Google Maps vs Rivian Navigation: A Route Planning Conundrum

Rivian Blue · 2025-04-01T08:59:34+00:00

Ever since I got my R1S, I've noticed that the battery range estimation hasn't been the best. Driving a Tesla for the last 3 years, it never had this kind of issue. During my last trip, the driver display shows 255mi remaining. My total trip (including 2 destinations) is 160mi so I believed I should be able to make it easily with a nice cushion. But the center display showed that I would arrive at first destination with 4mi remaining, and run out before the second destination! I knew this was false so I made the drive anyway, and arrived at second destination with 50mi remaining. If I understand correctly, the driver display range is simply the total rated range multiplied by SOC. That makes sense here, since my vehicle is rated for 370mi, 255mi is 68.9%. Coming from Tesla, I expect the number shown in the center display should account for factors like elevation, wind, traffic speed, etc. It's sad that my own mental estimation is better than Rivian's.

Rivian Blue

Member

Monday at 8:27 AM

I don't know if it's just me but I have noticed that the directions on my R1S differs from what I get on Google maps directions. When I do travel on a time critical commute, I often have to check to see if the rivian directions match my phone because I no longer trust the paths/ETA that the truck provides.

I know Rivian maps are Google maps but a couple of times, I do notice that their traffic info seems to lag Google maps. Fwiw, all "Trip Options" selections match and the truck is always charged so it's definitely not being influenced by range

Another experience I have is that when routing to the same destination, Google Maps plans a more efficient route. As an example, Google may produce a route that is 35 minutes. The Rivian produces a different route to the same destination that is 45 minutes. When you get to the point where the routes diverge, taking the Google-provided route then causes the Rivian route to update to the same route as the Google Maps with the same arrival time.

So the Rivian route planner can figure out the same route as Google Maps, but for some reason chooses a slower route fairly consistently until it is "forced" onto the faster route. Probably this is a software bug or something but would be nice if both routes aligned.

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