2022 Rivian R1T

I was driving late night to a campsite in a very rural part of the Big Island of [XXX] , about 45 minutes from where I live. I was by myself except for my dog, in the passenger seat. I was on a country road with a 30 mph speed limit, going about 25 mph. I engaged the cruise control and it immediately went up to 40-45 mph, far faster than the limit and far faster than was safe given the wet conditions and windy road. As I tried to slow the car down, using the steering while cruise control adjustment buttons, I steered through a curve and rather than turn with the road, as I had intended, the truck slid off the road to the left, effectively hydroplaning, into two trees, at about 40 mph. The airbags deployed as the truck came to a complete halt against the two trees. The car automatically called 911 as I sat there trying to assess what had just happened, whether I was hurt, and whether my dog was hurt. I told the 911 operator that the truck had called them automatically adn that I was ok and I would call in the morning after assessing what had happened. I am waiting for the police report and also waiting for the incident report from Rivian, which has an on-board log of events. I don't know why the cruise control engaged at such a high speed, rather than at the posted speed limit, but this appears to be a known flaw with Rivian's cruise control that I was not aware of. The cruise control and software are available for inspection by NHTSA. There is also an active recall on this vehicle that I was aware of but had been unable to schedule for service yet b/c it required shipping the truck to [XXX] on a barge. I had only had the truck on island for a little more than a month. From previous operations I had no reason to believe that the cruise control was faulty. It is possible that the recall issue may have been a contributing factor to the crash but I don't know b/c the vehicle has not been inspected yet by Rivian. They have scheduled an adjuster to come on April 14. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF I

Initially, my instrument screen on my vehicle went black and stopped working. I had to drive roughly 10 miles home without the use of my speedometer. After replacing the AXM module, the cruise control and lane-keeping functions intermittently stop working. The vehicle was at the service center on and off for 57 days before it was returned to me without a resolution. I’m told this issue is affecting 30 vehicles in the Rivian fleet; however, they don't yet have a permanent fix. I brought up my safety concerns and was assured that this issue will not affect the automatic emergency braking and other safety features, which I hope is true.

Four to five events of phantom braking have occurred on rural roads under the following circumstances: 1) Opposing traffic temporarily erroneously appears to be in your travel lane because of road architecture. 2) Full size or larger vehicle or trailer parked along road in direction of travel. All of these phantom breaking events occur while driving on lightly traveled rural two lane roads. Personally, phantom braking has never occurred while driving on urban roads (wider with more vehicular traffic) or any two lane highways with or without a physical median divider irrespective of traffic volume.

When towing a trailer with my Rivian R1T on interstate 75 I set my cruise control while going with the speed of traffic at approximately 60 mph. Instead of cruise control setting at the speed I was traveling, it instead sets at the posted speed limit. In most conditions, this wouldn't create a hazard as adaptive cruise control would keep the vehicle from accelerating more than the speed the vehicle directly in front of me is going. But when towing a trailer, the R1T disables the adaptive part of cruise control as well as emergency braking. Setting cruise control in this circumstance nearly cased me to rear end the car in front of my as I wasn't expecting the cruise control to set at nearly 10 mph faster than I was traveling when I set it. To be clear. This is not "resuming" a previous cruise control speed I had been set to, this sets at the posted speed limit.

What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? MANY components of the vehicle that run on software are completely unuseable. This includes ALL sensors, safety features, ADAS, ability to adjust suspension, regen braking, HVAC, Audio, etc. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? I do not know what is working and what is not working. Zero sensors are working. Are the regen brakes working? I do not know. Are my turn signals working or headlights on? I have no way of telling. Not having the ability to adjust suspension, drive mode, etc. is also concerning. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? Yes, confirmed by Rivian support and confirmed that it is VERY widespread. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? Not yet. Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? No. Happened after a failed OTA software update.

Loses sight of vehicle ahead and will accelerate to set speed ignoring vehicle in front when in bends. It only seems to track vehicles in a straight line of sight ahead and not accommodate for steering. It’s most obvious on curves in highways and can easily be reproduced on cloverleaf on ramps or off ramps or even at low speeds when going around an obstacle.

ACC phantom brakes on highways causing dangerous situations with vehicles following behind and also causing driver panic events particularly when phantom braking occurs most commonly on bends of highways or on single lane highways where it reacts to oncoming traffic. The most common way phantom braking triggers is while traveling on single lane highways with shoulders where there are objects on the side of the highway (either parked cars, trailers, or large structures) particularly when coming around a curve or bend (most unreliable on mountain highways). It will quickly react and cause the Rivian to rapidly brake/decelerate. When occuring on highways with bends it can cause unexpected reactions from cars following behind not expecting sudden braking of the vehicle ahead mid bend. The best way to mitigate is to apply pressure to the accelerator pedal to override the braking. It has happened numerous times since our ownership started 2 months ago. It’s received 3 over the air updates in that time and it continues to have phantom braking with update 2023.34.0.

While preparing to pull out of a parallel street parking space in my R1T with a car 3 feet in front of me, I stepped on the brake to engage Drive from Park. On releasing the brake, before stepping on the accelerator, the R1T surged at a high rate of speed hitting the car straight on, deploying the air bags in the car and blowing the rear window out of the car. The car was pushed past an empty space, 20 ft or more, into another parked car. This all happened in 2-4 seconds. The R1T surged as if the accelerator had been push to the floor surprising me and pushing me back on the driver seat. The R1T stopped when I braked. The car was totaled. The driver of the car was taken to the hospital with minor injuries but might lead to later back and neck injuries. At no time did the R1T's alarms activate. The R1T is estimated to go from zero to 60 MPH in 3 seconds. Although contacted and advised of the accident Rivian has not accepted responsibility or offered proof otherwise. The only way to prove if this accident was either driver error or systems error is to get an analysis of my R1T computer system for the 2-5 minutes before, during and after the accident. I have requested this report from Rivian 4 times and have spoken with 3 people and have 2 emails. At no time while speaking with Rivian employees was I told they cannot do the analysis, until the final response which came from the Rivian legal Department, sixteen days after my first request. The report stated - "Rivian requires a valid subpoena to provide vehicle data.” From my Rivian R1T computer screen: "Rivian Data Analysis: Shares precise location data with Rivian for data analysis, which are used to improve our products and services.” I do have an insurance case number and a police report number on this accident. We have owned the truck since 8/2022.