Rivian finally really releases its powered tonneau cover (for real this time) (really)
Rivian has added a powered tonneau cover retrofit to its Gear Shop, allowing certain R1T owners to purchase install of the long-promised feature. It has been available before, but only for short periods of time, and early versions have seen reliability problems in the past – but Rivian says this version is much better now.
Rivian has had a bit of a history with its Powered Tonneau Cover option, a feature that adds extending slats over the bed of its R1T truck in order to keep gear in the back safe, and can be extended or retracted by the press of a button.
It was originally offered as an option on early vehicles, but it soon became apparent that the feature was not as reliable as it should be, as many owners were having failures. Rivian stopped installing covers, offered fixes/replacements for those affected by reliability problems, and said the feature would come back and be available again in the future.
Owners also said that the original Powered Tonneau Cover was quite noisy to use.
Since then there’s been a lot of back-and-forth about when the feature would become available again. We were all told in 2023 that it would show up in early 2024… but now here we are in late 2025.
There are third-party options available, but these are manual options that don’t have the benefit of being able to open and close with a touch of a button.
But now, finally, it looks like Rivian is ready to offer a first-party solution for this long-awaited feature.
Rivian quietly added the new Powered Tonneau Cover option to its Gear Shop yesterday costing $3,300 and available as a retrofit for certain R1T vehicles. Better yet, Rivian says the new version is “virtually noise-free,” which was not the case for the original cover.
We say “certain” R1Ts because it’s apparently not available for every vehicle. Per Rivian, “some R1T vehicles built without Tonneau Cover or Manual Tonneau Cover may not be compatible with our upgraded Powered Tonneau Cover due to wire harness limitations.”
Rivian has not specified further which vehicles are or are not qualified, but some owners on Rivianforums.com have started chiming in with whether their vehicles qualify, and it might be based on when your truck was built (based on VIN number).
We’ve noticed owners with VIN numbers between ~14k and ~19k have been told their trucks are NOT compatible, but owners with VINs above ~21k and some early owners with VINs of ~13k and under said they were told their trucks ARE compatible. So it looks like there might be a window of vehicles in the mid-late-teens that aren’t compatible, while early and more recent trucks are.
Some owners have even started getting the covers installed already. A few forum members posted their work orders, showing about $2,500 in parts and about 3 hours of labor to install the cover. The $3,300 flat cost for install includes both parts and installation at a Rivian service center.
When added as an option to a new vehicle in Rivian’s configurator, the price is $2,000 on R1T Dual configurations, but comes standard on R1T Tri and Quad.
If you’re looking to get the new Powered Tonneau Cover installed, head over to Rivian’s Gear Shop or call (855) RIVIAN5 to set up an appointment. You can even use your Rivian Rewards to pay for it, if you happen to have any from the use of a Rivian referral code.
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Environment
Uber launches true driverless robotaxi operations in the Middle East with WeRide [Video]
![Uber launches true driverless robotaxi operations in the Middle East with WeRide [Video]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/11/Uber-Middle-East-WeRide.jpg?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)
Just over a year after Uber announced a strategic partnership in the Middle East with autonomous vehicle specialist WeRide, the companies have officially begun offering the public robotaxi rides without a driver or safety operator present on board.
Today’s latest milestone involving robotaxi operations in the Middle East dates back to September 2024, when Uber and WeRide initially announced a strategic partnership to bring autonomous rides to the UAE.
Three months later, the partner officially launched autonomous rides in Abu Dhabi, but with a safety operator present in the vehicle. At the time, Uber and WeRide said the supervised rides were “laying the groundwork” for a true driverless commercial operations planned for 2025.
That day has come.
WeRide and Uber have confirmed that commercial robotaxi operations are officially underway in Abu Dhabi without any safety operators on board – a first for the Middle East.
Uber rolls out Middle East robotaxi operations in Abu Dhabi
Uber shared details of its latest milestone late this evening or in the afternoon in the Middle East, depending on where you are.
