Rivian's Halloween Mode Gets a Ghostbusters Treatment, With a Free Over-the-Air Update From October 9

Rivian is giving its Halloween Mode a licensed theme for the first time since 2024. The electric vehicle maker announced on October 8 that Ghostbusters takes over Halloween Mode this year, arriving as a free over-the-air update to R1 and R2 vehicles on October 9 and running until November 2. Rivian's own write-up is at rivn.co/halloween-2026.

The update adds a dedicated Ghostbusters app in the vehicle, with a single red toggle running the experience from the centre display or from a phone through the Rivian app. A Trick or Treat Mode takes over the driver and rear displays, plays the theme music, and switches the exterior lights and sounds to match.

Exterior shows come in five variants — Ecto-1, Proton Pack, Slimer, Ghost Trap and Peter Venkman — and a Motion Mode plays the chosen show whenever someone walks past the vehicle, which is aimed squarely at a driveway full of trick-or-treaters. Lock sounds are where the hardware split shows up: first-generation R1 vehicles get the Ecto-1 sound, while second-generation R1 and R2 owners can pick between Ecto-1, Proton Pack and a chant.

It is Rivian's fifth Halloween Mode, and the first for R2 owners. The 2023 edition turned the cabin accent lights green, swapped the lock sound for organ music and drew cyclists on the driver display as witches on broomsticks. The 2024 update introduced what Rivian called car costumes, with licensed themes drawn from Knight Rider and Back to the Future. In 2025 the company went its own way with Spooky Swamp, which ran from October 21 to November 1 and gave second-generation vehicles four exterior routines — Swamp Gas, Player Piano, Bayou Blast and Scary Spirit — alongside the motion-triggered effects that this year's Ghostbusters mode builds on.

The announcement came with physical hardware to match. Rivian has built full Ecto-R1 vehicles in the Ghostbusters livery, with 22-inch Aero wheels under white covers, a red body graphic, No-Ghost logos and a roof rack made by Rivian's Special Projects team. They are on display at the company's spaces in Laguna Beach, Austin, Venice, Miami Brickell, San Francisco and New York's Meatpacking District. The campaign also includes an advertisement starring Bill Murray and directed by Gil Kenan, who directed the original 1984 film.

Two details on timing are worth noting. Rivian's Halloween features have historically been temporary, appearing for a fixed window and then being withdrawn, and this one is no exception — November 2 is the end date, not a soft launch. It also arrives earlier than recent years, which began on October 18 and October 21. Chief software officer Wassym Bensaid signalled that in September, writing that Halloween would be epic this year and early, and then posted a 25-letter anagram resolving to Halloween Mode October Ninth days before the reveal.

The update travels with Rivian's broader October software release, version 2026.36, which also brings pet comfort controls through the app, Gmail support for Rivian Assistant, improved navigation and charging information, and the R2 pet camera. The Ghostbusters content arrives in the same release notes that ended with a six-line poem telling owners to find a new app with a ghost on it.

Not yet confirmed: Rivian has not published a price for the physical Ecto-R1 builds, has not said whether it will extend beyond November 2, and has not detailed what, if anything, differs between the R2 experience and the second-generation R1 beyond the lock sound options.