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Meet the Rivian Adventure Department: the skunkworks performance team that’s been quietly making Rivian’s trucks and SUVs more capable for years — and just went official.
By ElectricFuture Staff
February 27, 2026
5 min read
[Image: Rivian R1S in RAD livery — FAT Ice Race, Big Sky, MT — Credit: Rivian]
The Rivian R1S Quad-Motor wrapped in RAD Adventure Department livery at the FAT Ice Race in Big Sky, Montana. Photo: Rivian
BMW has M. Mercedes has AMG. Ford has Raptor.
And now Rivian has RAD — the Rivian Adventure Department, an officially named performance and extreme-testing division that made its public debut this week at the 2026 FAT Ice Race in Big Sky, Montana.
The thing is, RAD has been working in the shadows for years. Every time Rivian sent an R1T to the tip of South America, climbed Pikes Peak, or entered the Rebelle Rally, there was a team of engineers behind it quietly gathering data, breaking limits, and shipping those lessons back to you via over-the-air updates.
That team now has a name, a logo, and a very clear mission statement.
What Exactly Is RAD?
The Rivian Adventure Department is a dedicated engineering group tasked with finding the performance ceiling of Rivian vehicles — and then moving it. As Rivian describes it, RAD’s mission is “finding the next level of what’s possible with our vehicles, bridging between where we find the extremes and the features that end up in your driveway.”
That’s not marketing fluff. RAD’s fingerprints are already all over Rivian’s most useful software features. Their Rebelle Rally campaign — where Rivian took a class win competing against gas-powered off-roaders — directly led to the development of Soft Sand Mode, which later shipped as an OTA update to every R1S and R1T owner. Real testing. Real results. Real-world impact.
[Image: RAD Tuner interface — Credit: Rivian]
The RAD Tuner allows adjustments to power output, torque bias, stability control, and brake regeneration. It’s currently available on second-generation Quad Motor R1S and R1T units. Photo: Rivian
RAD Tuner: The First Product You Can Actually Use
The most tangible thing RAD has delivered so far is the RAD Tuner — a deep-dive drive mode configurator that lets owners dial in power output, torque bias, stability control, and regenerative braking to suit whatever terrain they’re tackling. It debuted in December 2025 with software update 2025.46 for Gen 2 Quad Motor owners.
Think of it as the enthusiast’s interface that Rivian has always been capable of but hadn’t surfaced until RAD pushed for it. Also in RAD’s recent portfolio: the Kick Turn, a 360-degree tank-turn function that uses individual motor control to pivot the vehicle in place — exactly the kind of feature that sounds gimmicky until you’re trying to turn around on a narrow trail.
1,025Horsepower — R1S Quad
13,000Miles — Long Way Up Journey
2Pikes Peak EV Records
A History Written in Dirt and Ice
RAD’s track record is legitimately impressive. Before the R1T was even in customer hands, a team of Rivian engineers was in Tierra del Fuego supporting the production of Long Way Up — the documentary that followed Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman on a 13,000-mile electric motorcycle journey from the tip of South America to Los Angeles. Rivian’s trucks were the support vehicles. The engineers were learning.
Since then: a class win at the 2023 Rebelle Rally, a production EV truck record at Pikes Peak in both 2023 and 2024, and countless unnamed testing programs that fed directly into production updates. This week, they made it all official.
[Image: Rivian R2 in RAD livery — Credit: Rivian]
Rivian also brought the smaller R2 — currently in pre-production at its Normal, Illinois plant ahead of a summer launch — wrapped in full RAD livery. Photo: Rivian
Big Sky, Bigger Statement
The official debut happened at the 2026 FAT Ice Race — a motorsport festival that originated in Zell am See, Austria, and crossed the Atlantic for the first time this year. Rivian showed up with two vehicles: the R1S Quad-Motor, running 1,025 horsepower and the full RAD Tuner suite, and the pre-production R2, both in striking RAD livery.
Choosing ice racing as a stage for an off-road performance division is a deliberate choice. It’s extreme. It’s photogenic. And it perfectly demonstrates the kind of precision torque control that four independent electric motors can deliver in ways combustion engines simply can’t.
“RAD represents the living, breathing expression of the passion that defines Rivian. That impulse to explore, to push limits, and to embrace the adventure is not confined to one team — it is the very DNA of our entire company.”— Jeff Hammoud, Chief Design Officer, Rivian
[Image: Rivian R1S at the FAT Ice Race — Credit: Rivian]
The R1S Quad-Motor at the FAT Ice Race. With 1,025 hp and four independent motors, the electric SUV is a natural fit for ice circuit competition. Photo: Rivian
What Comes Next — And What It Means for Buyers
Right now, Rivian is being deliberately coy about what RAD becomes. The comparisons to BMW M, Mercedes-AMG, Toyota TRD, or Ford’s Raptor team are irresistible — and Rivian isn’t swatting them away. But the company hasn’t confirmed dedicated RAD-badged trim levels or production vehicles yet.
What’s clear is that RAD is more than a badge on a race car. It’s Rivian’s formal promise that the lessons learned at the extremes — on ice tracks, at altitude, in sand and mud and snow — will keep flowing back to every owner through over-the-air updates. The RAD Tuner is proof of concept. Soft Sand Mode is proof of concept. The Kick Turn is proof of concept.
If those are the opening moves, the rest of the game looks very promising. Rivian has always been about the adventure. Now it has a dedicated team — and a very good name — making sure that never stops.
Filed Under
RivianRADElectric TrucksOff-Road EVsPerformance EVsR1SR1T
Originally reported by Jalopnik. Additional reporting via Electrek and The Drive.
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