Beginning today (Wednesday) customers in Abu Dhabi can select an UberX or Uber Comfort ride that enables them to be matched with a fully autonomous WeRide robotaxi without a driver inside. Riders in the Middle East can also increase their chances of hailing one of these driverless rides by select the “Autonomous” option in the Uber app.
In order to qualify, the prosepctive rider’s route must be part of WeRide’s operating territory in Abu Dhabi and a dedicated WeRide GXR Robotaxi vehicle (seen in the featured image above) must be available.
Similar to Uber’s partnership with Waymo in Austin and Atlanta, the global rideshare network will oversee fleet operations for WeRide vehicles, handling end-to end rider support. It has tapped Tawasul Transport to facilitate vehicle cleaning, maintenance, inspections, charging, and depot management. WeRide will remain responsible for vehicle testing.
As you may recall last spring, Uber and WeRide announced an expansion to their strategic partnership beyond the Middle East (although Dubai will be the city for its next robotaxi rollout). Over the next five years, Uber and WeRide intend to deploy true driverless public rides in 15 additional cities, some of which will be in Europe.
As promised, here’s some b-roll footage from Uber showing how riders in Abu Dhabi can order a WeRide robotaxi:
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Metro Detroit is about to get a big boost of fast EV chargers, with more than 40 new ChargePoint ports set to come online across multiple sites owned by the Dabaja Brothers Development Group.
The first ultra-fast charging site just opened in Canton, Michigan. It’s owned and operated by Dabaja Brothers, who plan to follow it with additional ChargePoint-equipped locations in Dearborn and Livonia.
“We started this project because we saw a gap in our community – there was almost nowhere to charge an EV in Canton, and a similar lack of charging across metro Detroit,” said Yousef Dabaja, owner/operator at Dabaja Brothers.
Each metro Detroit site will feature ChargePoint Express Plus fast charging stations, which can deliver up to 500 kW to a single port, can fast-charge two vehicles at the same time, and are compatible with all EVs. The stations feature a proprietary cooling system to deliver peak charging speeds for sustained periods, ensuring that charging speed remains consistent.
The stations operate on the new ChargePoint Platform, which enables operators to monitor performance, adjust pricing, troubleshoot issues, and gain real-time insights to keep chargers running smoothly.
Rick Wilmer, CEO at ChargePoint, said, “This initiative will rapidly infill the ‘fast charging deserts’ across the Detroit area, allowing drivers to quickly recharge their vehicles when and where they need to.”
Read more: ChargePoint just gave its EV charging software a major AI upgrade
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Mercedes-Benz High-Power Charging and Starbucks have officially opened their first DC fast charging hub together, off the I-5 in Red Bluff, California.
The 400 kW Mercedes-Benz chargers are capable of adding up to 300 miles in 10 minutes, depending on the EV, and every stall has both NACS and CCS cables – they’re fully open DC fast chargers.
Mercedes-Benz HPC North America, a joint venture between subsidiaries of Mercedes-Benz Group and renewable energy producer MN8 Energy, first announced in July 2024 that it would install DC fast chargers at Starbucks stores along Interstate 5, the main 1,400-mile north-south interstate highway on the US West Coast from Canada to Mexico. Ultimately, Mercedes plans to install fast chargers at 100 Starbucks stores across the US.
Mercedes-Benz HPC opened its first North American charging site at Mercedes-Benz USA’s headquarters in Sandy Springs, Georgia, in November 2023 as part of an initial $1 billion charging network investment. As of the end of 2024, Mercedes had deployed over 150 operational fast chargers in the US, but it hasn’t disclosed an official number of how many chargers are currently online.
Andrew Cornelia, CEO of Mercedes-Benz HPC North America, is leaving the company at the end of the month to become global head of electrification & sustainability at Uber.
Read more: Mercedes-Benz is deploying 400 kW US-made EV fast chargers with CCS and NACS cables
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