The Rivian R2’s Radio Needs Cell Signal The Wilderness Doesn’t Have
The new R2 electric SUV skips FM and AM entirely, leaning on a streaming radio service that needs cell coverage to play a single song
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by Brad Anderson
Listening to music or radio in the R2 will require an internet connection.
The R2 includes iHeartRadio stations as standard but skips AM and FM.
Unlike the R2, the Rivian R1 keeps FM radio but still omits AM.
Just a few short years ago, some car buyers were up in arms that new vehicles from some of the industry’s biggest names no longer shipped with AM radio. As it turns out, it’s not just AM radio that’s at risk of going extinct, as even FM radio is being omitted from some new vehicles.
Among the first new cars not to ship with a basic FM radio are the entry-level versions of the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y, and it appears that the new Rivian R2 also comes without it. An image recently snapped from the R2’s owner’s manual notes that while it offers a slew of different media sources, FM radio is not among them.
Read: Rivian Won’t Add Buttons Back, Says You Should Talk To Your Car Instead
The closest thing offered with the R2 is the ‘ Digital Radio,’ powered by iHeartRadio. The typical service provided by iHeartRadio combines digital radio with the ability to tune in to terrestrial FM and AM, and Rivian’s solution presumably does the same. However, iHeartRadio requires cell coverage, so it will probably be useless for R2 owners looking to venture into the wilderness where they cannot access the internet.
Cost-Cutting?
R2 Doesn’t have FM/HD Radioby
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Rivian
The manual notes that the R2 also supports Apple Music, Audible, Spotify, Tidal, and TuneIn, but all of these require the Connect+ package or a personal Wi-Fi hotspot. TuneIn operates similarly to satellite radio, providing access to live feeds from over 100,000 local radio stations, but, of course, it requires an internet connection.
News of the R2’s lack of FM radio doesn’t appear to have gone over well among owners on , with several saying the absence of this feature alone is a deal-breaker. We’ve reached out to Rivian seeking additional information about the lack of FM radio and why it hasn’t been included in the R2 and will update this story when we hear back.
