Joe Oggier Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not. If not, yes it needs to be reduced. IMO, its current minimum distance is too large and begs for people to jump in. So, using your logic, you'd think with all that computing power Rivian has it would realize Driver+ is actually not very useful and shut itself off. All you need to do is drive a Tesla and you'll completely understand. Tesla uses a much smaller distance, plus it handles car jumping in and out of your lane a lot better as well. Rivians Driver+ is an extremely nervous driver that phantom brakes so much its annoying.

Your 'opinion' doesn't trump physics.

The computer is calculating a minimum SAFE distance to stop the vehicle should a contingency arise that requires it to stop as quickly as possible.

This is a scenario where, your experience of 'I should be able to follow more closely' is aligned with the FACT that people drive TOO CLOSE to one another.

Even IF it'd raise your level of 'well everyone else is doing it' to 'satisfactory' Rivian will not (and should not) implement making this any closer without a full safety study. Otherwise, they're just going to build a system that CAUSES incidents (read: collisions when the traffic in front of the vehicle comes to an emergency stop).

You cannot compare a Rivian (7000lb truck) to a Tesla (half that).

Joe Oggier You can say all this tech stuff you want. I understand that. The bottom line is it’s PROVEN that it can be done safely. Sorry I didn’t specify in greater detail when I said Tesla. The Cybertruck is the same weight right? Yes, so I can compare a Rivian to a Tesla.

You're drawing false parallels.

Do you understand that regardless of what other car you compare it to, the dynamics are different?

Center of gravity, mass moment of inertia, dynamic suspension compliance, weight distribution, plus they have to ASSUME tire compound maintains the same coefficient of friction and have to Engineer for worst case (someone buys a discount tire brand).

You're not changing physics by making incongruent arguments about the Cybertruck.

I have a degree in Mechanical Engineering. I'm not saying it's impossible, but I'm strongly suggesting it's highly unlikely we're going to get any closer with adaptive cruise.

And FWIW: Rivian's adaptive cruise is willing to follow much more closely than our Subaru Forester ever did. So, if you really want to start drawing parallels, maybe look at how much BETTER it is than other options? The glass isn't always half-empty...

Joe Oggier OMG, you obviously have way too much time on your hands and no matter what I say you’re going to blabber on with gibberish I don’t give a crap about.

Bottom line is, Rivian is overly cautious with their system. So be it.

The point of this forum is to put ideas out for Rivian to consider. We aren’t in engineering meetings to determine what’s right and what’s wrong and discuss why.

... Stay in school, kids!

Joe Oggier Oh, the irony. Mr. Pocket Protector over here took a straightforward post and completely overcomplicated it with unnecessary context—totally missing the original point. Maybe find a better way to spend your time.