If Universal Hands-Free on your Gen 2 R1 or R2 keeps nagging you to look at the road on a bright day, your sunglasses might be the problem, as an owner pointed out on Reddit, since some lenses block the infrared light the driver monitoring camera uses to see your eyes.
Every Gen 2 Rivian has an infrared camera in the rearview mirror that tracks where you’re looking, the same setup Ford and GM use for BlueCruise and Super Cruise. That camera is what lets you go hands-free across 3.5 million miles of marked roads with Autonomy+, and if it can’t see your eyes it can’t confirm you’re paying attention.
I’d rather the system stay strict about this, since that camera is how it knows you’re awake once your hands are off the wheel, so the fix is on our end with a different pair of sunglasses.
iPhone owners have been dealing with this since Face ID launched. Apple’s own support page says sunglasses that block certain types of light can mess with the TrueDepth camera. Craig Federighi told TechCrunch back in 2017 that polarized lenses are usually fine and specific IR coatings cause the problem.
So if a pair of shades already breaks Face ID on your phone, I’d expect it to give the mirror camera a hard time too.
You can check a pair at home by pointing your TV remote at the TV through one of the lenses. If the TV responds, infrared light is getting through and the camera should be able to see you.
Apple has listed sunglasses as a Face ID caveat for years, and with Rivian, Ford, and GM all relying on infrared driver monitoring for hands-free driving, lens coatings are going to matter to a lot more drivers as these systems spread to more cars.
Time to invest in some driving sunglasses, lol
I wish the warning would give us more time to look around when there is little to no traffic near us.