During his recent Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) session, Rivian's Chief Software Officer, Wassym Bensaid, provided another update on two highly requested software features. While owners will have to wait a little longer than initially expected for Teen Mode and Valet Mode, the delay comes with a technological silver lining.
Rebuilding the Foundation
When asked by the community for an update on Teen Mode, a feature originally promised back in 2022, Bensaid was transparent about the development process. He admitted the features had been pushed back, but explained that the delay is due to a massive backend overhaul.
"We made the decision to revisit the entire architecture to enable these features to be based on a new foundation with Cloud profiles and Digital Key," Bensaid told the community. He noted that taking the time to rebuild this foundation will help Rivian maintain and continue upgrading the infotainment experience.
Tying these upcoming features directly to Cloud Profiles and Digital Keys ensures that Rivian can build a much more robust and capable security system.
This new architecture means the vehicle will recognize exactly who is unlocking the door via their specific phone key. The vehicle can then automatically apply the correct driving restrictions and profile preferences before the driver even sits behind the wheel.
Teen Mode
Once this new backend architecture is complete, Rivian will officially roll out "Teen Mode." This feature is designed to function similarly to Tesla's Parental Controls.
With Teen Mode active, parents will be able to lock the vehicle into specific safety parameters tailored for younger or less experienced drivers. This will likely include capping the maximum speed and severely reducing the vehicle's rapid acceleration. It will also allow owners to completely lock out aggressive, high-performance driving options like Rally or Drift modes, among other features.
Valet Mode
A dedicated Valet Mode will launch alongside this feature and operate on the same cloud-based architecture. This will give owners peace of mind by ensuring parking attendants cannot access personal data.
Valet Mode typically removes access to certain features that can reveal someone’s address or personal details, such as Home and Work locations, navigation history, calendar, and more.
Tesla’s Valet Mode also limits acceleration and lowers the top speed to 70 mph, preventing high-performance joy rides.
The New Timeline
Bensaid acknowledged that having to share delayed timelines is exactly why hosting open AMAs can be difficult. However, he assured owners that the software engineering team is actively building this new profile foundation right now.
Based on the current internal roadmap, both Teen Mode and Valet Mode are officially slotted for an early 2027 release.
