Toothy smiles, boisterous laughter, and eyes filled with joy cover the nooks and crannies of Rivian’s story, making it more than just another EV startup. A glance through its website, and you won’t just find vehicles. You’ll see people. People having fun, exploring, basking in the sun, and, most of all, enjoying the outdoors.
When Rivian invited Teslarati to its First Mile tour event in the Bay area, we were excited to get a small taste of the outdoor adventures the company promises with the R1T. And we wanted to share the experience with our friend Arash Malek. After all, Rivian is also about community.
“Meaningful change happens when people come together. That’s how we’ve built Rivian, and that’s how we want to build our community.” – RJ Scaringe
At the event, Tanya greeted Arash as if she was greeting a friend. He was met with welcoming smiles and a promising day with the R1T ready to hit the beaten dirt path.
Rivian’s Roots
Arash was pleasantly surprised by Rivian’s R1T pickup truck, pointing out its impressive handling and traction. “The grip on the dirt feels like grip on pavement,” Arash told Teslarati.
The R1T ripped through muddy paths amid a backdrop that looked straight out of The Lord of the Rings‘ Hobbit village. Out in the open greenery, it was just Arash, driving the R1T with a few cool people who were egging him on to tear through the dirt paths.
And that is what Rivian wants to bring to customers. The promise of adventure with friends, family, and a tiny bit of calculated danger.
Rivian Today
Rivian’s IPO happened recently, making history as the sixth-largest listing ever on a US exchange. RIVN is also the biggest listing of 2021, and a few analysts and investors are stumped by it.
The company’s historic IPO could be attributed to what Rivian actually provides as an automaker. When it comes to the R1T, Rivian isn’t simply selling the first all-electric pickup truck on the market. It’s giving people an opportunity.
Rivian Tomorrow
The Rivian R1T starts at $67,500 before tax credits. At that price, the R1T appears to compete with the likes of the Ford F-150 Raptor and Ram 1500 TRX. However, Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe stated before that he wants the R1 vehicles to have a “Patagonia-like feel of enabling adventure,” referring to the iconic premium sustainable clothing line.
The Patagonia brand has been renowned for decades among outdoor explorers. Given its history, it’s easy to see why Rivian wants its sustainable R1 vehicles to reach Patagonia’s heights.
Global Expedition Vehicles, which specializes in overlanding vehicles for adventurers-at-heart, launched a Patagonia-inspired expedition vehicle that starts at $700,000. It is fully equipped for comfort in the outdoors, with a kitchen, dining area, bathroom, and bedroom. It even has a tough zombie-apocalypse-level exterior to boot.
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- A $700,000 overlanding vehicle complete with a wide range of creature comforts. (Credit: Global Expedition Vehicles)
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- A pickup truck fitted with aftermarket overlanding equipment. (Credit: TacomaBeast/YouTube)
A $700,000 overlanding vehicle may be too much for some. So, other outdoor and overlanding enthusiasts typically buy pickup trucks and equip them with overlanding gear. An overlanding buildout can range from a few thousand dollars up to $100,000 or more. Labor is usually the most expensive part of outfitting an overlanding vehicle.
The R1T treads the line between all-out deluxe setups like the $700,000 Patagonia-inspired expedition vehicle and the simpler overlanding pickup truck setup. Rivian’s R1T gives owners a premium, comfortable outdoor experience. But in a more natural way, similar to outdoor experiences in a pickup truck outfitted with overlanding gear. The R1T also happens to be electric, so it doesn’t harm the environment it explores either.
“It’s like glamping but for off-roading. Glamroading,” Arash commented after his R1T drive.
At its price point, the R1T makes that premium overlanding experience accessible, attainable to more families, friends, and communities. And after a year indoors because of the pandemic, who doesn’t want to embrace the outdoors?
With the R1T and R1S, Rivian is coaxing more people to go out on the open road and explore the natural world while maintaining the simple comforts we’ve built as a society. Rivian knew it years ago. People need to experience nature, its majesty, its serenity, and its unity.
Rivian encourages people to use their R1 vehicles out in nature and bond with others. After all, isn’t human connection the best Chicken Soup for the Soul? Rivian is giving people the opportunity to create their own adventures and share stories around a camp fire–or in Rivian’s case, the Camp Kitchen.
The Teslarati team would appreciate hearing from you. If you have any tips, reach out to me at maria@teslarati.com or via Twitter @Writer_01001101.
Lifestyle
Tesla teases “Halloween Mode” update with Optimus rising from a graveyard
Tesla’s Halloween teaser hides a covered vehicle and an Optimus hand rising from the ground.
Tesla has started teasing a Halloween software update for its vehicles, with a short clip on X that reads, “Halloween is coming.” The clip opens on a glowing pumpkin before pulling back to the car’s center touchscreen, where the usual parked visualization has been replaced by a graveyard scene, and the vehicle draped with a white sheet so it reads as a cartoon ghost.
Halloween is coming pic.twitter.com/lM3ASUeOqX
— Tesla (@Tesla) October 1, 2026
The second detail is a robotic hand clawing its way out of the dirt like a zombie, which looks to be the hand of Tesla’s latest Optimus V3 humanoid robot. While Tesla still has not formally shown Optimus Gen 3 walking around in service, renders pulled from Tesla’s Android app last month gave the clearest look yet, including far more refined hands that Tesla has said carry 22 degrees of freedom. The hand has been the hardest part of the program. Musk has called it the majority of the robot’s engineering difficulty, and Tesla’s patents describe a design driven by tendons with the actuators moved into the forearm.
