Rivian’s new update could make your EV feel like Knight Rider (or Back to the Future)

Rivian’s getting into the Halloween spirit by adding new “car costumes” to its electric vehicles that can theme out its screens to look like the Time Machine interface from Back to the Future or KITT from Knight Rider. (It’ll animate red KITT-like scanner lights on the front of the car, too.) There’s also a non-IP-specific “Haunted” theme that displays a ghostly static TV screen inside the car.

The costumes will come via a software update Rivian will roll out right after midnight local time tonight (October 18th at 12:01am). R1T and R1S vehicles must already have the 2024.39 update installed to get the new features, as well as the latest version of the mobile app.

There are some feature differences to keep in mind based on whether you have a Gen 1 or Gen 2 Rivian vehicle; for instance, Gen 1 won’t get the exterior KITT red scanner light beam.

Once you get the update, they work as follows:

To set Knight Rider as your Car Costume, find the Get Spooky card on the main page of your Rivian Mobile App. You’ll select the Gear Guard dressed as Michael Knight to activate. From there, your interior display system will feature K.I.T.T.’s diagnostics on screen and play the original show intro music. For Gen 2 owners, the exterior lightbar will cascade a red beam just like K.I.T.T. and exude its iconic scanner sound effect, creating the ultimate Knight Rider experience. 

In the mobile app, you’ll see Gear Guard dressed up as Doc Brown. By selecting ‘Time Machine’ as your car costume, you’ll see the interior screen show the iconic Back to the Future interface, as well as music and the Time Machine acceleration sound effect from the film. 

Hit Gear Guard dressed as a scarecrow to trigger our Haunted Rivian Car Costume through the mobile app. This Car Costume has eight different sound effects and three different color themes to choose from, ranging between purple, yellow, red, and green. This will take over your interior display screen with static and ghosts. Gen 1 owners will get a green animation on the vehicle’s exterior, and exclusively for Gen 2 owners, the exterior light bar will reflect whichever color option you choose from, for a frightfully fun experience.

Rivian vehicles typically show pedestrians, cars, and bicyclists that are around you on its driver screen, and with the Halloween update, it will now turn them into zombies and headless horsemen. There are other easter eggs as well, including crows, pumpkins, and green flames in the Camp mode, plus “spooky” 3D artwork on the vehicle’s different drive modes.