Owners of the Rivian R1T electric pickup have a steel cord, a GPS beacon and a video surveillance system to protect their trucks and belongings from being stolen.
Tesla offers a similar feature named TeslaCam. Rivian calls its system ‘Gear Guard’ and bundles it with a funny-looking mascot character designed to help you set up the security settings.
The Rivian R1T has 11 cameras in total, five of which are used for security monitoring purposes. These are located on the tailgate, at the back of the cab, near the side mirrors, and near the radiator grille. The system can tell objects from one another and will not report a theft attempt if it just detects a dog running by, for example.
Recording starts automatically whenever a human is detected close to the truck. The footage is stored on a hard drive, which is installed by default. The motion recognition works within 4 feet (1.2 m) of the truck.
Another major security feature comes in the guise of the Gear Guard Cable, a robust, nylon-braided stainless steel cord equipped with a couple of combination locks. You can use it to tether the cargo to the bed or the roof rails, tucking the ends into dedicated sidewall ports.
Finally, you may use the main infotainment display to watch a real-time video feed from the cameras around the vehicle.