Tesla Optimus V3 hand and arm details revealed in new patents
Optimus also has a Halloween track record. Last October the robot handed out candy in Times Square, and a costumed “zombie” Optimus shuffled around the Tesla Diner in Los Angeles on Halloween night.
On the software side, Tesla’s 2025 Holiday Update expanded Santa Mode with a Santa sleigh, snowmen, snow effects, and a festive lock chime, so it wouldn’t be too far fetched if we saw something similar but themed for a Halloween Mode.
Lifestyle
Tesla’s newest feature lets you floor it out of a Supercharger while plugged in
Tesla’s new Emergency Drive Away feature lets owners flee a Supercharger while still plugged in.
Tesla has given drivers a way to escape while a vehicle is plugged-in at a Supercharger, in the event of an emergency. The company’s charging team announced a new feature on X called Emergency Drive Away, which lets a driver shift into Drive and pull away while the charging cable is still connected to the car.
Until now, a Tesla would not leave Park with a charge cable plugged in. Drivers had to release the latch from the touchscreen, the Tesla app, or the button on the charge handle, then wait for the port to let go. Emergency Drive Away removes that lockout, but Tesla is clear that it comes at a cost. “Use of this feature will damage your vehicle and the Supercharger,” the company wrote, adding that the function is meant for emergencies only and that deliberate misuse will lead to “additional penalties.” Tesla did not say what those penalties are.
Emergency Drive Away lets you shift into Drive while still plugged into a Supercharger pic.twitter.com/40GSzyP4lG
— Tesla Charging (@TeslaCharging) October 1, 2026
The in-car prompt is just as direct, with the warning reading: “Driving with the cable connected will cause damage to your vehicle and the Supercharger. Short camera recordings will be shared with Tesla.” That footage gives Tesla a way to separate a real emergency from someone who simply did not want to wait for the latch.
The feature requires software update 2026.38.3, and Tesla said in replies to owners that it works at every Supercharger in the United States without new stall hardware. Model S and Model X vehicles built before 2021 are not supported, and the company says the feature applies to U.S. Superchargers “for now,” leaving Canada and other markets out at launch.
Tesla Supercharger argument leads to tragic shooting incident
Tesla did not tie the announcement to any specific event, but it arrives two months after a gunman opened fire at an In-N-Out in Twin Falls, Idaho, on August 1, targeting three people in two Teslas at the neighboring Supercharger. One of them, a 66 year old man from Salt Lake City, was killed. Superchargers have been the scene of violence before, including a fatal shooting at a station near Denver in 2023.
In the weeks after Twin Falls, owners pushed Tesla for a native way to escape a stall, and many pointed back to EVject, the aftermarket breakaway connector Tesla sued in 2024 over claims it lacked overtemperature protection. The two companies later reached an agreement that led EVject to recall its earlier connectors in favor of a version with thermal sensors.
Our mission has always been about providing peace of mind and eliminating sitting duck scenarios.
We patented the built-in breakaway charger tip on Feb 15, 2023. Awarded Jan 30, 2024. Then shared the designs with @TeslaCharging
Thank you @Tesla for rolling out a solution. This… https://t.co/djOzswLw9N
— EVject (@EVject) October 2, 2026
Tesla’s Automatic Collision Evasion feature can be seen in one of the first owner videos of it in action.
Tesla owner Spencer (@scotsrule08) posted on Monday that the feature “worked flawlessly,” saying FSD reengaged itself just as he was about to hit a curb. Ashok Elluswamy, who leads Tesla’s AI team, shared the clip and wrote, “A guardian angel always looking out for you.”
The video arrives in the middle of a staged rollout. Tesla first shipped Automatic Collision Evasion with FSD (Supervised) v14.3.9 in software update 2026.27.6 earlier this month, which Teslarati covered as it reached cars. Update 2026.27.10, which began going out on September 19, carried the feature improvements with FSD v14.3.10, according to release notes tracked by Not a Tesla App. The newer 2026.27.11 build is now reaching another wave of vehicles.
The new Automatic Collision Evasion feature worked flawlessly! FSD reengaged itself just as I was about to hit a curb.
Kudos @Tesla_AI team! 👏 pic.twitter.com/Fbp15HhpL2
— Spencer (@scotsrule08) September 28, 2026
The feature only runs on HW4 vehicles, and it requires an active FSD purchase or subscription with both FSD (Supervised) and Automatic Emergency Braking enabled. HW3 owners receive FSD v14.2 Lite in the same updates, but that build does not include collision evasion.
Tesla’s release notes describe two triggers. The first is an imminent frontal collision that braking alone may not prevent, in which case the car can activate FSD to steer, brake or accelerate around the hazard. That scenario is limited to highways below 85 mph, with no pedestrians or cyclists detected and no slippery road surface. The second covers a driver who appears inattentive, such as reaching into the back seat, or who seems to have switched off FSD by accident. Spencer’s curb clip appears to fall into that second category.
Tesla plans big safety improvements for Full Self-Driving v15
Once the system takes over, the accelerator is muted and light brake input will not cancel the maneuver. Drivers need to apply firm, deliberate steering force to take back control, and the car chimes to hand control back once the danger has passed.
Elluswamy recently noted that earlier hazard prediction, faster reaction time and better collision avoidance would arrive with FSD v15, the next major version.
Tesla teases “Halloween Mode” update with Optimus rising from a graveyard
Tesla says fixes on Full Self-Driving’s two biggest issues are on the way
