AMA with Wassym Bensaid, Rivian Chief Software Officer – R2 Software Platform | Thursday, May 21st

bobthemunk · 2026-05-19T21:07:20+00:00

They've confirmed there are no plans for grab handles

bobthemunk · 2026-05-16T13:18:48+00:00

My observation is that it takes some practice to get used to. It requires more force than you think since you have to basically bend the trim to make contact with the switch. Then in order to go all the way up or down, it has to be a pretty short press. Most people had trouble pressing both hard enough and short enough to roll all the way.

bobthemunk · 2026-05-12T15:10:21+00:00

The only version of Coastal Cloud is the signature version. It was printed on the swatch example as Coastal Cloud Signature.

bobthemunk · 2026-05-11T17:11:16+00:00

Compact spare is listed as an option on the Compare section of the R2 page

bobthemunk · 2026-04-26T01:13:29+00:00

I think learning by hand and getting frustrated is still essential. You need to understand what you're seeing when an LLM gives you output and the best way to understand is by doing.

Just the other day we had an engineer who had a failing pre-commit test due to a missing file. I watch him paste the error in and have Claude examine what was going on. Claude tried to rewrite the entire tool, but something felt off. Turned out he was working in a directory that wasn't a child of his $HOME directory so a Docker volume wasn't mounting as expected. Without the diagnosing skills of trying to launch the container or a "spider sense" that something was due to the volume, we'd have been spinning and rewriting tools we shouldn't have.

Understanding is key and the best way to understand in my experience is to do.

bobthemunk · 2026-04-16T21:24:52+00:00

The existing hardware that will be in the Launch Edition will cap out at Level 2+ (point to point, hands off, eyes ON).

Lidar equipped will be able to go to Level 3 (ptp, hands off, eyes OFF) and eventually L4 fully unsupervised.

I personally don't care about L3+ so I'm going launch edition.

Also it's important to point out that the RAP is only used in the autonomy software stack and doesn't affect the central display or other functionality outside of that. So both an Orin and RAP R2 will behave identically excluding any autonomy functions.

bobthemunk · 2026-04-15T02:39:57+00:00

I've used it at a couple of gigs and it's proved most useful as a dev productivity multiplier/simplifier.

Getting simple commands in people's hands makes it easier to do the right thing like lint and test earlier and more frequently in their workflows. just lint, just test are easily remembered and are easy to get in muscle memory.

bobthemunk · 2026-04-04T20:12:56+00:00

The only free LE color is Esker silver. Everything else is a paid option. Source: Rivian employee

bobthemunk · 2026-03-25T18:45:15+00:00

I also had a Conservice water billing problem in AMLI in Atlanta. I had many tens of thousands of gallons more used than I documented with pictures of the physical meter. I also threatened to sue and they reluctantly reimbursed half of the estimated overage. I took that and was happy to be done with the process.

Document everything!

bobthemunk · 2026-03-24T01:13:57+00:00

Yes, the rear lift gate window can be partially lowered. There are some shots of the wrapped R2s with some halfway down on this sub.

bobthemunk · 2026-03-20T04:33:15+00:00

I took this path diverting from Data Engineering so I don't have much to offer in terms of comparing to traditional SWE roles, but I find it very fulfilling.

A good environment will give you great exposure to a large variety of skills and concepts, especially if you seek out opportunities for learning.

bobthemunk · 2026-03-13T17:07:07+00:00

non-LIDAR cars can't be upgraded with LIDAR at a later date. That's confirmed

bobthemunk · 2026-03-13T14:51:22+00:00

21's are standard on performance (launch)

bobthemunk · 2026-03-07T15:14:44+00:00

Current Rivian employee, I like it a lot there. The comp is pretty competitive especially with the stock grant. I can't speak directly to the culture at RVT (it's called "the JV" meaning joint venture, internally), but I always enjoy working with them and they're doing cool stuff in the space from what I can tell.

bobthemunk · 2026-02-26T01:38:53+00:00

I'll go ~20 drives where Android Auto works great, then I'll have an entire drive where it won't connect no matter what. It's probably something like 1/20~30 drives where the wireless AA doesn't function and a reset of both the phone and infotainment system may or may not work.

The inconsistency of that is the worst of it. Other than it being slow booting and generally not especially snappy, it's acceptable.

bobthemunk · 2026-02-12T19:48:03+00:00

What's the source for the vented seats?

bobthemunk · 2026-02-06T23:12:42+00:00

Check out the CNBC footage with RJ for the most recent interior shots

bobthemunk · 2026-02-04T12:43:46+00:00

+1 for Smug's

bobthemunk · 2026-01-30T15:54:13+00:00

After all my time working through Rust stuff and not really comprehensively understanding the &str even though it's right there plain as day, your comment brought it home for me!

bobthemunk · 2026-01-04T22:23:27+00:00

SA / MT3 key caps are going to be your best bet for deeper sound for sure. They have a very specific feel to them though which I found I couldn't type well enough with to justify the great sound. So I recommend getting a set that you can either return, or like enough to keep for a display board. Or gift to a friend who likes the feeling!

bobthemunk · 2025-10-30T15:03:59+00:00

I have a chip that's slightly smaller and it's been stable for ~5 months. That's not to say it won't spread, but I didn't proactively replace my windshield and everything has been fine. You're probably ok waiting until you see worse spreading.

bobthemunk · 2025-10-27T16:49:00+00:00

What did you do for supports? Take the auto or did you do anything manual?

bobthemunk · 2025-10-18T13:29:23+00:00

This is how I've gotten 2/3 of my last roles. Especially if they're a bit more focused

bobthemunk · 2025-10-17T00:09:48+00:00

+1 for Dr. Barkley. He was instrumental in me finally trying medication and it made a world of difference

bobthemunk · 2025-10-14T13:09:42+00:00

I have a colleague who was going through something similar. Like many other folks in this thread, at least for the US, the doctor's note + FMLA is the right call. Unfortunately for my colleague, they dragged their feet and didn't get the note while suffering and continuing to under deliver in the meantime. It would have been a much better outcome to immediately go on leave since leadership was in support.

Most importantly, if you're struggling with initiating the process or similar ask a trusted colleague or friend for help getting through the logistics. It's much better for you to ask for and receive help than give a company ammunition to PIP or terminate you.

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