Rivian says that more than 60% of its owners travel with their furry friends. It's one of the reasons that the company offers a pet mode in its cars, and a statistic that the company is using to help decide what new features to build into its EVs.

That's precisely what it's done with the newest over-the-air update for Rivian vehicles. Its new software brings another pet-friendly feature to its newest truck: Pet Cam. We knew this was coming, but it's certainly a welcome edition.

The new Pet Cam mode is exclusive to R2 (sorry R1T and R1S owners) and uses the interior camera tucked behind the glass of its rearview mirror to display a full-color, high-definition view of the R2's cabin. Owners can start up a live stream through Gear Guard, which also displays the cabin temperature for the extra peace of mind knowing that your good boy is staying comfortable.

(Editor's Note: Rivian also told me at the R2 launch that the system can detect if it is a person, not a dog, in the car, and deny monitoring. So this isn't for snooping or babies.)

And if you can't keep your eye on the live stream, the app will also push fresh snapshots to your phone's lock screen for a quick glance.

Pet Mode also gets a few extra features that extend to R1 through the Rivian App. The cars will now allow for remote activation and deactivation of Pet Mode from the app—just in case you forgot to turn it on before walking away—plus, there's now in-app protection to keep you from accidentally switching Pet Mode on or off.

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