new silicon. A sneak peek at the most upvoted community questions ahead of the AMA window reveals a strong focus on technical scaling, bugs, and future feature parity:
Can you explain and go into more detail about the software behind the premium audio system? Signs at block parties indicated it was unfinished and pre-production software.
When will we be able to name saved locations or navigate to contact addresses?
What upcoming capabilities are the software team most excited for?
Will R2 and R1 share any common software stacks? Or will the team have to maintain different versions of Rivian's OS for different vehicles?
Any timeline on a teen/valet mode?
When will V2L be available on the R1 platform? Will the R2 be faster to wake from sleep than R1? Will R2 Gear Guard be capable of capturing incidents while asleep?
How will R2 Autonomy+ capability and feature set differ between models with and without Lidar?
Shaping the Mainstream Experience
The upcoming Q&A is a great opportunity for future owners to get direct insight into Rivian’s long-term design roadmap. Historically, early adopters of the R1 platform have been relatively forgiving of minor bugs and growing pains as new over-the-air software updates have rolled out, but as the company transitions into a mass-market player, maintaining a rock-solid, highly intuitive user interface will be paramount.
If you have a burning question about mobile application connectivity, the evolution of Rivian’s newly launched AI Assistant, or how autonomy mapping will be distributed, make sure to head over to the thread and join the conversation before Bensaid goes live.
