Rivian’s Halloween Update Turns Every R1 and R2 Into a Ghostbusters Car
The over-the-air update runs through November 2 and adds light shows, lock sounds and an arcade game. Not every Rivian gets the same set.
Rivian's Halloween software is out, and this year it comes with a movie license. An over-the-air update that began rolling out on October 9 adds a Ghostbusters-themed Halloween Mode to every R1T, R1S and R2, developed with Sony Pictures. It runs through November 2.
The features arrive with software version 2026.36.0 on the R1 and 2026.36.40 on the R2, part of the same 2026.36 release that brought Pet Cam to the R2 this week. Owners also need the latest version of the Rivian phone app. After the install, Rivian says, the driver display asks whether you'd like to "hunt some ghosts" and opens a dedicated Ghostbusters app.
What owners get
- Trick or Treat Mode takes over the driver and rear displays, plays the Ghostbusters theme and switches the exterior lights and sound effects to match. It can be run from the center screen or from the Rivian phone app, so nobody has to sit in the car.
- Six light-and-sound themes: Ecto-1, Proton Pack, Slimer, Ghost Trap, Peter Venkman and Random. Each can be triggered on demand, or Motion Mode sets one off when someone walks past.
- Lock sounds: first-generation R1 models get the Ecto-1 sound. Second-generation R1s and the R2 can choose among Ecto-1, Proton Pack and Chant.
- Scavenger Hunt: clue cards point to characters hidden in the Drive Modes screen, Gear Guard settings, the side camera views and the Energy app.
- 'Mallow Mash: a center-screen arcade game about popping Mini-Puft marshmallow men against the clock. It only works in Park.
- Rivian Assistant gets a seasonal voice and can start a light show, read out a hunt clue or play a sound effect.
Most of this is for a parked car. Switch the app on before setting off and only what Rivian calls "key visual cues" stay active; the rest waits until the vehicle is back in Park.
The fine print
The lock sounds are the only place where Rivian splits the features by hardware, and that leaves a question open. Last year's swamp-themed update gave first-generation R1s no exterior effects at all, InsideEVs reported. This year's announcement promises the update to "all Rivian vehicles" but doesn't say whether the six light shows run on those older trucks.
The assistant line also carries a footnote about Connect+, the plan that costs $14.99 a month. Rivian doesn't spell out which of the seasonal voice tricks, if any, need it.
The season is longer, too. In 2025, Halloween Mode ran from October 21 to November 1. This one starts 12 days earlier and lasts 25 days. It is also the first Halloween for the R2, which launched in June and now figures in Rivian's third-quarter deliveries. Since September's RivianOS 2 update put the R1 and R2 on one software stack, a seasonal release like this can reach both lines at once.
The Ecto-R1
Alongside the software, Rivian built a physical tribute to the Ecto-1, the Ghostbusters' car from the 1984 film. The Ecto-R1 is an R1S on 22-inch Aero wheels with white-painted covers and rims brightened to silver, a nod to the original's chrome hubcaps. A red graphic runs along the body line, and the No-Ghost logo sits on the hood and front doors.
The roof rack carries sirens, spotlights, a radar dish and side tanks modeled on the film car. Rivian says the vintage emergency lights were sourced and restored, and that its Special Projects team fabricated the frame and accessory housings in-house.
These are display vehicles. Rivian refers to "builds" in the plural without giving a number, and says they will appear at its retail spaces in Laguna Beach, Austin, Venice, Miami, San Francisco and New York, with a stop at the NYC Village Halloween Parade. It hasn't mentioned offering the graphics or the rack to customers.
A launch film starring Bill Murray, made with Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire director Gil Kenan, rounds out the campaign.
"Having control over every pixel, light and speaker let us turn the vehicle into an immersive playground," said Wassym Bensaid, Rivian's chief software officer.
Rivian hasn't said what happens to the lock sounds and themes after November 2, or whether the Ghostbusters tie-in will return next year.
